Space, Locks and Chocolate

My continuing guest blogger, Hannah. (Editor's words)

The Space Needle

Today we left the hotel around 10:30. We drove to the Space Needle in downtown Seattle. We took an elevator all the way up to the top. The elevator was so fast! We went up to the Sky City restaurant to eat lunch. I noticed that the floor was moving. The floor was moving because you can take a chance to go around all the windows to see the whole view.

The amazing 360 degree view from the top. The weather was perfect! Clear and bright!

The lady let us sit at the window. The view was amazing. I ordered from the kids menu and I got space noodle pasta with a side of fries. The pasta was shaped like the Space Needle. It was so cool to see that. I saw that kids wrote notes on paper and placed them on the window so other people can respond back to them or read them.

Hannah's space needle pasta.

Emily's Octopus dog mac n cheese.

Picture taken inside...

...and outside of the space needle!

After we finished lunch we went outside to look at the view. Then we went to the gift shop and bought 2 bags of space noodle pasta. Then we left and went to the Ballard Locks. We saw 5 boats/kayakers pass through the locks.

The locks allows vessels to move back and forth from one water elevation to another. The water level of Puget Sound is lower than Salmon Bay.

Vessels enter the lock and the gates close behind the vessels. Through gravity, the lock drains the water.

Freshwater of Salmon Bay meets the saltwater of Puget Sound at the locks. Depending on the tides, there can be a 6 to 26 ft difference between fresh and salt water.

When the water pressure is the same on both sides of the gate, the upstream gates open. Vessels exit. The process is reversed for a downstream lockage from Salmon Bay into Puget Sound.

 They raise and lower water levels in the locks as needed to allow vessels to lock through.

It's like an elevator for boats.

The Locks are also a place for the migrating salmon pass through. Mature salmon returning through the fish ladder are returning to the river, stream or hatchery where their journey began 3-5 years ago.

Smolts go with the flow here, tail first.

 These slides (the tubes) help juvenile salmon, called smolts, migrate into Puget Sound from Lake Washington.

When mature, salmon and steelheads leave the sea and work their way back up their spawning ground. The smell of the water flowing into the ocean from the river or stream helps them to find their way.

a steelhead

After that we went to the Theo Chocolate Factory. We took a tour and had to wear blue hair nets. We learned where chocolate came from and how it was made. We went into the factory place and saw people working. It was so so hot. It was like 100 degrees in there.

In Seattle we decided to check out some other things we didn't do there yet. One of which was a chocolate factory tour. Theo Chocolate Factory is located in Seattle. They are the only Fair for Life chocolate company which means from  farming to distribution, every worker gets fair and comparable wages and benefits.

A cacao tree

 They get their beans from three places: Congo (the earthy flavored chocolate) Dominican Republic (the buttery flavored chocolate) and Peru (fruity flavor).

Cacao pods grow from the stem of the tree since its the strongest point on the tree. Pods can grow to be the size of a football.

It takes a few pods to make just one yummy tasting chocolate bar!

A cool creation..

The US Standards of making chocolate are lower than Theo's. US standards for milk chocolate is only 10% of cacao. For dark, it needs only 34%. At Theo, they make their milk chocolate with a minimum of 40% and their dark has 70% cacao. We saw all the machines and the processes that the beans goes through to turn cacao into chocolate. We were able to sample their truffles and caramels and other specialty chocolates.

flying chocolate

After that we went to the gift shop and bought all different kinds of chocolates. Then we drove to a place called Samurai Ramen place. We all got tonkotsu ramen. It was so so yummy.

This was one of the smallest noodle places we ever ate at. It fit around 24 persons max and I sat on a wooden step stool.

 We faced the kitchen and could watch them cook!

No one working here was Japanese either!

The ramen was good!

Then I wanted dessert so we went to the Uwajimaya Market. I got a sugar donut and we also went to the book store. I saw a lot of Rilakkuma stuff there so I got some stuff there. Then we drove to the hotel and went to sleep.

-Mui Mui Blogs