Category — Non-NZ Adventures

Yesterday we spend the day in Seattle. We drove in the city and found some parking half a mile from the Space Needle. We got there at 11:30 am and the city was a ghost town. Walking around the Space Needle was a little bit eerie. There is an old Midway style fair at the base of the tower. All of the rides looked like they were out of some sort of horror movie. They were running, but no people were around.

We explored the area a bit until we decided to wander into this cool building. It looked like a monument of bent metal, with awkward architecture. It looked very modern and similar to that MIT building (if you’ve seen it, you would know what I’m talking about). It turns out that it’s a music/science fiction museum. Jackpot! The music museum was mainly celebrating the history of Seattle music: Hendrix, Grunge, R&B, and… Sir Mix-a-Lot. It was well done, didn’t have that museum feel.

Next, we wandered into the Science Fiction Museum. There were lots of memorabilia from sci-fi movies and digital recreations of classics. It’s a guilty pleasure, what can I say.

How to hide that you’re a dork tip # (insert arbitrary number): If you overhear someone mistake Star Trek for Star Wars or vice versa, play it cool and don’t say anything. Trust me, you’re less likely to get laughed at behind your back or beat up in the locker room.

After geeking out for a few hours, it was time to see what else Seattle had to offer. Once we stepped outside of the museum, we noticed that the sun had come out along with people. We made the trek across town to see Pike Place Market. It’s the one stop every out-of-towner needs to make. It’s a flea market/farmer’s market/fish market. It seems that everyone within a twenty mile radius goes there on the weekend. There were heaps of cool stuff and people to see. Its sensory overload and is hard to describe. I imagine that this is what my family always jokes about when they talk about a Russian bazaar.

Once we got word that the Red Sox game was almost over, it was time to get off of our feet for a little bit and catch the rest of the game along with lunch. We found a quaint Irish pub to park ourselves while we watched our team slaughter NY once again.

We walked around downtown a bit after lunch. It’s a lot like New York City at times, just less people and they’re all nicer. We walked around until it was time for more food and met up with one of Julia’s co-workers for dinner. We probably covered over 20 miles on foot throughout the course of the day. Julia and I were beat.

I’m officially done with the hardest semester of my college career (thanks for all of the editing Katie). To reward myself, I took advantage of an expensed opportunity to go to Seattle with Julia.

I’m here now at the end of day two. We have been staying in a small and growing city called Bellevue. It’s about 20 minutes outside of Seattle (or so I’m told).  Bellevue feels like a suburb that someone decided to drop high rises in the middle of. There’s not a whole lot here. It’s littered with brand new buildings filled with software companies and banks.

Those who know me, will remember me always bringing up that classic Lewis Black joke about there being a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.

Now I know that Seattle, WA is where Starbucks started. I never thought that this Lewis Black sketch held any merit. I thought that it simply was a comically over-dramatic anecdote emphasizing the quantity of Starbucks sprinkled throughout the world. Little did I imagine that this would be a common occurrence in the greater Seattle area. As silly as it sounds, it’s hard to get over how strange it is to stand at one Starbucks and see another directly across the street.

I’ve had the first two days to myself since Julia has been at work. Yesterday I spent the day exploring Belleview on foot.

The highlights:

• A very green park
• A mega mall
• Lots of shiny glass buildings.

I went into Barnes & Noble to look for some local hikes. This morning, I decided to see a little bit more of Washington. I took the car East to hike Cedar Butte. It wasn’t a big climb or a very long hike (due to my only having jeans). I never thought that I would enjoy a solo hike this much. I have decided that I would like to get a dog that I can take hiking with me whenever I can’t find someone to go (which is unfortunately often). When I got back, I walked to the park with my computer and sat in the sun to make a few last minute changes to my capstone.

Julia doesn’t have any more work this weekend. Were going to spend the rest of the trip exploring Seattle. Pictures will be up when I get back to Boston.

Saturday was amazing! The weather was great, the snow was deep, the company was gung-ho. What more could I ask for from winter? We got to Jay around 9:30 (a little later than I hoped). The parking lots were overflowing, a feat I have never seen in my 5 years riding there. So many people, but there was enough snow to be able to ride fresh powder all day. Nothing beats the feeling of carving turns between trees without having a single edge catch anything remotely resembling a solid surface.

A true “Jay day” and the reason I wake up and ride when I can.

Katie and me on the headwall at Jay Peak (picture courtesy Mr. Sykes)

side note: listen to Amadou & Mariam