Seattle August 14, 2012 Pt 2

The hostel is great.  They call themselves an art hostel because each room has been painted by a local Seattle artist.  It's got a great young atmosphere and everyone is friendly.  We get breakfast each morning and yesterday we met Cora, a young woman who lives in Minnesota but is from the Congo.  We invited her to join us on a trip to the beach.  I need to get myself psyched up just to tell you about the trek.  We took a bus which was about a half hour ride.  Once there it dropped us off at an unassuming corner with two arrows; go this way for cars, go that way for trucks taller than 9'.  That was it.  There was a trail and we figured that must be the way.  The first thing we saw were 78 concrete steps.

At the bottom of these 78 steep steps were... more steps!  Then a long and steep dirt path with wooden beams to create the illusion of steps.

  Don't be fooled, it was as steep as a dirt foot path on the edge of a mountain.   Then we had a ninety degree turn and more steps.  We finally reached the bottom.  Pant pant pant.  We crossed a street, walked through a tunnel that ran under a train track and emerged on the other side to see... the beach.

The sand was hot.  I could see the heat waves coming off of it, and the water was cold.  We stayed for a little over an hour.  Hannah was the only one who would go in the water, but it was even a little cold for her.  During our walk down I kept remembering the heed to hikers going down the Grand Canyon, "Remember, if you go down, you must come back up!"  Here is what we saw as we walked down and then back up the side of the mountain.  It was gorgeous, like emerging from a forest, an emerald forest, to discover a beach or street corner.  Three separate worlds.

If something pops into your mind after reading this next sentence you HAVE to reply with whatever it was that popped into your mind.  On the way back we ran into a man and his dingo.  

After doing a few more things that aren't all that interesting to most, half of us went to the hostel and the other half went to a friend's.  

This morning we all met up at the Space Needle.  The Skycity Restaurant is a revolving restaurant that does a full revolution every 47 minutes.  We sat right beside the window.  After lunch we were able to go up to the observation desk.  Remember one of my goals was to hang from the Space Needle?

  Yes, hanging from the guard rail counts.

After that we went to the EMP, Experience Music Project at Sara and Sean's suggestion.  It's kind of like an interactive music museum.  They had an exhibit about Nirvana, the movie Avatar, an exhibit showing various instruments, and a Jimi Hendrix exhibit.  I didn't get any requests for a kilt, but if this orange velvet is more your number let me know before I leave.

In their sci-fi section they had some cool memorabilia.  Walking stick and necklace of Yoda's this is...

 I didn't buy anything in the gift shop, but I found some things funny enough to photograph.

We are now back at the hostel, resting.  

I have enjoyed my time here but I don't know if I'll be back.  The number of homeless in Pioneer Square, where we first stayed, is staggering.  It was a loud commentary on how America treats its poor and how Seattle treats its poor.  The reason for the heavy concentration is that so many agencies for the homeless are located in Pioneer Square.  With one or two exceptions, everyone (except the bus drivers) in Seattle has been friendly, accommodating, and helpful.  Like any city it has its dirt, but once you get out of the immediate downtown area it cleans up beautifully.  It is a beautiful city, lots of trees, flowers, art, and more.  There are great restaurants too.  If you've been thinking about heading here you should.  I would not advise someone to stay away from Pioneer Square, just don't stay there alone.  A group of women, or bringing a guy friend along will increase your feelings of being safe.  But remember, Pioneer Square is just one of dozens of neighborhoods, many are exceptional.

Thanks for coming along with me.  I hope you had fun and remember, I want to hear from you if the dingo made you think of ANYTHING!!!

Seattle August 4, 2012

Good morning fellow travelers.  Thursday we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.  I was happy to see that there was a mom with a young child behind me as went through security.  It makes me feel less rushed when that happens.  However, there were two older women who were behind both of us who must have been in a rush to get to sit and wait for their plane because they just barged right through between me and the mom behind me, speaking loudly all the way, "This is ridiculous!  I'm not waiting for this..."  One was respectfully asked to remove her shoes and she shouted, "75 or older.  I don't have to," then she proceeded through the body scanner.  As this was happening, Hannah was removing her brand new sparkly pink cowgirl boots.  

Children 12 and under do not have to remove their shoes, but her fancy schmancy new boots set off the metal detectors so she had to.  She was sitting on the floor when the 75+ woman barged her way through. In her rush to get no where she almost stepped on Hannah.  Apparently something was detected in her bag because she was taken aside and had her bag searched, all the while complaining loudly.  All I could think was, "Karma's a bitch," as I gathered our stuff and moved along, still ahead of her in the line that goes no where.  Sorry, 75+ doesn't make you more important than a 6 year old with sparkly pink cowgirl boots.  Respect and kindness go a long way, whatever your age.

I learned the best, greatest, perhaps most significant traveling tip EVER yesterday.  It's so simple, really, that what I did that I thought was so so smart, now leaves me feeling like an idiot.  I like to decorate my luggage with ribbons so that when it's time to collect it I can easily distinguish it from all the other boring black suitcases.  I have also been known to take pictures of my luggage so that in the event it gets lost I can describe what is missing.  This lady has taken luggage identification up a notch.  "What does your luggage look like, ma'am?"  "It looks like me..."

We had twelve hours of travel; Sarasota to Atlanta, to Salt Lake City, to Seattle.  Every flight was full.  Before each flight they would ask for anyone who was willing to check their luggage for free (the check bag fee is $25).  In Sarasota I volunteered, giving up my largest bag.  What I foolishly forgot is that my largest bag is also the one with wheels.  What was I thinking?  After lugging the backpack around the Atlanta airport with the computer, camera, and Hannah's bag, I splurged and spent a whopping $12 on one of those little cart things.  My back hasn't stopped thanking me.

I like it when people call their children names like, "pumpkin," or "sweet pea", but this woman took it to a cruel level.  It's one thing if your kid is a little ugly, but to point it out... please don't call your kid "monkey."

Yes, we had a spider monkey on the flight.

Ariel and Tyler met us at the airport.  We drove around and around and around looking for a parking spot before finding one half a block from the apartment.  We climbed the three flights of stairs with the heavy luggage, walked into the hallway once we got to the third floor and PASSED THE ELEVATOR that we didn't see earlier, on our way to the apartment.  The apartment is great.  Spacious, clean, pretty.  Lots of large large windows that were all open.  There are no screens on the windows because there are no mosquitos and few enough flies that no one cares.  I stumbled into bed at 12:00 Seattle time, 3:00 Sarasota time, but I was up bright and early 8:00 Sarasota time.  

I left the loft early by myself to get some groceries.  I followed the directions the owner of the loft gave me and walked the mile or so.  I got there, waited for the light to turn green and thought, This doesn't really look like a grocery store... I asked the guy standing beside me, "Is this a grocery store?" He said,  "no, the nearest one, that isn't really all that close by is..."  it was about a mile and a half in the other direction!!!  I walked into the store just in case, and he was right.  It was not a grocery store. I started walking toward the grocery store and saw a woman.  I asked her where the closest grocery store is (just in case there was a closer one) and she said that there isn't one in the city.  I kept walking anyway.  I found it, and it is indeed a plain old regular grocery store.  Not as big as Publix, but I found everything I was looking for.

We spent much of the day finding parking for Ariel's car.  While driving around we found a place that was on my list of places to go; Archie McPhee's. 

http://www.mcphee.com/shop/ .  This store has everything you never knew you needed.  Who doesn't need squirrel underpants?  Want to be surprised?  Get a grab bag.

 OMD!!! (Oh My Dad)

We took a lot of buses, walked a lot, had pizza, burgers, saw lots and lots of homeless people. Unlike in Sarasota, which as you all know, doesn't have any homeless people, which is why we don't need any of the pesky benches downtown.  Hannah and I got home around 10:00 last night and promptly collapsed.

We are staying right in the middle of a city.  It is loud and the noise goes until 2:00 in the morning, when it abruptly ceases.