Let's get started on Part 2 of our Seattle tour! I've finally came up with a format for my pictures that I'm satisfied with, so I think we'll be sticking with it for a while

As we leave SeaTac Airport, we will be driving on eastbound SR-518. For those on the Link light rail, the light rail tracks basically parallel our driving route... there aren't any light rail stops after the Tukwila/International Blvd. station for this entry. The next stop will be shown in my next entry.

Back on the freeway, SR-518 meets I-5 a couple miles east of the airport. East of the I-5 junction, SR-518 becomes I-405 and continues to the Seattle suburbs of Renton and Bellevue. We will be exiting here to I-5 north toward Seattle, but first, a quick stop at Westfield Southcenter Mall, located near the junction of SR-518/I-405 and I-5.

Westfield Southcenter Mall is located in the Seattle suburb of Tukwila (population: 19,765). The mall first opened in 1968. It is currently anchored by three department stores, Nordstrom, Hechts (which will soon be converted to Macy's) and Sears. It is also anchored by Seafood City Marketplace, a Filipino-American supermarket chain with locations in California, Nevada and Washington. Also located near the mall is the Philippines-based fast food chain Jollibee's. Surrounding the mall are other chain restaurants such as Chili's, Ruby Tuesdays, Hooters as well as other retail stores, such as Barnes & Noble. There is also a Century Theaters cinemas and a hotel across the street from the mall.

From here we will continue north on I-5. In this area, I-5 has four to five general purpose travel lanes per direction, plus a carpool/HOV lane. The Seattle area has an extensive network of HOV lanes. Generally, they require 2+ passengers per vehicle and operate 24 hours a day, but there are exceptions in some locations to the number of passengers required and the hours of operation. Seattle's HOV lanes are also generally continuous access lanes and are separated from the general purpose lanes by a thick, solid white line. Drivers can go in and out of the HOV lane as they please at most locations, provided they meet the minimum passenger requirements.

Just north of Southcenter Mall, the HOV lanes separate briefly from the I-5 north mainline.

Immediately following the HOV lane separation is the junction of I-5 and SR-599.

The HOV lanes re-connect with the I-5 mainline shortly after...

As I-5 curves northward, we get our first glimpse of King County International Airport/Boeing Field (BFI). BFI airport is owned and operated by King County, and it serves as a general aviation and cargo airport, with limited passenger service as well. It is named after William Boeing, founder of the Boeing Corporation. It once served as Boeing Corp.'s headquarters and primary aircraft manufacturing facility. Today, it is no longer the company's headquarters (Boeing moved it's headquarters to Chicago, IL). However, it is still home to Boeing facilities that specialize in final preparation of aircraft for delivery, testing and painting. Most Boeing planes are now manufactured north of Seattle in the city of Everett, at Everett/Paine Field Airport, but the company maintains a sizeable presence at BFI.

BFI features two runways, Runway 10L/36R and 10R/36L. Runway 10L/36R is used only for smaller aircraft and general aviation. All others use Runway 10R/36L.

Some photos of Boeing's facilities at BFI...

On the bottom left is ABX Air's Boeing 767 freighter. ABX is a cargo airline with flights to Cincinnati, Portland and Vancouver, BC, Canada from BFI.

BFI is home to a general aviation facility...

It is also home to an executive air terminal, serving the executives of the many companies with headquarters and operations in the Seattle area and those Sims rich enough to own their own Lear Jet...

United Parcel Service (UPS) operates its primary Seattle-area air operations from BFI airport.

BFI also features a small passenger terminal. Passenger service is limited to destinations near Seattle. The airport is currently served by San Juan Airlines and Kenmore Air, both operating Cessna 208 aircraft. Kenmore Air offers a free shuttle service between BFI and Seattle/Tacoma International Airport. All flights arriving at BFI from Canada (Nanaimo and Tofino, British Columbia) clear US Customs & Immigration at BFI, as there are no US Customs & Immigration preclearance facilities at Nanaimo and Tofino airports.

BFI is also home to the Museum of Flight, located on the southwest side of the airport. The Museum of Flight, a privately owned museum and educational center, is a very popular tourist attraction, with over 400,000 visitors each year. Inside the main building are many exhibits, including many different aircraft.

The museum is also home to Building No. 105, Boeing Corporation's original manufacturing facility, which has been preserved and is now part of the museum. Bldg. No. 105 sits between the museum's main building and the air park.

Across the street from the museum's main building is an open-air plaza called the "air park" featuring several historical planes: a Pan Am 747-100, a British Airways Concorde, a United 737-200 and a military cargo plane. Visitors can tour the interiors of all of the planes except the military cargo plane. The air park is connected to the main museum building by pedestrian sky bridge. At one point, the air park featured VC-137B SAM 970, the first presidential jet which served in the presidential fleet from 1956 to 1996. That plane was moved to the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA in 2013.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed this part of your Seattle tour. Stay tuned for more!

... ps: I uploaded some bonus shots of Portland here: