"You can't buy cool with a bunch of Seattle-centric, flannel-shirted mini-Bills driving new Ford Expeditions, wallowing in their overheated stock options and soaring sense of self-worth. World-class creativity requires more than rational thinking. It takes a certain madness."

           -- Jeffrey Young

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Is There a Starbucks Around Here?
After a close Superbowl with a disappointing outcome we headed over to Elizabeth and Dan's, our Hotel Washington. Elizabeth and Niles are friends from high school. She and her husband Dan, have a 15 month old adorable daughter Marietta and two cute pups named Shona and Moonshine. They are getting ready to move back east to Charlottesville, Virginia after many years in the Pacific Northwest.

Well rested we got up Monday and hit a couple of touristy spots with the whole family (minus pooches). We went to Pike Place Market and had lunch overlooking the sound. Then we caught a little fish slinging at the market before taking a short stroll around downtown. Dan told us that Seattle is trying to clean up downtown and push the strip clubs out (ala Guiliani), which is a shame since Niles still loves the image of a woman-owned strip club, The Lusty Lady, directly across the street from the Seattle Art Museum. After our stroll, we headed up to Seattle Center. There we saw the Space Needle (but didn't go inside -- many locals refuse to do so ...  its just toooooo touristy.) We also got to check out the Experience Music Project, another Frank Gehry building (very similar to the others, but still interesting, for those who care). The EMP is a Paul Allen project (like the Seahawks and the Trailblazers) but appeared to be struggling a little bit. It's supposed to be an interactive rock and roll museum. Like Discovery Place on acid. Dan said most of the promising exhibits turned out to be lame. So we didn't go in.

Tuesday we all loaded up into the van and drove downtown where we caught the ferry to the Olympic Peninsula. Once we got out there we went on a nice hike, until in the high altitude it got too snowy and slick. We rented a cabin on a little lake with a hot tub. We cooked beer-butt chicken on Dan's fancy beer-butt chicken grill attachment, and had a quiet dinner. After we had cleaned up we heard a waterfall coming down through the cabin's floorboards from the bedroom into the kitchen. The goldfish crackers were the only casualty to the dog's accident in the bedroom, although Niles? was lucky enough to get dripped on the head while he was cleaning the downstairs part of the mess.

After Marietta fell asleep the adults hit the hot tub, baby monitor in tow. Amie and Dan were pooped pretty early so the old high school chums got to catch up under the stars while soaking in the warmth of the water.

The next morning we loaded everyone into the van: 4 adults, 3 dogs, 1 baby and tons of accessories, and tried to leave (headed for a quaint town for lunch before maybe a hike then to the ferry). But the van refused to start. Fifty minutes later, after Niles had used his credit card to get us back in the cabin and AAA had arrived, we piled in the car again. As we went from park to reverse, the van gave up, never to start again (for the rest of the day, anyway). The AAA guy's tow truck was in the shop so we had to wait for another guy to show up from further away with his truck to tow us to Seattle. The first guy was super-nice (as you might imagine from his volunteer job of being an EMT, this on top of his 3 regular jobs) and volunteered to drive those of us who couldn't fit in the tow truck 25 miles to the Ferry (since the tow truck could fit two adults only, and had no belt for a car seat).

The dogs were the only ones allowed to ride in the van whiles it was being towed. So the girls crammed in with the nice guy whom had been with us for going on 4 hours now, and the boys climbed in with a much more colorful fellow. Once in Seattle, (Dan's) Brother Ben (Marietta's name for him) picked the girls up at the Ferry terminal while the boys took the van to a local shop and walked the dogs home. We had a boatload of Thai food delivered ... first meal for most of us all day.

The next day was slow, a bit of time for recovery from the previous day's drama. Niles walked to the mechanic to chat about the van ? turns out it was just the alternator, as we suspected. Easy enough to fix, and everything else checked out, we should be good to go for the rest of the trip. Amie and Alex went for a long run around a great lake near the house. We walked to a coffee shop and lunch, then to pick up the fixed van. Had steaks at the house with the family and went to watch yet another close OT game - everyone else in the bar was concentrating on watching Tim Duncan play their Sonics, but plenty of TV's were on the nation's biggest basketball game.

The next morning we went to Yoga at the Y with Brother Ben, and had lunch in the Pioneer district down by the water. There are so many breweries around here, so we stopped at the Pyramid brewery, but tours weren't until after five so we didn't get one. We did get to drive around the two new stadiums right across the street.

Friday night in the big city .... We decided to check out the nightlife and ended up in a trendy area called Fremont. Its another one of those places (like SoHo or Haight-Ashbury) that used to be a counter-culture hotspot, but has now been gentrified. Since we decided we were into that scene we dove right in. Had a drink while a blues quartet played at a bar called Norms (Norm is a dog), then Sushi at a fun conveyer-belt sushi place.

Now it's Saturday. Dan and Marietta are off to the Caucus. Although I doubt Marietta will get to vote, I'm sure she will turn heads. Elizabeth is sleeping today now that she's back at work nights; we were lucky enough to catch her during almost a week off.

We should be headed East on Monday. Plan to get the oil changed and laundry washed and all that non-glamorous but part of life kind of stuff finished, then pack up and head towards the Atlantic. We'll be in touch soon ? don't know when or from where, but soon!

Love,
Niles, Amie and Alex