Thursday, August 20: Today was Jim’s birthday. We started out with a slow morning, sleeping in a bit and and enjoying a big breakfast. I did some laundry and checked on some details about our planned excursion into downtown Seattle and we had lunch at our campsite.

We headed north to Seattle about 3:00 and arrived there about 4:00. We decided to make use of the valet parking at the Space Needle so as not to waste time looking for parking in the downtown area.

We purchased combined tickets for the Observation Tower and Chihuly Gardens and Glass which was next door and went up to the Observation Tower first. We walked around several times to take in the 360 degree view of the Seattle area from 520 feet in the air. We could just barely see Mt. Rainier off in the distance. We had a coffee break on the inside of the Observation Deck with an awesome view of the city below.

We then visited the Chihuly Gardens and Glass. I loved all of the exhibits but I especially appreciated the outdoor ones combining the glass sculptures with beautiful live flowers and greenery. Several of the Chihuly globes were set to catch the reflection of the Space Needle towering above.

We had some extra time to kill so we strolled around the area outside catching some street musicians here and there. Our dinner reservations were for 8:45. We checked in at 8:15 and could take the elevator back to the observation deck while we waited so we were able to see the city at dusk.

We waited just a bit longer past our reservation time to get a window table - well worth the wait! Dinner was delicious (not inexpensive, of course, but worth it to celebrate a milestone birthday) and we could take in the night time view of the whole city as the restaurant made one complete revolution in the time we were there.

We made one last trip up to the observation deck and Jim took some great photos of the city lights.

Even at 11:20 there was a traffic backup at the Tacoma road construction area. We arrived back at the camper just 3 minutes shy of midnight.