Seattle

I realized that if I don't get some posts up relevant to first impressions they might be lost forever. Dates here won't match up, but I'm going to try to start at the beginning! And once I've caught up... should be easier to keep current.

So at the beginning of my trip, I stopped over in Seattle for a few days, to decompress from frantic packing and preparations, and visit with my friend Rachel who's been living there for a few years. I flew on Friday, Sept 9th, (seems so long ago now!) and left Boston in the late afternoon, so the flight followed the sunset for hours. The time difference was only 3 hours but lack of sleep for days in advance left me very susceptible to jetlag, it seemed. I landed at SEA-TAC at about 9pm, where Rachel and her boyfriend met me and took me back to her place. It was hours before we made it back, as there had been a nasty accident on the highway - I had seen it from the air, and wished I had thought to suggest an alternate route!

Seattle really impressed me with the way it is such a hoppin' city and yet is mostly constituted by quiet neighborhoods full of funky houses. It srtuck me that most people seem to put a lot of effort into landscaping their yards - the overall effect gives everything a bit of a storybook feeling. Rachel's house was in just such a neighborhood, and the house is very cool! I can see why she and her housemates have been in that same place for years - I wouldn't want to give it up either!

From her place, we walked a few blocks toward Green Lake (a man-made pond with a park around it) and had gigantic burritos at a neat little mexican place. It was such a treat to find good food so late at night - in Bangor, nothing is open past 9! On Saturday, Rachel took me downtown to try to get some errands and things knocked off my list, and we ended up both getting haircuts. I wanted to compliment the transition to a new lifestyle with a bit of a new look. Well, I got more than I bargained for, because a bit later I got attacked at the department store and subjected to a makeover at the expensive makeup counter. The result was a pretty impressive contrast to my usual look, but note that in this picture, I am wearing my skeptical face!


On Sunday evening, we went sushi-bar-hopping! What fun! We started at a kaiten (conveyor-belt style) place called Blue C, which had a Tokyo JR theme, with all of the plates ringed in the colors of the different train lines. I wish I had studied the names a little better, I might have given myself a head start learning how to get around here! We didn't have conveyor belt sushi, but sat in a little balcony bar looking down over it, and enjoyed designer martinis and cheap Happy Hour sushi!

From Blue C, we walked a bit further up into the Tremont neighborhood, and went into a really fancy place (name??) where we stuffed ourselves on the best sushi I've ever had. The pear martini was a really good match too! After dinner, we walked around a bit and stopped into this place called Postmark Gelato - this place was great! Really excellent gelato, and a great collection of funky, wacky postcards. I stocked up, but will have to go there again on my way home next year!

Unfortunately, a lot of Seattle escaped my camera - we rode buses everywhere, and the clouded window of a city bus does not frame the best shots. But hopefully the few I got will be enough to give a cool impression of the city...

Monday evening, my last night in Seattle, Rachel and I treated ourselves to a high-class meal. We went to the Brooklyn (I think that was the name!), a nice bistro with a rich art-deco kind of feel to it, and ordered the most decadent things we could find on the menu: roasted oysters, crabcakes, filet mignon, seafood ravioli, etc. Everything was so incredibly good - when I get a real job someday, I'm going to be sure to go back there!

Leaving Seattle was kind of hard, and not only because I was really really leaving this time, or because Seattle was a ton of fun (which it was!), but because we did not have a ride to the airport this time!! Rachel helped me schlepp my year's worth of luggage across town and out to SEA-TAC all by bus, not counting the parts on foot. It was kind of a nightmare! (Thanks Rachel, you are an angel!!) On the way to the airport, I got the briefest, vaguest glimpse of Mt. Rainier out of the bus window. It was SOOOO much bigger than I ever imagined it would look! The scale is incredible, it takes up like a third of your view of the horizon! Maybe next time, I'll have a chance to get a clearer look at it.



Thanks for putting up with me Rachel! (Me and my soap operas, that is!) Looking forward to visiting again! ;-)