Seattle: an otter, some art and the 255 bus

Hello everyone!

I had a really wonderful weekend up in Seattle with Jess. It's been a year since my last visit to Seattle when I got to hang out with Adam, Greta's husband, in his swank downtown hotel and he took a photo of me in front of the West Seattle house where I was born. I need to get up there more often. Jess and I left Friday evening around 7 and happily avoided horrible traffic both leaving Portland and going into Seattle. We were staying at an apartment belonging to a couple Jess knows that is in the process of moving to Seattle. They were spending the weekend in Portland so we got to use their apartment! Friday was a beautiful, clear day and all the mountains were out along our drive. I got my last glimpse of Mt Rainier ablaze in bright pink alpenglow just as we crossed the Skookumchuck River. What a great name no? We listened to music and chatted and gasped over the "aroma of Tacoma". What makes a paper mill so damn stinky! We were settled into the apartment by 10 PM. We had a beer and talked about our plans for the next day.

Saturday we woke and had coffee and a bagel before heading out. We took the bus over Lake Washington and into downtown Seattle. We walked around for awhile stopping in Aveda to buy some shampoo and dashing across Alaskan Way to look at the waterfront. We walked up to Occidental Park but found it was fenced off and under heavy construction. The poor totem poles and huge carvings were surrounded by ripped up earth and gravel. We went through the throngs of teenagers at Pioneer Square and then made our way to the Elliott Bay Book Company. We perused the stacks for quite a while. I left with an Annie Dillard novel about pioneers in early 1900's in Whatcom County, where my family homesteaded. I also got some poetry books by Mark Haddon & Octavio Paz.

We walked up the steep, steep hills to the Frye Art Museum. It's a private museum with an impressive collection of 19th & 20th century European painting. The works were hung salon style with paintings from floor to ceiling. They also had several exhibits of contemporary art which were excellent. I was working my way through the Robyn O'Neil exhibit and really loving her stuff when Jess found me and said the artist was at the museum and about to give a lecture! The artist was very intelligent and accessible not to mention cute and rather funny. Her talk was very interesting and I felt so lucky to have been able to attend.

Jess and I were starving so we went into the museum cafe for a little snack and then walked through the galleries some more. When we went to leave it was pouring outside. It rains a lot here but not like this. This was a downpour and my rainhat was 3 hours south in Portland. I made a rainhat out of my Aveda shopping bag and we made a break for it. We jumped over puddles then ducked into a fancy hotel, The Sorrento, for a break from the rain. I felt rather out of place with my plastic bag and soaked attire. We went to leave when one of the women working at the hotel asked if she could help. She gave us directions to a nearby coffee shop then lent us an umbrella that we could return on our way back. Yeah for kindness from random strangers!

Jess and I camped out in the Starbucks for awhile, enjoying our warm coffee and reading The Stranger, a weekly alternative Seattle newspaper. We left after the rain relented some to a more placid level. We dropped off the umbrella at the Sorrento and thanked them. We walked downhill and headed to the City Center Mall where there was an exhibit of Dale Chihuly's art glass. I must say Seattle seems to be bursting with glass art. Even the Fire Department's Administrative Office had a huge glass sculpture: red, yellow, and orange spirals of flames. We hung out for awhile in the purple velvet chairs of the 2nd floor atrium, drying off and paging through our earlier book purchases.

We walked to the Icon Grill for dinner. We both had the Mariner Pilsner and seafood. My spicy linguini was excellent with big sea scallops, chunks of halibut and whole shrimp. yummm! After dinner we were wiped out and ready for home. With the sun down it was quite chilly and damp out. We caught our bus back to Kirkland and turned up the heat when we got home. I emailed my grandma to get some info about the dress shop & the old family homes in Seattle. They were all located in West Seattle and I didn't really have the time or the means to get over there. It's definitely on the top of my To Do list for my next Seattle visit though.

Sunday we woke up bits of sun poking through the clouds and patches of blue sky. It was a welcome relief after our cold and wet Saturday. We took the bus downtown and walked towards the Seattle Center. We took some photos of the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project. Jess wanted to go into the EMP but I had already been and was far more interested in taking some photos since my rainy Saturday had limited that. We separated, each with our cell phones so we could meet up for lunch. I walked towards the waterfront. I could see Elliott Bay and a waterfront trail a mere 100 feet in front of me but I was continually thwarted by office buildings, protected railroad tracks and fences. I finally reached Pier 70 and was able to walk along the waterfront. I walked further along ending up at Pier 66 and Bell Harbor. The views were lovely with Bainbridge Island across the water and the continual back and forth of the massive Washington State Ferries. Sailboats dotted the sound with the skyscrapers of downtown looming on the edge of the water. I was happy to see starfish and sea cucumbers living along the posts of the piers.

I used this opportunity to talk on the phone with Becky. We've been playing a monster game of phone tag and wanted to talk about details for my upcoming visit to see her in LA. While I was chatting with her and looking in the water I saw an amazing sight...an OTTER! Otter's haven't been seen along the Oregon coast in over 20 years. There are around 500 on the entire Washington coast so I felt extremely lucky to see one. I'm so happy that the water along a major city is able to sustain such vibrant sea life. yeah!!! Jess arrived to meet me just as the otter was swimming away. I was shouting on the phone with Becky and generally freaking out. I never expected to see such a thing while in downtown Seattle!

Jess and I went into a restaurant on the pier for lunch. I had the dungeness crab cakes which melted in my mouth. yummmm! After lunch we climbed our way up from the waterfront and then took a bus up the extremely long, steep hill of the Queen Anne neighborhood. There are several parks at the top with incredible views of downtown and Elliott Bay and then Puget Sound and the many islands. On clear days Mt Rainier & the Olympic mountains can also be seen but they were still hiding in the clouds. We walked back down the hill then took a bus to downtown and then another back to the apartment. As we were crossing Lake Washington the sun was shining brightly and hovering above the horizon was massive Mt Rainier. Of course as we were making our way back home the weather would turn gorgeous and the mountains would come out! We had an easy drive home and were back in Portland around 9PM. It was a great weekend and I have so many more things I want to do on my next visit to Seattle!

Please let me know how you are and what you've been up to!

xoxo,
carolyn