Back on the highway, approaching a drawbridge:
I keep getting nostalgic looking at these, it’s such a
beautiful backdrop, having a downtown with forested hills in the background:
I was of course aiming to go to Voodoo Donuts for a second
time in less than 24 hours. Here’s where that “pedestrians have the
right-of-way” thing got me good. I come up to a stop sign across the street
from there, and I stop a little far into the crosswalk right as a bearded dude
was about to cross. I didn’t mean to zoom into his personal space, I just
happened to stop there, which he took offense to, and flipped me off. I didn’t
like that, so I peeled out hard as I turned right, and squealed to a halt into
a parking spot a block away. Guess who shows up right then, and flips me off a
second time? Yep, that same guy. He was not thin, so his pudgy middle finger
pointing straight up made it an extra ugly flipping of the bird…by this point,
I just put my hands in the air, and hung my head on the steering wheel, feeling
quite defeated and like I was off to a bad start.
I didn’t take any pictures of the incident, so you’ll just
have to take my word for it. There was a line at Voodoo even at this morning
hour on a holiday, and it was a more awkward line than the day before. There
was an intense looking guy meandering in the street by Voodoo, and every couple
of minutes he’d yell really angry statements or simple F bombs, which made me
vaguely nervous that he’d randomly attack someone in line. He’d yell some
things like “I need some ****ing cigarettes!!!!” Which, judging by that level of irritation, he did! Thankfully he didn’t make any
moves in our direction, and after 20 minutes or so, I got inside and ordered 2
maple bacons and another cold brew. I ordered multiple donuts because I hadn’t
eaten anything yet and figured I’d need a snack on the way to Seattle. I ate
the first outside with some of the cold coffee, again very delicious and
attention getting at that earlier hour of day. The lucky upside to this meal
was that on holidays, parking in downtown Portland is free!
I got back in the car, got situated with my food and drink,
played some Top Gun anthem for a mood booster, and got on I-5 north, across a
few bridges and eventually across the Columbia River into Washington. This was
my attempt to get a last shot of Portland before I left the city limits, and a
shot along I-5 near Washington:
I wish I’d taken more pictures of the forests in Washington
on the way to Seattle, it really is the Evergreen State. I got a couple, and
then I saw none other than Mount Saint Helens in the distance:
It’s been 33 years since that volcano blew its top. St.
Helens is at a point less than half of the 175 miles from Portland to Seattle.
I don’t think the two cities have a rivalry as much as maybe Boston and New York,
or Dallas and Houston. I didn’t really hear anything bad about the cities from
residents of either one, maybe just a mutual respect. Now that I think of it,
the Madrids might have been going somewhere in the southern part of the Seattle
area on their trip that day…
I took few pictures and listened less intently to music
overall on I-5 because I was feeling bent out of shape from the flipping off
incident, and other negative emotions that had been beneath the surface began
to make themselves known. I needed prayer, and a slowdown in pace; even with
staying an extra night with the Madrids, the trip was starting to wear me down
a little bit. I did finish the second maple bacon bar, and felt funky in the stomach afterwards.
I had come up with a mission for lunch when I got to Seattle though, and that was to try and find fish’n’chips that was at least as good as the ones I’d had in San Francisco. Thanks to Yelp, I’d located a place in West Seattle that I thought should do the trick.
I had come up with a mission for lunch when I got to Seattle though, and that was to try and find fish’n’chips that was at least as good as the ones I’d had in San Francisco. Thanks to Yelp, I’d located a place in West Seattle that I thought should do the trick.
Seattle has a taller downtown than Portland, and it can be
seen from far away, between Seattle and Tacoma even:
And I had to pass by the Port of Seattle, which is a really
really big one, to get to the west neighborhood:
The place I went for lunch was called Seattle Fish Company,
on California Avenue, in a parallel parking, walkable neighborhood west of the
port. It has a seafood market on one side of the restaurant, and a dining area
by the streetside windows. I ordered my fish’n’chips in the market area, and
got them quickly and sat at the window, looking out on California Ave., for people
watching purposes. The restaurant had a map of Puget Sound and pictures of the
Sound and Seattle on the walls. The food was quite good, but it wasn’t as
heavenly as the fish’n’chips at the Sea Lion Café. Not a problem, it just
helped me appreciate how good I’d had it in San Fran at Pier 39. I filled up
and drove back east to get on Aurora North, with a final destination of the
O.S. (Original Starbucks) in mind.
To preface this scene, you should know I’d been to Seattle
twice, in 2004 and 2005 with my parents, going to see family near the Canadian
border and to go to Vancouver and Whistler in British Columbia. So I’d been to
the Original Starbucks at least once, and I know I got a very decked out Venti
Mocha Frappuccino there, which was amazing! I liked what little I’d seen of
Seattle back then, and that trend continued on this Labor Day.
Seattle’s downtown towers by Puget Sound look really modern
and cool, and Aurora North (great name for a road right?) even goes up a level
as it passes Safeco Field, where King Felix has reigned of late:
I got a shot of Puget Sound and what’s probably Bainbridge
Island way off in the distance:
I went for the head on approach first, seeing if by a
miracle there were any parking spots in Pike Place Market:
There weren’t. From there I drove around a few blocks
nearby, even briefly parking in a Zipcar lot before realizing what it was. I
eventually found a lot with some spots, for only a few dollars, and a
mid-ranged walk from Pike Place:
The area was very vertical, and easy to walk in. Walking
down Virginia Street, I had to choose a lower gear so to speak as it descended
toward Waterfront Park and into the market:
The Original Starbucks is like a club, with many dozens of
people in line outside and inside the store, and I’d saved a free drink coupon
to get another $6, decked out Mocha Frappuccino with an extra shot of espresso for
this special occasion:
The Duckies and I were psyched to be there. Instragram and
Facebook had to be lit up as well, which took a few minutes with everybody on
their phones in that crowded area. I gathered up the Duckies and the uber drink
and wandered though the market, looking for a list of dinner spots in the city
and taking pictures of surrounding buildings:
Nobody tossed any big fish at me, I saw that in the fish market last time in Seattle. I liked exploring the area on foot, there were even some
restaurants and shops in the alleys between streets:
I then walked down to the main road to get a couple of
pictures of Mount Rainier:
There were a lot of people out on the grass at the park, and
I think there was literally some kind of festival celebrating Weed that
weekend. Welcome to Seattle!
I was also at a good spot to see the very bright sun
gleaming off the surface of the Sound:
And why not, more pictures of the harbor and the towers of
downtown before I left Pike Place:
Maybe because of lack of water, or lack of rest, I texted my
contact Ben to let him know that at this time, around 5 pm, I was going to go
to his house and crash early. He then sent me directions to a house north of
Portage Bay, in the University District. I’d originally wanted to revisit the
Space Needle and get dinner away from the house, but I was worn down by this
point, in many regards. I needed to hit the brakes physically for an evening
and regain some mojo.
I made it to the house by 6, driving right by the Space
Needle in the process. When I got into the University District, and was driving
on narrow and surprisingly hilly streets, I realized Seattle resembles San
Francisco in some ways geographically. I hadn’t figured that out before in 2005
because we hadn’t stayed in the city and hadn’t had to navigate any of the
low-rise residential areas.
I got to a big multistory house at the end of a cul-de-sac
on 52nd, and parked in a full driveway. I walked up to the front
door, and met someone who wasn’t named Ben. Turns out that 13 guys lived there,
and they’d just started moving in on Friday. Therefore, the place was a
freaking mess! Couches and boxes everywhere. Guys were trickling in and out
around dinnertime. I just dropped my stuff on the couch closest to the front
door and got to know a few of the guys as they came in from hanging out in
Seattle on Labor Day. Somebody brought in a pizza around 8, which was my
dinner. This was a Discipleship, or “D”, house, like the ones I’d hung out in
back in Waco. Everyone who lived there worked odd jobs, ate stuff like
hamburger helper in bulk when they weren’t eating pizza, and they were all
skinny haha. Nice folks though; I got to talk some sports with Ryan, the house
leader who welcomed me in. He coined a good term, that we called “sports hate”,
like when you hate a basketball player named Paul Pierce or whatever, you don’t
hate him in real life, just in sports life. I like the compromise.
Around 11, people started filing up and downstairs to
bed, and a guy named Danny and I chose one couch each, mine in the main living
room, and his in the front area closest to the street, and bedded down for the
night, ipod sleep playlist soothing me into blissful dreams. I think I slept
under my beach towel…goodnight!
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