So, as many of you already know, Steph and I have successfully finished our trek across the U.S. which started in Brooklyn, got steamy in Savannah, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Memphis, nostalgic in Chicago, historic and expansive in South Dakota, open and earthy in Wyoming, manly in Missoula and surprising in Wallace, Idaho.
When we arrived in Seattle (just one short week ago), we were both very tired from the days drive which, in the beginning, was not as plush and green as we had imagined. The majority of the drive through Washington reminded me of the Wyoming landscape just with more exits. My mom and her very energetic lap dogs welcomed us to Lower Queen Anne as we unloaded some of my cars contents and attempted to settle in. The next day, we were slow on the uptake, beginning our day for the first time with no real game plan. Seattle was the first big city we had been to since Chicago, so with our limited time frame we decided to just let it happen naturally.
The majority of the pictures I took along the way were shot on my 35mm Minolta film camera, so my hope was to find a decent spot in the city to regularly fulfill my developing needs. I came across Capitol Hill 60 Min. photo via Yelp and this directed our afternoon. We set out on public transport to the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle where sub-culture tends to find it's place. After quoting some prices and checking out the surrounding area, we stopped at Mia's for some delicious tofu sandwiches. Then we decided to stroll through the streets until we got to Puget Sound, but we started off in the wrong direction (thanks to my rusty inner compass) and ended up at Lake Union instead. Not that Lake Union isn't a beautiful body of water in it's own respect.
A few blocks and a couple of brief stops later, we were in the heart of Seattle Tourism casually walking down Elliot Avenue where we stopped to read some papers in the Olympic Sculpture park, dropped into a couple novelty shops to peruse the postcard section, and scope out some restaurants featured on Man vs. Food (a show that highlights some really amazing spots for food, even if the host is a shameless glutton). We made our way down 1st avenue back towards LQA and had a small brainstorming sesh regarding happy hours and eating now or later. We chose later in the name of resting, showering, and giving ourselves time to develop a proper appetite. Steph suggested this crab shack that apparently globs shellfish on your table and you just have at it, but we settled for sushi and sake before meeting up my friend, Bobby and his friend Blake at Unicorn. This place was pretty amazing. Visit the website to check out the digs. The jukebox was on point and then Steph made it even better by pumping in another couple bucks. Steph had an early flight so we kept it professional and took it in around midnight.
As with a lot of things involving cars, people in the state of Washington haven't quite grasped onto the idea that other drivers exist, so the airport drop off was hectic and not nearly as emotional as I had imagined.
Seattle's interesting. I'm still adjusting to the "west coast vibe" and the fact that I only know a handful of people, the majority of whom I met through my mother... There are a ton of things to do every night which is much different than the slim-pickings in Hartford. I'm looking forward to having to pick between several awesome things on any given occasion.
Steph suggested that I do a spin-off blog chronicling my time here in Seattle, but that's what Facebook and Twitter are for...
WELP. I'm not sure how to sign off on this blog so thanks for reading, hope you had as much fun reading this as we did living it, and stephanie... this one's for you:
"...for no country have the charms of nature been more prodigally lavished. Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains with their bright aerial tints; her valleys teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad deep rovers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine-no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery" - Washington Irving
ReplyDeleteDear America, thanks. Love, Stiph