I’ve really been struggling with my writing recently. In the first place I think I’m kind of bored with it due to my very short attention span and to be honest, even managing to do it for so long is a massive feat for me, and as soon as something starts feeling like a chore I struggle to convince myself to do it. But mostly I think it is because I want it to mean something more than just logging where we’ve been and what sites we’ve seen and what we’ve eaten. I want to be able to relay some of the actual experience of what we’re living and seeing and feeling, to evoke some of what it’s like being here and living America and how it changes from area to area. I want to be able to remember how it felt to see some of the things we’ve seen and just being able to remember everything we are experiencing, even though I know it is impossible; hell, I can’t even remember where we were a week ago, much less the entire trip! Often by the time I get down to writing something down I can’t quite recall the finer details of a city or journey that makes my writing more interesting and that tells more of a story about the places we visit, and I get frustrated with myself for not being able to write what I actually want to write.
But I’m no writer, so I can only continue to write as I see fit and what I get the time or inspiration for – and believe me, show internet doesn’t inspire me to blog at all! Brian is a lot more patient with slow WiFi speeds than I am, so his blogging is more consistent. So anyway, enough musing from me!
We left Vancouver fairly early as we knew the trip to Seattle would take a while, even though it isn’t that far distance wise. I insisted on making one last stop at Tim Horton’s for coffee and doughnuts before crossing the border. At the border crossing we were in for a bit of a wait, not really helping or traveling time! We really timed Seattle badly; I wanted to be there for my birthday on Sunday but we couldn’t quite make it work. Furthermore we were there on the same weekend as the US Open Golf and everywhere was fully booked, with the remaining rooms ridiculously expensive. Eventually we ended up booking a Hampton Inn near Seatac airport at over $200 for the night. At least it was a decent hotel, not that we were going to spend much time there as we had limited time to explore!
As soon as we entered the USA I got proper cellphone reception for the first time since leaving the more populated areas on the east of the country. It was then that I got a message from Carina saying that my mum has had to go to ER due to very bad stomach ache and that the doctors were running some tests. It is always bad when you get news like this when you are so far away as you are completely helpless and no amount of worrying about it will change anything. Being nine hours behind also doesn’t improve matters and makes communication hard.
We eventually got to the hotel and dropped off our stuff before getting the hotel’s shuttle to the Light Link Rail, which took about 35 minutes to take is into the center of town at Westlake. From there we made our way to the Space Needle, where we also saw the amazing, Frank Gehry designed buildings of the Experimental Music Museum and the The Chihuly Garden & Glass. Seattle is surrounded by mountains and I’m sure the view from the Space Needle would have been amazing but we didn’t go up in it in the end. We carried on walking around for a while and eventually found the Olympic Sculpture Park and then walled back towards the city along the riverfront, only stopping for some fish and chips for Brian. I was stood still stuffed from my doughnut and Timbits!
We found Pike Place Market after a while and it was very busy! I had a pie from Piroshky Pirosky with smoked cheese and broccoli that was quite interesting and we kept on walking, looking for Pioneer Square; turns out we walked right through it without really noticing it – and it is definitely not a square! The Pioneer Square area is the older part of the town and contains some nice buildings, shops and bars. We were just about to pop into a bar when we realised we were quite close to Safeco Field, the stadium where they play baseball, and lots of people were making their way towards it for a Seattle Mariners game. As we were so close we had to go and have a look, so walked a little bit more! When we came back we had a quick drink at Quality Athletics where some Mariners Fans were still struggling to tear themselves away from their drinks and go to the game!
We made our way back to the hotel easily enough from there and asked the shuttle driver to drop is at a diner not far from the hotel, called Dave’s Diner & Brews. The diner was a very local place considering it is just outside an airport and the bartender knew a lot of the customers. We had a quiet drink and walked back to the hotel – my phone reckons we walked almost 16,000 steps and we could feel it! I really liked Seattle, even though we probably only scratched the surface and I’m sure I could spend a lot more time there – though the hotel receptionist told us that we are very lucky with the weather as rains practically all the time!
Highlight of the day: the green dog near the Space Needle!
Biltong and Burger 