Seattle; Flight and Initial Impressions
I flew out to Seattle at dark o’clock yesterday morning. I had my first encounter with TSA’s barefoot shuffle. Apparently carrying too many gadgets immediately draws their attention. “Sir, what does this do?” The flight itself was wonderful. Ironically, I was seated next to a charming 78 year old Italian woman.
Because the flight was during the daytime and the weather was so clear, I got to watch the entire landscape of the US as it changed beneath our plane. Yeah, I still have my six-year-old’s fascination of the window seat. I love the patchwork of farmland but the best part was the mountains. Flying over Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, I couldn’t help but create imaginary ascent paths up each and every peak.
About an hour outside of Seattle, however, it was like someone turned on the clouds. Quite literally, we descended through five layers of misty clouds, underneath which (eventually) was Seattle.
The infamous Seattle rain wasn’t really that big of a deal. Some fine mist that burned off by noon. My sisters and brother in law were already here and since this was supposed to be a surprise for my mother’s birthday, we spent the first part of the day walking around the Ballard area of town. Ballard is kind of like a hipper version of Little Five Points in Atlanta… sans the aggressive homeless and Emo kid parade. I really like the mixed nature of the neighborhood. Unlike Atlanta, there seems to be a concerted effort to mingle smaller business and residences of multiple income levels.
Other miscellaneous observations:
– Seattle has a LOT of crows; imagine the number of pigeons in downtown Atlanta and then transform half of them into crows.
– No one here should buy lavender, jasmine or rosemary; there are gigantic hedges of them growing everywhere.
– The marina and the locks are absolutely hypnotic. I could watch them for hours.
– Salmon (in the fish ladders) are freaking huge. I had the powerful urge to swat one out of the water and eat it. I suspect this would have been frowned upon.
Heading over to Discovery Park today and then picking Pipipestrella up from the Airport this afternoon. Friday morning is sea kayaking off Bainbridge Island and maybe the Aquarium in the afternoon.
Saturday is wide open, so suggestions or dire warning are welcome. 🙂
Be back Sunday evening, take care all.
If you get a rainy afternoon (and today’s looks like it might fit the bill) think about spending it at SAM, which is old on the outside but they just spent umpty-gazillion bucks redoing the entire inside. It’s pretty.
Thanks for the suggestion, Jared. I was in downtown briefly and plan to head back there on Saturday (Aquarium, Pike’s Market, etc). I’ll see if we can squeeze the museum in as well.