Seattle

After my mishap in Napavine I completed the remaining few hours to Seattle with no problems. Unsurprisingly it was raining a lot when I got there and one of the first things I did was buy new wiper blades, which turned out to be money very well spent.

A friend of mine in Seattle lives in a sort of tech co-op called Leastsqaures and they generously offered me space on one of their spare beds. The view from the porch, overlooking Portage Bay out to the UW football stadium, was excellent even in grey conditions. Their house was well located and for most of my time in Seattle Van Halen stayed parked in the driveway.

On the morning of the second day I awoke with shock to find the sun shining, the birds singing, and the people out enjoying a rare day of wonderful March weather. My friend and I took advantage of the respite from the rain as he showed me all over the Capitol Hill neighborhood. After an amazing sandwich at the resurrected Paseo’s we hopped on bikes (it is Seattle, after all) and did a bike tour of some of the many (many) brewpubs in Fremont and Ballard. On the way back we stopped at Gas Works park and took in some amazing views of downtown across Lake Union:

Gas Works Park itself was also pretty darn neat. The rusting husk of the eponymous works provide some industrial art that combines well with greens lawns and vistas of the city. Despite the fact that it was a weekday afternoon the park was full of people enjoying the weather to its fullest. Maybe you get work off if the weather is nice here.

The next day it was raining again but I managed to make the most of it by staying inside most of the time :). I did venture out enough to meet another friend of mine who worked with me on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and now continues the work at UW (the other UW). I was able to trade a can of Wisconsin beer for a coveted Sloan Plate. That evening I went out and ended up at a bar that was supposedly the last place Kurt Cobain was seen alive. Perhaps even cooler; they had a portrait of Laura Palmer above the bar.

The next morning I was on the road once more. Seattle is a great city and those who know don’t need me to tell them. Those who don’t know will hopefully find out for themselves sometime. Just make sure you go to Paseo’s. And go in July.