Our Trip To Seattle.

As most of you may know, Ashley and I recently took a vacation to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Here is a brief synopsis of our trip:

1) Pike Place Market- I almost contemplated calling Grant while we were walking through the place on Monday and putting him on speakerphone to get an "Overrated!" chant going. It is rated as the spot to see in Seattle by all the tourism publications. It would be if you were looking to buy fresh flowers, fruit or fish (not exactly things you're going to bring back in your suitcase.) For those that are unfamiliar, Pike Place is a huge farmer's/flea
market down near the waterfront. It is a neat place, don't get me wrong. It just is not a place I can see myself spending an entire day, as some tourism publications suggest that you do. We did go to the first Starbucks ever, which is located near the Market. So at least we've got that going for us.

2) Red Sox v. Mariners- Bad News: Sox lost. Good news: Papi and Manny went deep for the Sox. (Manny's 400th) Even Better News: Pyramid Brewery right across the street. Seriously, Pyramid Hefeweizen almost turned me off to regular cheap beer forever. Almost.

3) Space Needle- This one needs no introduction. I'm sure the residents of Seattle get sick of seeing the monument to the World's Fair, but I thought it was wicked cool. I actually never realized the thing had outside observation opportunities at the top. The view is actually a little bit better from the observation deck of the Bank of America tower (which was a pleasant surprise) but the Space Needle was still pretty fetch. I also liked the monorail which ran from the Space Needle back to downtown. It saves time (it's about a 2 minute ride station to station) and the frustration of figuring out which bus gets you back to where you need to go.

4) Scenic View/Snoqualmie Falls - The advantage we had over every one else who goes to Seattle on vacation was that we had the guidance of the homeboy Beej and the homegirl Kate. Meaning we got to experience stuff most tourists wouldn't know was there. On top of Queen Anne Hill (one of the ritzier neighborhoods in Seattle) there is a small overlook called Kerry Park which provides the best overview of the city without a helicopter. Also, they brought us out to Snoqualmie Falls, a beautiful waterfall (the second tallest in Washington) for a quick stop. Apparently, Snoqualmie just touches the edge of Rainier National Park. Speaking of Rainier...

5) Mt. Rainier - Never saw the thing. We were there for five days and the clouds never parted enough for us to see it. Bummer.

6) IMAX theater- Saw Lewis & Clark - Great Journey West at the IMAX theater near the Space Needle. Simply an awesome experience. Educational, but awesome.

7) Experience Music Project (EMP)/Sci-Fi Hall of Fame- If you ever venture to Seattle, by all means, skip the EMP. You know that feeling you get when you pay full price at the theater to see a really bad movie? Multiply by ten and you would have the EMP. I cannot stress this enough. DO NOT believe the significant hype. I enjoyed the Sci-Fi museum, however. There will be two types of people that go to the Sci-Fi Hall: Those who say, "Lame." and those like me that are blabbing, "A full size replica of the queen from "Alien"!?!? A Predator mask!?!? They have the original script of the classic Star Trek episode 'The Trouble with Tribbles!' This is legit as hell!" Needless to say, I was one for two on the enjoyment of these attractions which are in the same building.

8) Comedy Underground- In the hallowed halls where comedy greats like the late Mitch Hedberg and Caroline Rhea once performed, we saw a good comedy show (which was graded as mediocre by Beej) on Saturday. Perhaps I thought everything was funnier considering I had slept about four of the previous thirty-five hours (Plane Insomnia strikes again.)

9) The seafood - The Halibut & Chips I had at The Crab Pot on Wednesday night were yummy like you read about. I didn't know they could fry fish that well and you can never fully appreciate popcorn shrimp at Red Lobster again after you've had it at the Crab Pot. They had a shirt there that simply stated, "Got crabs?" A funny novelty shirt, except that it did not say anywhere on the front or back that it was from The Crab Pot restaurant. That is a joke that needs to be immediately qualified.

10) The bus- We utilized the public transportation of King County about as well as can be expected for a couple of Wisconsinites. The undisputed highlight of the bus trips was seeing two hooligans get arrested at the bus stop in Redmond for spraying graffiti on a wall. When parking for the day in Seattle costs $7+ and parking at the bus stop a mile from Beej and Kate's to take a round trip into the city costs $8 total... you do the math. We also spent a lot of time walking around downtown. There's nothing quite like a walk uphill from 1st Ave to 4th Ave to let you know precisely how out of shape you really are.

11) Otters - One of the things I wanted to see was the Seattle Aquarium. It is certainly not the largest or most modern aquarium in the world, but it did have... Otters! They float on their backs and do cute little human things with their hands! The best part about the Aquarium is that they have a seafood restaurant on the street level. A seafood restaurant at an aquarium! "Our special of the day is 'Fish That Was Not Interesting Enough To Have In The Aquarium and Chips.' That also comes with side salad."

In closing, we had a ton of fun. If I think of anything I neglected to mention, I will update further in the future.

I'm finished,
Nate