Flowers and Fish

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day in Seattle.

The sun is out!

I needed to buy some produce and the likes so i could make some meals at the hotel because everything in this town is so damn expensive, so i made me way over to the well know Pike Place Market. It's where they famously throw fish at their paying customers. Oh and the first Starbucks is there too but Starbucks sucks. Aside from fish and seafood, they also have a wide selection of flowers, weird things to eat, fresh produce, knives, jewelry, art, and many other things you could expect to find at a farmers market or street fair.

Pike Place Market in the early 1900's

Pike Place Market was created by the city of Seattle in 1907 as a place that farmers could sell their own produce directly to the consumers to remove wholesalers who usually took too large of a cut for the farmers to break even. It was such a success that within a week there were as many as 70 wagons selling their goods and produce daily. In the 1920's and 1930's permanent stands, or arcades, were built to house the Market, and in the 1970's it was deemed a historic district.

The market at sunset

The market is right next to the waterfront. You can see Puget Sound in the background.

I walked around the market for a while just taking in all the tourists. It is definitely prime people watching territory. There was a street performer balancing a guitar on his chin and another guy singing a cover of the Linkin Park song Numb which got me laughing a lot more than it probably should have. There was plenty of fresh seafood, but living in a hotel and only have a microwave i couldn't buy any of it.  

one of the many seafood vendors

Rows and rows of flowers

The view from the top floor of the market overlooks the aquarium 

Fresh Salmon. I just wanted to start eating it!

They're all sleeping -.-

There were probably 25 flower vendors. So many flowers!

Aren't they pretty?

I purchased my produce and headed back to the hotel. I had the doorman send up a vase for some flowers i picked out too! Then i headed out to the library thinking i could maybe get a library card and check out some books or cds or movies or whatever for easy entertainment. I hadn't been to or seen the Seattle Public Library before but it is so weird and so cool. I took the escalators up to the top floor, and looked at the view. The library was designed in such a way that you can walk up it as if it were a giant spiral staircase with bookshelves all along the way. The graded levels are known as the spiral floors (floors 5 through 9 i believe). I slowly made my way down them, looking at all the sections and picking out a Cousteau book that i wanted to check out and read out by the waterfront. Sadly, when i finally made it down to the bottom floor and asked about a library card, i was informed a visitor car would cost $25, something i was not willing to pay. After that i went back to the hotel and rested while i waited for Nick to get home. 

There is something so incredibly comforting, relaxing, and purely "vacation" about reading a book in a hotel with the windows open, the breeze blowing in, and the sounds of the city rustling below you. I definitely recommend everyone to try this at least once in their life.

The Library

The East entrance

On the third floor, but really it's the second floor.

At the 10th floor you get this beautiful view 

And you can look down on the 3rd floor. It's so0o far down!

The spiral floors, each black number section is slightly slanted down, so the whole room is slanted, and you can just walk around in circles and actually go somewhere. 

He took us out to a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Dragonfish. We got hot sake, miso soup, and two rolls of sushi. It was pretty delicious. I wasn't a fan on their Poke roll. They had put cilantro on it, and having grown up in Southern California, i recognize cilantro as a staple in mexican cuisine: salsa, guacamole, burritos, street tacos, etc. Nick really enjoyed it though. We also go their Dragonfish roll which was delicious and served on top of a really tasty sauce; not to sweet not too sour. It had cooked eel on top and ahi tuna inside. 

After dinner we went out and bought some vodka. We watched another episode of Twin Peaks and got hungry again so we decided to try to the recommended idea of making grilled cheese sandwiches with an iron. we didn't have any foil but said fuck it. They actually turned out really good.  

Two thumbs up, i definitely recommend doing this: Grilled cheese with an iron

Cappuccinos and Small Animals

I spent the morning of my first day in the city in an extremely cozy hotel bed. I hope to break this habit but damn the sheets are soft. I brought a few things with me from home to make the hotel room feel a little less foreign. I didn't have a plan for the day other than to walk around and get a feel for the city. I threw on a dress and some shoes and i hit the town.

I woke up to this lovely sight: My best friends and my family. and my favorite cup. 

Good Morning Seattle! The view from the hotel room 

This guy is pretty cool

I figured, I'm in Seattle, i need to get some coffee. What better place than on Pike Place. I meandered through the streets. There are so many trees, and the weather is not too hot, but cold enough to wear a jacket (to me, that's Perfect), the people are friendly, and for the most part, really well dressed. I'm staying in Belltown which is right above Downtown and kind of between Pike's Place and The Waterfront. I'm super close to all of the clothing stores, Nordstrom, Macy's, one of those giant 3 story Forever 21 stores. Good thing i don't need new clothes.

Somewhere on my way to Pike Place

The paramount building, looking west towards the sound

Crossing over the 5. i love how green everything is!

The coffee shop

So i finally made it to Pike Place and kind of went for the first coffee shop that wasn't a Starbucks, because there is a Starbucks on like every other street corner up here, so i wouldn't have had to walk anywhere if that's what i was going for. I hate Starbucks coffee though. So i thought "this place looks super hip". I walk in, and i see the most beautiful espresso machine i have ever seen and some pretty awesome collage art on the walls and i know this was the right choice. The barista is helping another customer,  so i take some time to look around and i notice they have a roasting room, like, they roast their beans right here, on site. So i order my usual "A cappuccino, for here" and i get this beautiful cup of the most delicious coffee i have ever tasted. 

After that i'm feeling pretty good, and just want to window shop and look at stuff and take pictures. So i did. Here are some of them.

Best Cappuccino. And look at that latte´ art

Every telephone pole was covered in music festival and band posters

Some super lush trees

Some Unitarian Church 

Stopped in that music store. The guy was really nice. Might go back to play his acoustic guitars if i get bored.

So, i want all of these

Heidi, if you want me to buy any of these for you, let me know! I can mail them to you and we can use them to make dresses when i get back!

And most of these. 

This area of the city was covered in graffiti, band posters, wheat pasted drawings, stickers, and so on, and i love it 

I found this little art gallery, and as i was walking up to and past it, the girl was changing the closed sign to Open and propping the door, and i just felt like it was fate. She had the cutest little Boston Terrier named Wednesday, like Wednesday Adams, and the gallery was showing a 90's inspired exhibit. It was great.

Wednesday

MST3K, represent

Twin Peaks <33

Clueless 

So many f*ing trees It's so beautiful

So i started walking back to the hotel, trying to find somewhere cheap to eat, which doesn't exist, gave up, gave in, and went into American Apparel and had to will myself out of buying a $25 watch that i don't need but totally convinced myself i did. Then i went into some cheaper shop, saw a girl holding a kitten and had to hold back from just grabbing it and running. It was 2 months old, it was sleeping, after i pet it's head, it stretched and went back to sleep. I am pretty sure that girl never wants to hear me go "Awww" again.
I walked around Forever 21, realized that everything is going to fall apart within 3 months, left, and found a band playing a cover of  Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon. They were great. The guy with the accordion was totally dancing. It was adorable.

Her paws were gigantic 

The New Tenants doing a cover of Rhiannon

A nice little sitting area next to Nordstrom and a Starbucks

After walking around by myself all day i went back the the hotel, waited for Nick, and we left to get pizza at Italian Family Pizza. After that we bought some dishes at Target so i can start eating in because everything in this part of town is so damn expensive. Nick and i got home and watched an episode of Twin Peaks before he fell asleep and i lied awake tossing and turning till one in the morning because i'm still so excited to be here. 

North view from the hotel balcony

South View

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Sometimes, the desired way to travel isn't always the option we get.

I would prefer to have a ride straight from my driveway to the terminals automatic sliding doors, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Fortunately, that "sometimes" ends up being more enjoyable, even if you're stuck with an annoying fat white guy the whole time.

My brother dropped me off at the train station around 1:15 pm, where i waited next to a man who could have easily been a brad Neely character, mainly because of his balding head, lazy eye and old school walkman. 

On the train to the coast, i met a young man on his way back home carry some cd cases. He looked like he could have just walked out of Music Warehouse in 2002. We talked about some bands we liked and he recommended i check out the Seattle music scene. I think i will, random guy, i think i will. 

Home Sweet Home... Vista, CA 

Something about taking the train system in north county is so heart warming. All the weirdos, all the junkies talking about getting $200 tickets for drinking beer in public parks, and the kids with their skateboards and dumb baseball hats, and all the old people still trying to pretend that this is their town and that public transportation is reliable. All the rusty broken down cars and graffiti alongside the tracks, the dusty backyards, with kids toys, sunburnt plastic sildes and old bikes laying around amongst the dirt and weeds, next to old bottles and cans that chat with the unloved shoes and abandoned underwear on the other side of the chain-link fence. The empty pools and broken down appliances, old washers and broken vacuums left outside to rot. It is so trashy, but i know it so well. It takes me back to when i was younger, 9 maybe 10, and i would play with the neighborhood kids and we would all run around together rolling down dirt hills in cardboard boxes and watch the boys ride dirt bikes and kick up dust that wouldn’t settle till the sun did. The tree swings and driveways molested with sidewalk chalk. I hate it and i love it and part of me hopes that culture never dies. 

Nice upkeep San Diego

The train brought me to the coast around 2, where i then waited till 2:32 to board a different train. I took in the smell of the Southwest coast one last time. The unkept transit center, the smell of fish and dead sea-life wafting along the breeze. If i stood on my tippy toes i could see the sun reflecting off of the ocean-water, and glistening beautifully in the summer sun, which was really hot and the station had no shade so my feet were staring to sweat. 

This is what trains look like in 2014

I’m letting my dad drive my car while i’m gone and i forgot to tell him where i left the keys. i called him and told him and we talked for a bit. He reiterated his want to come up to Seattle while i’m there, and he told me “this is a trip of a lifetime. treat it like one. I want you to spend some money and go out to some nice restaurants.” It’s one of the nicest things he’s ever said to me. 

I finally got on the train and made it down the coast to Encinitas where my friend Colin picked me up and drove me the rest of the way to the airport. We blasted Blink 182‘s Enema of the State Live album most of the way and belted out all the lyrics, which was really fun. He's a terrible driver. 

This is Colin, he gave me a ride to the airport

I got to the airport at 3:30 more or less with no line at the baggage check or security check so i sat down in the terminal at 3:50, two hours before my flight was scheduled to leave, giving me two hours to waste which i spent trying to get the San Diego Airports shitty wifi to work and of course it didn’t, so i gave up and just read my nat geo travel magazine.

 Because reading a magazine is more secure than using public wifi

 The flight was nice. I luckily remembered to bring my giant headphones so i was able to block out most of the screaming children. The girl in the window seat next to me was really sweet. She kept giving me trail mix and almond joy minis and didn’t make me feel obligated to get to know her in anyway. Her name is Song, she is Korean, and is on a vacation traveling around America. She teaches young kids using legos. She is really friendly and i wish her all the best in the rest of her travels.

Song listening to music (most likely K-Pop) and looking out the window

 The view of Seattle, WA from above, photo courtesy of Song

We landed safely around 8:40 and i spent the next 20 minutes wandering around like a lost tourist. Instead of paying some stupidly large amount of money for a cab, i was able to take the Seattle Link Light Rail for $2.75 from the airport to about 3 block away from the hotel Nick is staying in. It was 9 by the time i got on the train because i couldn't find the station. When i finally did my arms were so tired i could have cut them off and used them as a pillow.

Sound Transit: Seattle Public Transit LINK Light Rail 

The train ride was really fun. Being in a new place fills me with so much excitement. It's that first few hours of being in a new city, when you don't quite see it for what it is, when it's still something built up in your mind, some magical place with so much potential and so much to offer. The people are all still strangers and you're too tired to see life in any other way than absolutely fascinating and beautiful.

It was dark out, but i wanted to take a picture of the city going by. This is what i got.

My double chin is all"HEY THERE GOOD LOOKIN' "

I really liked the look of this station. 

 Westlake Station, the last stop on the Light Rail. I'm heading towards the 3rd and Pine entrance to the station, Nick was waiting at 5th and Pine entrance. 

I found him! (he found me)

Happy to see you too! And thank you for carrying my luggage bby (:

Going out to find some food. Hello elevator-mirror-me

Nick and i had a little trouble finding each other, but he finally ran around the block enough times to run into me. We walked back the the hotel together to put my things down. He had a really long day at his internship and just wanted to sleep, and it was already like 10:30, so i was like "Yeah bby, just go to sleep". I was incredibly hungry so I put some of my things away before heading out to get some grub. I headed down the block to a place that claimed to be open till 12 but their kitchen was closed and they nicely sent me to a different restaurant called Palace. It was pricey but i figured, what the hell, it's 11:30, i'm starving, in I'm Seattle, and life is beautiful.  I ordered the house old fashioned and the 1/2 lb burger. The waitress informed me that the meat was ground from a single cow that the restaurant picks and cuts and grinds. I thought she was joking but she was serious. I ate the whole thing. It was so delicious. I can't even explain. I don't even understand how or why. I took the rest of the fries for later, happily gave a 20% tip and left really very satisfied. 

Palace

The bar and open kitchen/grill.

The house Old Fashioned

I hope to get out and see the city tomorrow, visit the water, and Pike's Place, and find a few cheap places to eat. I also want to get some food, maybe stuff for sandwiches and salads and easy no-cook meals. We have a microwave and a mini-fridge. Any good ideas, let me know!