Seattle - all of it!

Seattle, USA

20 -> 28 December 2017

I’m sitting down writing this weeks after I have left Seattle so hopefully I’ll get everything straight.  I may end up sticking to events rather than days but let’s see how we go!

Arrived about 5pm and the whole customs process was absolutely painless.  I did not expect this in Trump’s America!  In the 5 months leading up to this visit I’d been to China, Korea and Russia.  I thought for sure I’d be up for a body cavity search or at least a passive aggressive conversation with a customs agent but they barely gave me a second glance!  

Luke kindly picked me up from the airport in his blue muscle car thing (a Dodge Charger maybe?) and we headed off into the wild blue ‘murican yonder.  They live about 30 minutes from the airport so it was a leisurely drive down the freeway with a wealth of fast food restaurants on either side.  It’s been 7 or 8 years since I was in the states and from what I can see it hasn’t really changed that much.

Luke and Mel live in a nice big house in the god damn boonies.  It’s a beautiful forested area in a fairly affluent suburb but it’s build for people to have cars.  I didn’t quite expect it to be that far out so my thoughts of getting public transport everywhere kind of died in the arse.  To get to the Seattle city it was going to be a 30-40 minute walk to the bus stop then about an hour on a bus.  Too much effort yo.

They also have children.  Yeah.  I’ve never been interested in breeding and these ones didn’t change my mind.

Wednesday I didn’t do much.  I went shopping with Mel and Liam, picked up some local beer (referencing a list of good beers some of their local friends made for me!) and just chilled out.  It’s so nice to have such a great selection of beer in the supermarket and while they do heavily favour big hoppy IPAs in this area there was a decent variety of styles.  We went to the Redhook brewery for lunch which was nice.

Thursday Mel offered to drop me into town so I could go for a wander which was nice of her.  She hung around with the eldest child while I went and visited MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture) then played a little Ingress.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from MoPop but it was a pretty well reviewed museum so I thought I’d give it a crack.  I certainly didn’t expect the $35 entry fee ($50 AUD) and I really don’t think it was worth that price.  Don’t get me wrong - it’s a cool museum that’s very interactive and lives up to its name but I wouldn’t pay that price again.

I really enjoyed the Sci Fi and Horror exhibits.  They had a bunch of cool costumes and props from various films and tv shows which was a real trip down memory lane.  Real iconic stuff like Blade Runner, Star Wars, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre … that sort of thing.  I have to admit to having a huge thing for Lelu (Milla Jovovich’s character) from the Fifth Element and they had her costume on display there.  /swoon

There was a big exhibit examining Star Trek as a pop icon, a special exhibit on Jim Henson and his various puppet shows (Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock) and a few smaller things I wasn’t really interested in.  There was also some really cool interactive stuff like the music room (learn to play guitar, drums, be a dj, sing) and a video game exhibit.  The video game exhibit looked at mostly indie games and the people who make them and it would have been really good if more than half the games were actually working.

And they had a pretty cool little “hall of fame” section for pop culture icons.  It was amusing to see the Tron costume in there … all I could think about was the Tron Guy.  Google it if you’re not familiar.

Overall it was a fun museum and very nostalgic for me but definitely overpriced.

Wandered around for a bit before meeting up with Mel and Liam.  I had the worst wrapped burrito in the world for lunch … one would think that wrapping a burrito would be something America could manage but apparently not.  They instead went for the “let’s overfill it so it can’t possibly stay together” method which I guess is consistent for the rest of their approach to food portions.

Friday I went skiing!  Hooray!  Mel dropped me off at the shuttle pickup point and I spent the day up at Steven’s Pass.  The shuttle driver was a nice local woman who was previously working as a tour guide in Alaska but has just moved home and started driving the bus.  We chatted all the way about our travels and whatnot which was fun.  Went through the tedious process of getting gear (I’d forgotten how uncomfortable hire ski boots are!) then hit the slopes.  It was a cloudy day with plenty of light snow which was awesome.  There’s nothing quite like skiing while it’s actually snowing … it’s such a cool experience and it keeps the slopes from getting too slushy or icy.  The cloud lifted later in the day there were some beautiful views of the mountain.  Unfortunately my bruised shin from Svalbard was being problematic towards the end of the day so I had to call it quits a little earlier than I expected but I was quite happy drinking a beer outside and staring at the mountains.  I fucking love snow.

The drive up the mountain was fairly cloudy so I didn’t get to see much but since it had cleared up a bit in the afternoon I saw the ride back.  Holy shit it was a spectacular drive.  Snow covered pine trees, huge icicles hanging off cliffs and crossing a bunch of beautiful rivers.  I need to live in an alpine region one day.  They are just so beautiful.

Saturday Mel and I went and toured the Boeing aeroplane factory!  That was fascinating and well worth it.  The facility is HUGE.  The factory is about 600 metres long (whatever 6 American football fields is) and each section of the factory builds different planes.  You get a real sense of the size of the planes when they are in the factory.  At an airport you’re always looking at them front on or from a weird angle … the big ones are bloody enormous!  No photos allowed in the factory unfortunately but at the end we got to stand in front of a green screen and choose from various backgrounds for a photo.

We went for lunch at a local brewery nearby which was pretty good and then back to the animal farm.  I’m sure it was nice for Mel to have some time away from the kids and I’ve enjoyed spending time with her 1on1.  Never really did that when they were back in Aus.

Sunday was Christmas Eve.  I went for a walk into the local town to check it out and I did a little shopping.  Surprisingly I ended up at a craft beer bar.  Unfortunately this place reminded me of the things I don’t like about the American service culture.  Tipping is stupid.  Let’s get that straight.  The argument of course is that having people rely on tips to give them a decent wage encourages them to work hard and pay attention to their customers but it all feels so insincere.  The bartender was acting like he was my best friend and it was just fucking irritating and slightly offensive.  I don’t want to make small talk with you, I don’t want you to talk to me about every beer I order and I certainly don’t want you to ask me every 2 minutes if I’m doing alright over here.  Just shut up and do your job.

My über driver on the other hand was actually friendly and seemed interested in having a chat.  He was surprised when I wanted to sit in the front seat of the car but appreciated it I think.  I’m not quite sure how tipping is supposed to work with uber and uber eats but as a tourist I can get away with all sorts of shit.

Monday … Christmas Day.  IT SNOWED BITCHES.  WHITE CHRISTMAS.  “Santa” got me this fabulous Christmas sweater as a gift for being so good all year.

Tuesday we built a snowman, made snow angels, had a snowball fight and did some tobogganing in the backyard.  What a fun morning.  Finally something kids are useful for!  Luke, Liam and I also went and saw the latest Star Wars movie.  Last Jedi I think.  It was OK but there was a lot of pointless shit in there.  I know it’s a guaranteed money spinner for George Lucas but there’s no way these movies will ever live up to the hype they get these days.

Wednesday Mel, the kids and I went for a light hike in some park in the city.  At least it was supposed to be a light hike.  The first half was pretty fun.  A nice easy walk, some snowballs being thrown around, a few photos and a walk along the beach to a lighthouse.  Then the kinds decided they didn’t want to walk anymore and we had to carry the little bastards.  I’ll be honest … Mel did most of the carrying.  I helped though!  I felt a little bit bad about it but they are her kids so she basically signed up for it.  We were going to go to a boardgame cafe after for lunch after the hike but it was packed and they wouldn’t commit to a wait time (games can last a long time!) so we ended up at some quite fun diner/pub and had burgers.  

Thursday was my last day though my flight wasn’t til after midnight that night.  Pretty relaxing day.  We went out for pizza for lunch (Luke as well - working from home) which was really good.  And guess what!  My epiphany beer was on tap at the pizza place!  My epiphany beer is the beer that really got me into craft beer and showed me how awesome it could be.  It was so different to anything I had tried previously and so delicious.  And after so many years so disappointing.  It’s not that it’s a bad beer it’s just that I remember it so differently!  It’s probably been 12 or 13 years since I’ve had it (hard to get in Aus) and I’ve had a lot of awesome beers since then and this just wasn’t what I expected it to be.  The beer was the Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing.  I remember it being this sweet stout that tasted like chocolate milk … a chocolate breaka with bubbles!  But now it just wasn’t the same.  Ah well - we all move on.

The Seattle Tacoma airport is not a particularly nice place.  It’s rather dreary and very dated.  Mel drove me there and I said farewell and waited patiently for my flight to Taiwan.

I really enjoyed the 8 or so days I spent with Luke and Mel - huge thanks for letting me stay!  It was nice to spend time with people I knew and just relax in a home environment after being on the road for so long.  Hope I wasn’t too big an imposition.  And I don’t want kids.