The market was fun, but the real reason we went to Seattle was for a boat parade commemorating the "official" Opening Day of Boating Season. This is a uniquely Seattle event sponsored by the Seattle Yacht Club on the first weekend in May to celebrate the upcoming season on the water after a long, rainy off season. The boats are decorated from stem to stern, many taking cues from the annual theme. This year's theme was "Out of this World." So we saw several alien and spaceship-themed boats.
This year's parade had over 300 boats including both power and sail and we saw all shapes, sizes and vintages. There were even some amphibious cars making the route from Lake Union to Lake Washington.
After the parade we found a waterside Mexican cafe where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo a few days early. Then it was back to the ferry after picking up some food and wine at some of our favorite shops around Seattle.
