So much to say, where do I begin? I guess I need to back track a little bit to catch this up. I talked about Portland and going to Seattle, and I talked about Bryce Canyon and getting to the Grand Canyon, but I never talked about Seattle.
I had a really good time in Seattle. Josh, an old friend of mine has lived out there for a few years and just by coincidence, my cousin Nick was also coming out at the same time to visit Josh, so we all got to hang out. I also got to see my mom, who also just happened to be there for work. Let me see if I can get into some of the details here.
I got into Seattle on the evening of the 5th? It's hard to remember, all the days seem to be blending together. I got there and met up with Josh after a bit of trouble with the bus system. I actually got off the bus a few blocks too early, so Josh had to come find me. I have to set this up here, Josh is an old friend, we went to school and church together, but he was never a good friend. I don't think I ever hung out with him other than at church functions. The point is, I haven't seen him or really talked to him in years. The last time I saw him he may have actually been in high school. Then he was a little goofy seeming, tall, thin guy with curly/wavy hair. So, I'm waiting on the street corner with my bags, looking out for this guy, when who should approach, but a guy with straight hair swept over one eye, a leather jacket, tight jeans and low leather boots. I could see him across the street talking to me on his cell phone, but I still couldn't believe it was him. He's definitely the last guy I would have picked to turn into some kind of hipster. But, he's still just as nice and cool as he always was. We went to get some dinner and a beer and waited for Nick to arrive, then we headed to Josh's apartment for some more beer and talking with Josh and his band mates and girlfriend. It was about 11 o'clock when Nick and I both realized we didn't have a place to stay. But, Josh was nice enough to vacate his place to stay with his girlfriend upstairs and let Nick and I share his bed. Josh had to work in the morning, so Nick and I had to get out early and figure out what we were doing. We knew the place we wanted to stay, and there was a little cafe under it, so that's where we went. We were in the university district, and had to walk down "the ave," the big strip in the area. If you're familiar with IU, imagine a couple of guys walking down Kirkwood with all their bags while college students hustle around to their classes. We kind of stuck out.
We got some coffee, though and got a place to stay for the night, then headed right over to the campus to look around. Again, time to stick out. Two guys with no books or bags, but cameras in hand, wandering aimlessly and taking pictures of trees and things. It's a really nice campus, though. There's also a really great view of Mt. Ranier that we snapped a few pictures of at sunset. between the campus tour and sunset we went to gasworks park. I don't know the exact story behind it. I don't know if gas refers to natural gas or gasoline, and I'm not going to pretend to know what I'm talking about because I'll just end up looking dumber. But now, it's just old pipes and pumps and things by the water with a big grassy hill nearby, and it's actually quite cool. A great place for pictures.
Josh didn't want to come out that night, but that didn't stop Nick and I. We got an early start at the pub in the basement of our hotel building, drinking beer and shots of Jameson. It was a good time, though neither of us could really remember leaving nor if we remembered to close our tabs. But, a quick check in our wallets proved that we had indeed closed our tabs and gotten our credit cards back. And thanks to online banking it wasn't long before I could see that I hadn't done anything crazy like buy a round for the whole bar.
The next day we went to the Experience Music Project and Sci-fi Museum--a pair that anyone would put together I think. The EMP was really cool. Lots of neat guitars and little American music history exhibits. Basically focused all on rock, and a lot about the Northwest. And, even though I'm not a huge sci fi fan, and didn't see anything there about the Twilight Zone, the sci-fi museum was pretty cool too. They had so much stuff to look at and see. It actually made me want to check out some old sci-fi books and movies.
We also went to an old bar/restaurant place for lunch. I can't remember if it's just called 5 point or 5 point bar or something like that, but it seemed pretty cool. Though, once again I stuck out like a sore thumb. Josh was wearing his signature black leather jacket and tight jeans and all the regulars and employees were dressed in black, Nick had on a gray shirt and a black jacket or something over it...and I was wearing a white button down shirt with multi-colored stripes that I bought in Korea. Oh, and I still had the little pink sticker on my chest that they give you in the museum to show you've paid.
That night I went out to the airport to meet my mom and talk to her a bit. Got to stay in a nice Hilton hotel. It was a pretty nice place, but one thing I couldn't believe is that they didn't have free wi-fi. I've seen that advertised at so many dingy looking roadside motels that I can't believe an upscale place like that is charging their guests. I guess they know they get a lot of business people using company accounts who are gonna pay rather than go without it. It was good to see my mom and a couple of people she works with. Plus I got free dinner and breakfast. That evening, though I had a drink at the bar and got to chat with a guy who I think is in the insurance business. I can't remember it all now, but a big time business traveler, bouncing from city to city seeing different people and always on the move. It was fun to trade some stories with him.
After Seattle, I rented a car and headed down to Bryce Canyon--which I've already talked about. I think I need a break from this now, but I'll try to put up another update soon so that my blogging is all caught up. There are more good stories to come, and pictures too!
No comments:
Post a Comment