Forty-two gondolas take a ride around the 200-foot tall Great Wheel at Seattle’s Pier 57.
A Two-Picture Post
Visiting Seattle’s Pier 57 isn’t complete without a ride on the Great Wheel. Open year round, with heated/air conditioned gondolas, it’s a fantastic way to relax and take in stunning views of Puget Sound, the Seattle Skyline, and the Olympic Mountains. Note for the fainthearted: The gondolas have glass-bottomed floors; reaching the top at 200 feet and dangling at the farthest point 40 feet out over the water can be a little nerve-wracking!
What Ferris Wheels have you ridden?
The beauty of Puget Sound at sunset.
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: On Top.
Visual Venturing 
This is a really great photo! I’m going to be traveling to Seattle tomorrow, so I got pretty excited when I saw that this was in Seattle! I think I might check it out while I’m there, although I have to admit, when I read your description about the glass bottom, it gave me a bit of a pause, but I think I could do it. I think I can…I think I can… 🙂 😉
LikeLike
Becky, I take it this is your first time in Seattle? It was mine too, and I just loved it. In fact, my first post was a few pictures from the Public Market (it was an incredibly short post). But one of the bloggers I follow recently published a fantastic post on free things to do in the Public Market. You have got to read it: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/04/10/top-12-pike-place-market/. Hope this gives you some more useful tips. Safe travels and have a wonderful time! (And thanks for the like!)
LikeLike
Thanks for the tip! I’m going to check it out. It’s going to be a very quick trip – but we’re willing to pack in as much as we can 🙂 We’re going to a baseball game…not my team, but it will still be interesting. Can’t wait to see it all!
Thanks again!
LikeLike
My pleasure!
LikeLike
I just wanted to let you know – we had a wonderful time on our trip to Seattle. Packed in a lot of sightseeing in a few hours, but it was a wonderful trip. What a beautiful part of the world – oh my! And …. we went on the Ferris Wheel! 🙂 VERY fun!
LikeLike
Becky, so glad you had a great trip, and thrilled that you went on the Wheel! Thanks so much for letting me know. You made my day 🙂
LikeLike
Love the different perspectives of the images! I can’t even remember the last time I was on a ferris wheel, I must have been a little kid. But I got some lovely pictures of the ferris wheel at Coney Island on Sunday. Not as nice as yours of course. I love how the wheels look framed against the sky.
LikeLike
Thanks! The blue sky definitely was a bonus for this photo, that’s for sure.
Both sets of my grandparents lived in New York, as did my folks growing up, and me until I was in 3rd grade. I would always hear stories of Coney Island from my older siblings about how my granddad used to take them on the Cyclone (I think that’s what it was called). Hope you post those pictures you took!
LikeLike
Oh, air conditioned gondolas, it sound great; but, doesn’t it rest excitement to the aventure?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jaime, do you mean it would be more adventurous if they weren’t heated or air conditioned? I suppose I could do without the heat and just snuggle up with my fellow passengers, assuming I knew them, of course 🙂 But the summer without air conditioning and no open windows would be a bit too “adventurous” for me – may lead to heat stroke 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jajaja! no Stacy, I’m sorry; I meant, in the traditional way, in a “totally open” gondola (just a seat for two, with a bar where to hold on to) feeling the vertigo and the breeze hiting your face!
LikeLike
Oh, I get it! And let me just say, I would definitely NOT be a passenger on that one – at least not at this height 😀 When I was a young gal (I won’t say how long ago THAT was), I got on an open Ferris wheel and cried my way through 3 or 4 cycles. The man at the controls never let me off. I calmed down enough to get through, but just don’t like that swinging feeling, as if you’re going to go over backwards! Yikes!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stunning shots! Great post, as always! 🙂 Cheers! 😀
http://psychosomaticallyinlove.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/weekly-photo-challenge-on-top/
LikeLike
Thanks for the comment!
LikeLike
I love the London Eye. I go up on it when I have out-of-town visitors. I agree, it’s great to see the city and the river from a different angle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been on the Eye as well. One of my favorites. I think traveling in the bigger capsules helps to decrease the vertigo too 😀
LikeLike
Yours are way out of the ordinary. Thanks for sharing. Good stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much for your very kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the photos!
LikeLike