Savoring Seattle - West Coast Swing Part I

My sister and her family use the Southampton home for the month of August, so I thought it would be a good idea to go away for part of it, to give both them and myself a break. At first I thought I might go to the Canadian Maritimes, but that’s for another year (I had let this go before I knew I was going to Maine – the Maine trip both whet my appetite for more and satisfied it for this year). Light bulb – objective changed from one end of the continent to the other - go to Seattle! It has one of the few ballparks I haven’t been to yet, and it has some friends I wanted to see! I used miles for the flight – may as well use some miles; I have a lot of them.


I had been to Seattle once before, in 1993 – I know that because when I was there, the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” had just come out, and we got a big kick out of seeing “Sleepless in Seattle” in Seattle. I saw not one but two games at the Kingdome – the crowd was small but they were having so much fun that I wanted to go again. Those were the heady days of Junior Griffey, Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez (I would have loved to go to see the Kingdome get blown up – I never tire of that video). I thought Seattle was beautiful and I’ve wanted to go back – I felt a sense of mortality when I realized how long it had been. What if it takes another 17 years for me to get back there? That’s a long time. Of course, if it does take that long, it’ll be because I’ve been to other interesting places instead! I don’t think it will, though – Seattle used to seem far away and expensive to get to. Now that I have been farther (and taken those long bus rides in Morocco), it doesn’t seem so distant. Plus, it’s a gateway to Alaska, the only U.S. state I haven’t been to. It’s a feelgood place, and now I have friends there to visit. And there’s a lot more to do than I was able to do in five days – including seeing the houseboats in Lake Union that were depicted in “Sleepless in Seattle”!


I flew in on a Friday night and my friend Linda picked me up – it was as if I had just seen her – in reality the last time was over a year ago, in Morocco. She is now a Peace Corps recruiter out of Seattle (and it was through her influence that I was interviewed for a position there – but the job went to someone local). She had borrowed a car, and on Saturday we went on a mad dash of exploration, though we did start with a quiet coffee on her porch. Linda had lived in Thailand for a while, and she has a mix of things from Thailand, India, Indonesia and Morocco. It all works! Now I wish I had had room in my luggage for more from Southeast Asia… oh well, I’ll have to go back – or find Asian things here!


Seattle is a city of neighborhoods – when I visited before, I stayed in the tourist areas and didn’t get into neighborhoods at all. I think I made up for it this time! I don’t remember the names or the distinctions, but it was nice to see some different places. We had breakfast in a hip, trendy neighborhood (there are lots of those!) and then went to Pike Place Market. Of course I had done this before, but I think it’s a must! We looked at the crafts - with a new appreciation – and then went to a Tibetan pharmacy, glimpsing the famous fish toss enroute. It was the weekend of the big air show, and while we were there, the Blue Angels flew overhead – I always liked seeing them in Chicago!