An October 2002 Weekend in Seattle

Yeah, you say, SURE, that's Seattle. Where's the Space Needle? That picture looks just like any American city!

Well, I'm on top of the Needle while I'm taking this picture, which makes it hard to get it in the shot.

So, why Seattle in October? And why only a weekend?

Well, while I tell the story, let me at least give you a picture of the needle (to the left!) to at least prove to you that I was actually there.

Back last winter, Jenn and I had this great plan to spend a weekend in Los Angeles. I was supposed to be at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield for two weeks in a row and returning home did not look like a possibility. So, why not fly her out to see me? Well, I cashed in some Marriott points and got a certificate for two nights stay and bought Jenn a ticket with some FF miles, but then both trips to Bakersfield fell through. We cashed in the airplane ticket, but I was still stuck with the Marriott coupon for two free nights' stay and had to use it in the next year.

So, where can one go for a weekend? Well, I'd never been to the Northwest and Seattle sounded fun, so we planned on going there for a weekend. I suppose that we should have planned on a summer trip, but events overtook the plan....

Come the Fall and I mention to my friend Michele that I have a coupon for a weekend's free hotel stay and want to go to Seattle. And she offers to accompany me. Not that the offer was all altruistic. After all, she's got a boyfriend in Vancouver and this way she can go visit him after our weekend on a free ticket. Plus, she's never been to Seattle either.

So, let's count the plan: two days, two nights in Seattle. Plane is free (two round trip tickets courtesy of frequent flyer miles), hotel is free, and the rental car is free (Michele contributes a coupon for the rental). Our only expenses are food and incidentals. So, it might have been a pretty modest trip, but it was also a pretty cheap one, as our total travel expenses didn't exceed $100.

Friday Evening

The trip did not start off well. Bad weather hit us on departure. I made it to Minneapolis OK, but Michele (who was coming from Milwaukee) got re-routed to Detroit. So, our great plan to enjoy the trip across the country together got thrown off course. Instead, I had your typical boring quiet neighbor, but she lucked out and got a real fun NW employee. Such are the breaks of travel.

Her flight was only about 40 minutes behind mine, so I met her at the gate and then we got the rental car and went to the hotel, checking in about 10pm -- beat!

Saturday Morning

Got up at a fairly decent hour and after breakfast went straight to downtown. The hotel was in Tukwila (near SEA-TAC airport), so we had a good commute to get there and passed Boeing field and the Stadiums on our way. Our destination was Seattle Center, where we planned to go up the Space Needle early and then head to Pike Place Market, figuring that we would beat the crowds. However, we discovered the truth about Seattle weather -- it's cloudy and foggy in the morning. As you can see in the pic (above left), you can barely see the Needle's observation deck, let alone see anything from it. So, we abandoned that original plan and decided to reverse the order of things: do the Market and shopping first and end the day at the Needle.

Now, the picture on the left is of Michele in front of the Needle and you might consider it a pretty unexceptional photo until you check out the car she is standing next to.

Don't see what I'm looking at? Take a look at this blowup on the rear window (see right).

YES, no matter where you go, there's the SCA. Wouldn't normally even register that we were walking past SCA stickers on cars, but it dawned on us that we weren't at an event and this was in fact something unusual. Yes, we were visitors in the Kingdom of An Tir -- a first visit for both of us to that fair kingdom!

So, anyway, our plan became to take the tram from Seattle Center to downtown and go shopping -- mostly for antiques for me (although Michele was hunting for souvenirs). I had a good list of antique shops in Seattle and dragged her from Westlake Station, all the way to Pioneer Square and then all the way back to Pike Place Market -- probably a couple of miles in all.

The walking proved to be a quite problem in the end as her hip acted up and walking became more and more painful. But she was a trooper and put up bravely with my undeterred hunt for exotic West Coast antiques.

My focus when shopping, of course, is photos, and I found a few of those. But the real catch was this fantastic brass icon. Prior to this trip, I hadn't really seen anything like it before (although I saw one in Helsinki a few weeks later). It was called a "traveling icon" although I'm not sure that it what it is. Anyway, the picture doesn't really do it justice. It stands about 7" and the panels fold up into each other. It's quite heavy and made the airport security people quite nervous (but THAT is another story).

Quite pricey, but a lovely addition to my collection. Michele is my witness: I hesitated for quite some time before deciding to buy it.

And I was good afterwards and spent hardly any other money. We went through Pike Place Market and took in several floors of touristy collectables and unusual stuff (one of the stores sold only Egyptian souvenirs -- reminded me of Cairo).

The sky was starting to clear a bit and Michele wanted to find a place to sit and not to have to walk for a bit, so it seemed a good idea to call it a day and head back to the Needle.

Somehow in the day of shopping, we never really did manage to have lunch!

These are some pictures I took in the middle of the day, although the dark overcast sky makes it look a lot later in the day.

Saturday Afternoon

So, with my wallet sufficiently depleted and Michele ready for an invalid list, we surrendered and acknowledged that Seattle's shopping district had defeated us. So, with "tears in our eyes" (or, at least, in Michele's) we headed off into the sunset -- or, rather, back to the Seattle Center and our much anticipated trip to the top of the Space Needle.

And yes, that ticket to get to the top cost $12! But heck, it's not like going up the Eiffel Tower is cheap either. And how often do you have the opportunity to go up?

So, while Michele enjoyed sitting and having a much overdue caffeine fix, I went out to the "O-Deck" and got snapshots of the entire skyline, working my way around the Needle in 45 degree increments. The highlights you have seen above (although I've thrown in another sample below).

As you can see, the visibility improved somewhat, but not dramatically, as we never were able to see Mount Rainier or very far out into the Sound.

Saturday Evening

And while the stay at the Needle (which we enjoyed for a couple of hours) was relaxing, we had bigger plans for the evening: eating Sushi near the ocean. Getting there however proved to be challenge in several ways. First of all, while sitting had felt good, it had also caused Michele's hip to swell and now walking was downright torturous. It took quite a bit of cheerleading to get her back to the car.

And then there was finding the restaurant. Our maps failed us and we had to make two attempts before we actually figured out how to get to the place.

The restaurant was "I Love Sushi." Yes, it has a tacky name, but if you were indifferent to raw fish, this place would indeed make you quote the restaurant's name by the time dinner was offer. The fish was fantastic! And neither of us regretted our choice of restaurant. Really stellar food. Good going Seattle!

Given Michele's hip, our long and tiring day, and the fact (at the time, unbeknowst to me) that I was coming down with my killer cold that would haunt me through Scandanavia, we decided to call an early evening and headed back to the hotel after dinner.

Once there, Michele rested and I went hunting for something we could do on Sunday that wouldn't require a lot of walking around.

Sunday

Sunday was our short day. I had a 3pm flight to catch to get me home in time to be at work on Monday. Michele's honey was meeting us for lunch at Noon. In sum, we didn't have enough time to do very much and the prerequisite was that whatever we did have to involve the bare minimum of walking.

The solution was to go to a local city park called "Seahurst Park" -- actually in the city of Burien (not technically in Seattle) that was only a few minute from the hotel and the airport and thus terribly convenient. It was also terribly pretty and we spent the whole morning there, watching the heavy fog slowly burn off. But I think these pictures speak for themselves.

We finally reluctantly (OK, I guess I was the only one who was reluctant, Michele wanted to see her Canadian!) left to catch up with Darrell at a Thai restaurant in Tukwila. The food wasn't bad, but not nearly as good as what we had had the night before. Michele probably didn't care as her mind was elsewhere.

Darrell's a nice guy, so I think I can give the official Midrealm non-Hordesman stamp of approval on him, but he was exactly what I expected -- bearded, shy, 21st century hippee-type. I think these Canadian SCA folks basically all end up looking alike. But then, so do the American ones as well, I suppose.

After lunch, it was off to the airport for me, and off to the Great White North for Michele and Darrell. She'd go on to spend the next two weeks in Vancouver and has her own stories to tell. I caught the flight back home -- a fairly lonely and long trip in which I mostly slept and fought my impending cold.

It was a lovely weekend. The price was right. I finally got to the see the northwest.

I look forward to doing it again for a longer period. In fact, it is on my list of possible places to go for a much longer vacation next year. Maybe to Vancouver to see Darrell and Michele (after she moves)?