Our vacation schedule was pretty loaded as we tried our best to visit some of the key tourist attractions:
Voodoo Doughnuts
Powell's Books
Pike Place Market
The Original Starbucks
Butchart Gardens
Capilano Suspension Bridge
Grouse Mountain
But the trip wouldn't have been complete without at least one card shop appearance. It would have been nice to visit one shop from each city, but there just wasn't enough time. Luckily we found one shop on the last leg of our trip as we left Vancouver, headed across the border, and reentered the Seattle area.
The shop is called Card Exchange and it's located in the northern part of Seattle. I had the opportunity to chat with one of the owners who told me they've been around for twenty-something years. They had a great selection of wax boxes, supplies, and reasonably priced singles.
However, I had my sights on something else. I targeted the regional items... things that were distributed in the Seattle area. And that's when I discovered their bobble head display... loaded with stadium giveaways.
There were several Ichiro bobbles that caught my attention, but with limited luggage space I ended up grabbing these two for my collection:
2005
In 2005, the Seattle Mariners honored Ichiro for his 2004 record breaking performance, when he broke George Sisler's 84 year old single-season hits record.
2010
His 2010 bobble head depicts him holding his three Silver Slugger Awards. I'm actually surprised that he didn't win more at the start of his MLB career when he had ten consecutive 200+ hit seasons.
Both of these bobbles were individually priced at $14.95... so I walked away paying just under $33 for the pair.
I also found this 2012 OYO mini-figure of Russell Wilson at a store at the Everett Mall in Seattle, while looking for a Seahawks hoodie:
For what you get, these OYO figures are definitely way overpriced... but it's a cool memento of my trip to Seattle, so I'm not complaining.
sweet pick-ups! Those are probably the best Ichiro bobbleheads to have so getting them for what you did was great. People up there sometimes price them to high, but those were perfect.
ReplyDeleteActually... the one I really, really want is the one where he's with Griffey. But they didn't have it :( One of these days, I'll grab it off of eBay.
Deletethat Russell Wilson is pretty funny!! but still very cool!
ReplyDeleteHey Fuji? You see my sister and her family running around Seattle?? They are out there for a wedding this past weekend!!
I'd like to visit the docks in Seattle, try and find the boats from the Deadliest Catch. I know the F/V Cornelia Marie is based there...
My wife takes a little pity on me while we are vacationing, stopping at some of the card shops we run across in our travels. She even accompanied me to tonight's Tides double header here in Norfolk. We left after game 1's win over Gwinnet 4-1!! Even bought me the 2013 Phillies team set.
You've got a great wife... better hold onto her. As for the docks... I didn't even think to look for the boats from Deadliest Catch. I'll definitely be going back up there in the near future... love that city.
Deletesounds like you had a nice trip to the PNW.
ReplyDeleteI actually work just across the street from Powell's and can see the marquee from my desk! I probably saw you guys walk by :)
Although i'm not a big Seahawks fan (knocked my skins out of the playoffs the last three visits), you still made some nice pickups.
Portland is an awesome city... you're a lucky city. I was bummed that we didn't make it out to the Saturday Market.
DeleteI hit up voodoo donuts when I was in Portland. No line at all either! Maple bacon donut was money!
ReplyDeleteThat's my favorite flavor too!
DeleteReally dig that Silver Slugger bobble.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Deletei have no idea why i never thought of it, but what a great idea....shopping at card shops while out on a trip. Love it!! Now part of my agendas as well. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't travel enough... but when I do... I try to plan ahead and hit up at least one card shop (assuming the city has one)
DeleteI love Seattle, I spent half my life there. I actually worked across the street from the Everett Mall for a couple of years. Looks like you came home with some cool collectables.
ReplyDeleteGreat city... might consider retiring there.
DeleteI'll be headed back there sooner than later... so thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to check them out.
ReplyDeleteIf I was ever going to move out of Texas, it would be to Seattle. I spent a little over a year in Bremerton when I was in the Navy. It was a nice 1 hour ferry ride to Seattle and I saw many a Mariner game in the old Kingdome, including my one and only time to see Nolan Ryan pitch in person.
ReplyDeleteI have family in Bremerton and I love it there. Seattle is an awesome city and I would love to move out there one day. I got to see a few Yankee games at SafeCo and I think it's one of the best baseball stadiums in MLB.
ReplyDeleteI love bobbleheads. I have been contemplating grabing that Ichiro hit meter bobble. Looks like you did great.
I'll definitely look up the Ichiro hit meter bobble... sounds very cool.
DeleteCongrats on the Ichiro finds. For some reason, I found it amusing that the store's sign actually says Magic, YuGiOh, and Pokemon, like they spent good money to make sure those games are on their sign.
ReplyDeleteThe lady was saying that they sell pretty well in their shop... so my guess is that's why they made sure they were on there.
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