Hello Seattle

So back in April I met a guy in Aspen, Roark, who I instantly clicked with. We’ve been talking and he invited me out to visit him in Seattle. Wanting to see where/if this could go somewhere I said yes and we booked a ticket. I’m going to go ahead and say the whole situation was very serendipitous. One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2011 was to plan a trip somewhere I’d never been. I’d even mentioned the possibility of Seattle. So here I am 6 months later, hopping a plan to take me halfway across the country.

Flying over the Rocky Mountains, I realized that I haven’t been west of Colorado since 2009. Weird to think it’s been that long, but all my travels seem to have taken me east. The second leg of the flight I grabbed a window seat (something I rarely do) and was treated to the view flying the Pacific coast over California, Oregon and Washington. I was truly impressed at the mountains they have. Unlike Colorado where all the mountains are in a range together, hiding their true height, the Cascade mountains on the west coast suddenly jut out from seemingly no where. We were flying about the clouds for part of the journey and these mountains would literally peak above the cloud line, like some eerie dream. But very cool.

Roark picked me up from the airport Friday evening and after dropping off my bags we walked through his neighbor hood to a little Italian restaurant for some wine and pizza. He lives in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle (not the actual capitol, but that’s what the hill is named) which is very hipster/gay friendly. It seemed like a really cool area, old buildings converted to apartments, lots of little coffee shops and restaurants lining the streets, tons of thrift stores. We walked around the neighborhood as he showed me a few highlights. I didn’t realize how hilly Seattle actually was. For some reason I was thinking “coastal = flat” but that’s a very east/south view point. Obviously San Francisco is super hilly too.

Saturday morning we went down to Fremont for the Solstice Parade. I’ve never been one to celebrate the solstice, but this way definitely not to be missed. The whole parade starts with a lot of nude cyclists painted up in celebration. Now keep in mind it was about 58* and drizzly, very chilly even with a jacket. I can’t imagine how the naked bikers made it through. While I refrained from taking pictures of the riders (this is a family friendly blog) I took plenty of pictures of the rest of the parade. We had a great spot, under a tree and a few rows back from the road and were treated to several bands and a few dance troupes.

After the parade ended we went to the best fish & chips restaurant in Seattle (according to my guide). I love seafood and getting it fresh was such a treat! We wandered the neighborhood a little more, seeing the Fremont Troll, and stopping at the Fremont fair. They had a parking lot full of art cars and Roark and I quizzed each other to see who could name the most characters on the toy car. I was amazed at how many I remembered from my childhood. I even had a 5 year old boy following me around the car as we named the toys, he was super cute pointing out the ones he knew too.

I bought tickets for a concert that evening. In one of our conversations I found out that Roark listened to Okkervil River, an Austin band that I’ve been listening to since college. This was a tad surprising because most of the time when I mention them people have no idea who I’m talking about. They played Denver last week and I had planned to see that show but decided to put if off until Seattle. It was a great idea too. The venue they played, the Neptune, near the university, was an amazing place. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, the acoustics were amazing and the band was top notch. They even had a pretty awesome opener, Titus Andronicus. It was a really great night, and maybe one of the best shows I’ve been to in a while. Not to mention that I was able to share it with someone who had the same appreciation for the music I did.

Sunday morning we got up and walked in to downtown. The walk there was all down hill towards the water which was a great view. We went to Pike’s Place Market and got to see the guys throwing fish, plus the gum wall and the original Starbucks location (Mecca)! We wandered the maze of shops and found ourselves in a comic book/collectible store that we both geeked out in.

From there we made our way to the Seattle Art Museum and browsed through a few of the permanent exhibits. There was an entire room dedicated to the Quileute Indians and the differences between their wolf myths and those told in the Twilight books. Continuing in the downtown corridor we ended up at Safeco Field, home stadium of the Seattle Mariners. It was a Sunday so we got there during the 6th inning. Sadly all the scalpers had left for the day so we couldn’t get any cheap tickets to watch a few plays. We could hear the announcer though and Ichiro made some spectacular play. Roark found an opening in the gate and had me stick my foot through it so I could say I had officially been inside the stadium.

After a long walk back uphill and a short nap we dressed up to go to the Seattle dinner theater Teatro Zinzanni. A Seattle landmark (of sorts) Roark knows one of the managers and a bartender there. We were able to get some pretty good seats for the performance, a mix of comedy, acrobatics, and audience participation. Roark was lucky enough to be one of the participants pulled up on stage, which I completely expect was the bartender’s fault. Seeing him up there talking back to the emcee and then trying to dance had the whole table in hysterics. It was pretty entertaining. The whole night was tons of fun and the food was surprisingly good for a dinner theater. You could definitely tell that the dinner wasn’t an afterthought to the show. Afterwards we were treated to a backstage tour and got to hang out with some cast members while finishing our bottle of wine.

Across the street from the theater is the Seattle center. Built for the World’s Fair in ’62 it’s home to many of the performing arts theaters, the Experience Music Project museum and the Seattle Space Needle. I love seeing landmarks like the space needle at night, all lit up, I think it’s much prettier than in the day time. I was very excited to walk around it and even more excited that the weather had finally cleared up so the view from the ground was amazing. Driving home we were also treated to the best views of the city we’d had all weekend. Across the water was clear so you could really see everything.

For such a quick weekend I think we managed to cram a lot in. I will need to go back when I have more time to experience the food and the coffee a little more. I’m definitely not hipster enough to live in Seattle, but something about the city felt very comfortable which was nice. I’d like to thank my host for an amazing time, Seattle really is a wonderful city.

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~ by lifeofapostgrad on June 21, 2011.