Phoenix City, the air is like a rainbow: A Rocky Mountain Odyssey Part 2—Interesting Facts about Seattle

Phoenix City The air is like a rainbow: A Rocky Mountain Odyssey Part 2—Interesting Facts about Seattle. This time I registered for a seven-day tour of the Canadian Rockies and chose to enter and exit from Seattle,…

This time I signed up for a seven-day tour of the Canadian Rockies and chose to enter and exit from Seattle. I planned to stay for three days after completing the trip to visit friends I had not seen for more than ten years. At about 6 a.m. on October 3rd, my husband and I took the Alaska Airlines flight from Phoenix to Seattle. It was just past 9 a.m. After collecting our luggage, we put a "Golden Vacation" label on our chests and waited for the tour guide to greet us. About fifteen minutes later, a middle-aged tour guide, who introduced himself as Xie, took us to the seats at the exit of the airport building to gather and wait for him to pick up the passengers one by one. There were 14 people in total, including two Vietnamese couples, and the rest were Taiwanese, Mainland Chinese and Chinese Americans. At 11 o'clock, we boarded the station wagon and started the seven-day tour. The first stop was a city tour of Seattle. The tour guide interestingly explained why this place is called Seattle. Knowledgeable people know that it is to commemorate the name of an Indian chief who resolved disputes between local whites and Indians. But I once heard an interesting anecdote. Seattle was named by accident. At that time, an Englishman came here and asked a farmer where this place was. The two were far apart. The farmer thought it was a polite greeting and he had to rush home. So he raised his hand and said, "See you tomorrow" as he walked. The Englishman could not hear clearly. He only heard a string of Se-a-ttle sounds, which was called Seattle. The tour guide had another humorous version, pointing out that "Seattle" is the Chinese transliteration. Legend has it that there was a Chinese family living outside Seattle who gave birth to a daughter. She grew up and fell in love with a local youth. Of course her parents were very opposed to the traditional ideas. The daughter eloped regardless of everything, and the father yelled, "Damn girl!" Fortunately, a British explorer passed by and pointed to the front and asked what the place was called. He didn't know English, so he pointed in the direction where his daughter had left. He nodded angrily and said loudly: "That's right! That's where the dead girl went!" Therefore, Seattle is the transliteration of "Dead Girl". No matter what the story is, we are already in Seattle. We visited Chinatown first and had lunch at the same time. We also picked up two Taiwanese group members who were boarding the bus here. There were also two female passengers because their flights were delayed. The whole group could not wait for long, so we had to wait until the afternoon to let them take a taxi back to the group. The tour group got off the bus at a Japanese shopping mall. The tour guide said that shopping here is convenient and the food is cheap. I thought uneasily in my heart: Why should I visit a Japanese shopping mall? Didn’t the Diaoyutai incident make the atmosphere boiling over recently? Was there any trouble choosing this location? But my worries were unnecessary. I saw all the Chinese compatriots as if nothing had happened and no objections. They all crowded into the mall and everyone was doing what they wanted. I went in and walked around. The market was in vain. It seemed that the Sino-Japanese Diaoyutai dispute had not affected this place. There are a variety of restaurants in the mall. I usually like to try Vietnamese food, but when I saw the Japanese sushi restaurant opposite, customers were queuing up. It was obvious that the business was good and the atmosphere was harmonious. After lunch, the car circled the city and allowed everyone to take a look at the scenery. The tour guide kept telling us, pointing east and west, that this is the lake house on Lake Union, that is the seaside where the Alaskan cruise ship departs, in front is the ancient agricultural market, at the top is the Space Needle, and at the bottom is the salmon canal. It seems that there are really many attractions, but the time is limited and the trip is in a hurry. It just means that I have been to the resort in person and have visited here. Among these landscapes, the Space Needle is the most representative and is a landmark of Seattle. It was a majestic building built at the World Exposition fifty years ago, with a height of more than 180 meters. The tower is shaped like a flying saucer, with a revolving restaurant and an observation deck. There is a long needle in the center of the top pointing toward space, so it is called the Space Needle. The tour group does not have time to climb up and visit, so they can only watch it in the nearby park in the distance and take photos of the towering scene. What is more interesting is the ancient Pike Place Market, located in the city center. There are many shops and handicraft artists here, as well as various street performances, and it is crowded with tourists. The most outstanding one is a fish market, where the salespeople's throwing skills are like magic tricks, attracting the most tourists to gather and watch. Going back is the first store founded by Starbucks Coffee. It is still in operation and sells high-quality coffee beans and coffee equipment. It especially retains the original trademark, which is an image of a long-haired girl with exposed breasts. The tour group continued to visit the canal and dam park. The characteristic here is that the water levels of the riverbed and lakes are uneven. Sluices must be built to regulate the water level to allow ships to enter and exit the canal smoothly. Also, because the dams hinder the migration paths of fish, fish ladders must be built and composite pools must be designed to provide for the migration of fish. It is said that after salmon grow up, they leave their birthplace and live across the ocean. After four years, they return to their hometown, lay eggs and reproduce, and die in their hometown. Therefore, sometimes hundreds of thousands of salmon are seen swimming back inland along the fish ladder, which is very spectacular. However, during our short stay, we only saw ships entering the canal. We did not see a large number of salmon migrating back, and we could not see the spectacle of fish jumping up the ladder. Seattle's name and several attractions are quite interesting. A quick visit left a good impression, and Chen's tour group got off to a satisfactory start. The tour bus then exited Highway 5 and headed straight to Vancouver. It went through the entry and exit procedures at the US-Canada border. It arrived at its destination in the evening. It went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and then stayed at the Coast Vancouver Airport Hotel to end the first day of the journey.