~ Seattle adventures ~

Josh and I went to Seattle for a few days last week to celebrate the anniversary of my birth. Yay, birth! Our adventures centered around eating, shopping, and wandering. As a preliminary, photos are available on my Seattle photoset.

For the hotel, I received a banging good deal on a place downtown. Downtown, however, has a number of meanings. For me, "downtown" refers to a place where all of the cool young people spend their time. I attribute this interpretation to the fact that Boise is not a big city. In cities larger than Boise, "downtown" generally refers to the business and financial district. When I scheduled the hotel, I didn't give any consideration to the meaning of "downtown." And so, in Seattle, we found ourselves among lots of people in business suits, towering skyscrapers, and concrete. As such, we embraced our walking shoes and the bus system, so as to spend a good amount of time outside of downtown.

For the hotel, I'd also like to mention that this was advertised as "a three-star hotel for the price of a two-star." Which was exciting because Josh and I normally stay at 1 or 0.5 star hotels, so we were living the high life!

We arrived at the SeaTac airport Wednesday afternoon. The bus system, I found very user-friendly and affordable. It cost $1.50 to ride from the airport to downtown. After we checked into our hotel, we employed a technique that we used several times during the trip: asking locals for recommendations. As restaurants in the downtown area were pretty expensive, Josh asked a local person for a cheap place for dinner. She referred us to Bruno's, an Italian / Mexican restaurant. That odd combination (Italian/Mexican) should have compelled us to turn around, but we were hungry. The interior of the establishment was overflowing with plastic plants, which should have also compelled us to turn around, but we were hungry. I had a chimichanga from the Mexican side of the menu, and Josh had some spaghetti from the Italian side. The two sides of the menu offered very different experiences: I loved my chimichanga, Josh was really disappointed with his spaghetti. I had a decent opinion of the establishment until we were about to leave and I decided to visit the restroom. Let me tell you, if I had gone to the restroom when we had first arrived, I would have insisted that Josh and I leave immediately. I was very disturbed and revolted by the conditions of the restroom and I can no longer look back on my chimichanga experience without being grossed out.

Our next adventure involved a lot of wandering around. We wandered over to Pike's Market, along the waterfront, and then through downtown. We stopped for beers at a place called Cyclops, where Josh ordered a special local beer that I forget the name of. Later that evening, we went down to Pioneer Square. From a street vendor, we bought DELICIOUS hotdogs and then went to New Orleans (a pub) for more beer and live jazz music. There, we had the Purple Haze raspberry beer, about which I had mixed feelings. The jazz was wonderful.

THURSDAY

The next day, we started the day right with some caffeine and treats at a coffee shop. We then went over to Columbia Tower, and rode the elevators to the 73rd floor to admire the view. After that, we went back down to Pioneer Square and did our main tourist activity, participating in the Underground Tour. It was very interesting and provided a good opportunity to get out of the rain for a bit. Ah, I haven't mentioned the weather: it was overcast and rainy for 99% of the time. You all probably recall the numerous times that I have indicated my preference for non-rain, but it proved to be quite tolerable with my rain-proof jacket.

For lunch, we wandered over to the International District and went to an "authentic Hong Kong" restaurant. Josh and I were feeling like exploring food options outside of our normal comfort level. And so he ordered noodles with oyster sauce and kidneys and liver, while I ordered shrimp potstickers and some meat/rice dish that I forget what it was. Josh's noodles were good (I helped myself plenty to his meal). I've been wanting to try liver for some time, as it is supposed to be really good for one's person. I ate 1.5 pieces of liver before the gag reflex began. Josh ate all of the rest. The kidneys were a different story. I'm not sure the nutritional benefit of kidneys, but Josh ate one piece and was extremely revolted. He articulated that the kidney tasted like solidified urine and recommended that I not sample one. My personal meal experience would have been better if I had gone with vegetarian options, as I am not a very good carnivore. I ate most of my rice and had some good potsticker experiences, but then I had several instances where I bit into a meat product and wasn't sure what it was that I had in my mouth, and wished that I had gone with a vegetable dish.

We then wandered for a very long time. Eventually, we got to the Capitol Hill area where we visited some shops and had a sit-down at a coffee shop. As we were making our way back to downtown, Josh became stricken with a severe case of Athlete's Foot. I surmise that the soggy shoes from all the rain were responsible. We parted ways at a pharmacy where he could get some ointment for his feet and I continued to wander. I went into a number of retail stores and tried on about four hundred clothing items, but did not find anything I wanted to purchase. I then returned to the hotel, utterly exhausted, and vegetated in front of the television for some time.

That evening, we went for dinner at Elliot's which came highly recommended. We spent a lot of money on crab, which Josh has apparently never before eaten. It was not the best crab dinner as a result of what I believe was margarine instead of butter. Afterwards, we wandered some more.

FRIDAY

After getting some coffee and breakfast, Josh and I took the bus up to the Freemont area where we walked around. There were a number of shops we visited, and Josh procured a pair of pants. We also had lunch there, at some super new-agey/hippie place which I don't recall the name of...something like Silence-Heart-Spirit, or whatever.

After that, we decided to catch a bus to the university district. While waiting at the bus stop, I identified a fellow knitter by her hand-knit scarf and struck up a conversation about local yarn shops. As a result of my being VERY introverted, I'm not generally one to converse with strangers and, for me, meeting people is near-to impossible, but throw knitting into the situation and I'm suddenly rather extroverted.

In the University District, Josh and I found several second-hand stores to peruse. I had good luck and found FIVE shirt items for no more than $10 each. Afterwards, I deposited Josh at a coffee shop and went off to the recommended yarn shop, where I found myself in yarn shop heaven. It was called Weaving Works and I was impressed with how well organized it was. Normally, the yarn organization of a yarn shop can elude me, but this place was very well organized by fiber content and then by brand. I was shopping for yarn for two projects that I've got in mind and I splurged big time. After considerable thought and comparison, I chose Noro Silk Garden for a scarf and Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed for a sweater. They are glorious! I also purchased two sets of four buttons, which I found very satisfying. Afterwards, we asked some people for a dinner recommendation and they referred us to an Indian restaurant. Josh and I shared an order of samosas and a curry dish. I also had a beer. It was, by far, the best meal of the entire trip, and was one of the more affordable meals.

To top off the evening (and because our feet were tired), we decided to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was not very good and we probably could have done something better with our time, but whatever.

SATURDAY

We got breakfast at a recommended establishment (which proved to be not very good) and walked around a bit before catching the bus to the airport.

All in all, it was a good trip but the weather made me somewhat depressed. We arrived to a sunshiney Boise and my spirits are getting back to normal. Yesterday, we went on a fun mountain bike ride. I need to put in some time on the bike this week, as I recently found out that Josh and I have been sponsored to ride the 100 mile course in this coming weekend's Bob LeBow Bike Tour for which I am utterly unprepared! Something tells me that I will not be riding the entire 100 miles - - hello sag wagon!!!

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