Have I finally found the time to make my post about Seattle?

Well, no, not really, but why not hammer some out really quick lol.

I have been dying to visit Kate since she moved to Seattle way back in April of 2008. I've always kind of felt like a putz for not visiting because, well, it made me feel like a putz. That and the whole trip is kinda scary. I've flown to LAX and into Las Vegas alone before, but never really on a big trip by myself so I was kind of nervous... but I also wanted to prove to myself and, well, my mom that I could do that sort of thing on my own, which included not spending every night of my trip with my friends.

I made my plans for my visit a good month in advance. I flew out to Seattle on Wednesday August 26th (holy crap was it that long ago?) and returned that Monday the 31st. I got a rental car for the whole trip and booked a hotel for Wednesday and Sunday night. The hotel had a dual reasoning: 1. when I started to plan my trip I totally overlooked that I'd be there for Kate's birthday. Jon usually dose something amazing for her, and I didn't want to be in the way of birthday nookie. 2. I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do the whole alone in a big city thing. I know I could have just gotten off of the plane and drove straight to their place, but I wanted to fly solo for a little bit.

My flight into Seattle was amusing. I ended up being dropped off super early so I took the opportunity to keep reading my book and have some lunch. The Tucson airport has changed a bit since I last flew out of there so there's now a pizza place and sushi bar. For lunch I decided on the safer of the two and opted for pizza.



(The first few meals I ended up twittering but then forgot as time went on).

I was very happy to find out that my flight was virtually empty. Running late, but empty. I had an entire bench to myself so I spread out, listened to music, and finished my book. The flight was about three and a half hours long and I found out rather quickly that it gets boring just looking out the window. I couldn't really tell where we were flying over, but it looked the same as when I've flown to Nevada or California.

The mountains looked the same as they did back home and that kind of disappointed me. I was expecting rolling green hills and clouds, but I figured that maybe it only looks like that in the movies. Just as I had resigned myself to brown mountains and bright blue sky, the captain came over the loud speaker. I lowered my headphones to hear what he had to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're starting our descent into the Seattle area. We're expected to land in 35 minutes," and just as he finished his announcement we started to decent. When I looked out the window the hills and mountains were still brown - I do have to admit I sighed at scenery. As I continued to watch I saw that some of the valleys on the mounts were dotted with green against their dusty brown. It almost looked like sprouts on top of a piece of wheat bread.

The green spots started to cluster close and closer together. You could still see the brown ground under the green, but it was for sure greener. There was another dip and then we flew through a cloud bank. I was so fucking giddy it wasn't even funny! When we came out from under the cloud bank all of the mountains were green, and not only were they green, but there were some mountains with SNOW on them. As I looked out the window I grabbed my headphones and put them back on. I had been listening to my ipod on shuffle and couldn't help but laughing hysterically when I realized what song was play. The geek in me thought it was hilarious, the rest of me was shamed. The song that was on as we came out of the cloud bank and saw the green and snowy mountains was the song in Twilight when the scene changed from Arizona desert to Washington snowy skyline. For shame.

Landing was totally fine. No bumps or bangs or anything. I've always been okay with flying, its the landing that I've been afraid of.

Since the flight was pretty empty, getting off the flight was pretty easy. Pretty much all you have to do is follow the signs. First sign: baggage. It was actually pretty easy given the fact that you have to ride a goddamned subway to get from the terminal to baggage. That was beyond mind blowing... but easier than I thought it would be. I only had one big bag plus one carry on bag, but since I was bringing Kate and Jon some of nana's chili, and I had packed layers, my bag was pretty damn heavy.

Once I got my bag the next sign I had to follow was to the car rental place, which was directly behind the baggage. In order to actually get to my car I had to wait for a shuttle outside. That made me excited - Washington evening air! Except, well, it was fucking warm and humid!

While I waited for the shuttle I made the phone calls I needed to. I called my mom and told her I landed and would call her later in the week, I called Kate and let her know I survived, and I called the Clay the boy I had been talking to from Tucson who now lived in Seattle. I also called my bank to double check on my balance.

Getting the rental car was pretty painless, except for the fact that my rental was $160 and they wanted a $300 deposit. What.The.Fuck. Yeah. Suck. And since I only had my debit card that $300 deposit was pending the entire time I was in town. I had a $400 budget so that kind of screwed me over... but I wasn't going to let that smurf up my weekend.

The next sign I had to follow was the directions on the GPS on how to get to my hotel. Priceline found me a decent place just down the road from the airport for $40 a night. It was clean and quiet and helped me have some down time between coming off of a flight and trying to find Kate's place.

Thursday morning I tried to get going in a timely manor. I love the fact that Kate and Jon were willing to put me up for the weekend and tried not to be too overwhelming or take up too much of their time. My GPS guided me to her place pretty easily. I couldn't believe what an adorable apartment complex they lived in. I've seen ones like it in Tucson, but only on the way too rich side of town.

Kate had a bunch of stuff she wanted me to see, so when I got to her place just after 11 o'clock we set off to see the area.It was an amazing bright beautiful day. I grabbed my camera and my hoodie (even though I didn't think I'd need it). Our first stop was the Redmond library. I keep forgetting people in the real world use libraries.

Right out front were these beautiful black trees. Kate said they were plum trees. From a distance they looked black but up close their leaves were actually purple. I instantly became a tourist and grabbed my camera.

Redmond Library 01
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Redmond Plum
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Seriously it was beautiful. I couldn't believe it at all.

From the library I think we went over Kate's favorite bridge. I can't remember the real name of the bridge, but it floats. Okay. What.The.Fuck.Float? Yeah, like part of it is connected to the land and the part that spans over the water is on pontoons. Needless to say it was kind of fucking freaky. When you come over the top hill it looks like you're going to fall right into the water.


Floating Bridge
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

The shoreline of where the bridge met the water was adorable. Lots of houses dotted the waterfront, and on both sides were lily pads and this odd floating bridge thing. Not like the one we drove over, but a foot one that could be moved up and down so people in kayaks could go under.

I don't know where we exited, but we were in what seemed like a university area. Lots of young kids and lots of college banners from light posts. Looking at Kate's LJ I think we were in the Lake Union area. *shrugs* I don't really know. Our first major stop was the Gaswork's Park. Hella awesome and green! I had to be a tourist and take pictures of, well, all the green!


100_0739
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Kate said that Gasworks use to be a large natural gas plant that closed down. It has an amazing view of the city and water, and there is a VERY tall hill that we walked to the top of. I huffed and puffed my way to the top... it was well worth the hike for the view.


Gasworks top of hill
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes


Gasworks top of hill 02
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

This view - it's mind blowing. Way far in the background you can see the skyline of the city. I wonder what this place looks like at night. The sky and the water also seemed like the right color.


Gasworks top of hill 03
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes


Gasworks top of hill 04
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Behind the hill you can see the old plan. It's giant and rusted, but very beautiful. On the top of the hill there is a mosaic on the ground with a lovely design and points of direction.


Gasworks top of hill 05
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes
 
Honestly, I cannot get over how damn green everything is.


Gasworks Green
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes


Gasworks Green 01
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

After Gasworks we wound our way to Fremont which is, apparently, the center of the universe. It was all kinds of cool, but I don't really see what the big deal is LOL! Kate and I were both pretty hungry by the time we started to walk around so we decided to first and foremost find someplace to eat. There were a few choices off of the main road, but I didn't feel like going to something as normal as hamburgers. As we turned up the corner the first think I saw was Lucky's Pho.



I had some beef pho and Kate had a sammich. The meat was amazing and the noodles the second best I've had. Considering I've only eaten at one other pho place, that's saying a lot! Lucky's was pretty small virtually empty when we went in, just the two of us and an older gentleman reading in the corner. As soon as the waiter brought our lunch to us people started to roll in. It was about lunch thirty and we had come in just before the rush.

Our next stop was Theo's Chocolate Factory but the next tour wasn't for a while so we ate our lunch slowly. Since we managed to get a half way decent parking space Kate decided to just keep it and ran back to feed the meeter. While Kate was gone I finished my soup and just people watched. The people in WA seem just like the people in AZ, except less brown and more courteous of cell phone use in an eating establishment.

When Kate came back we headed up the street for a stroll through Fremont. We passed a number of tarayki places and the giant statue of Lenin.


Fremont Lenin
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Homeboy was huge! Kate told me why he was there, but a month later I've totally forgotten. I do remember that she said this statue was special because it's the only one where he is surrounded by weapons and not books.


Fremont Lenin 01
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

Have I mentioned that Fremont has an ass-ton of stuff? The giant state of Lenin, a building with a huge rocket on the side of it, and the center of the universe. There was also Theo Chocolate. We were trying to go on the two o'clock tour of the factory but they were booked - not only for two o'clock but every tour every hour after that for the next three days! Neither Kate or I thought about making reservations for a Tuesday afternoon, but oh well. In the lobby of Theo were free samples of every type of chocolate they make. I was blown away by all of it, especially their "Origins" line. Each type of chocolate used beans from a different region and each one had a totally different flavor. Check them out at Theo Chocolate.

We walked around Fremont quit a bit and ended up on Troll Ave! I couldn't resist the LJ icon opportunities!


Troll Ave
Originally uploaded by aerogoddes

I am going to have to end this post for now because I've been writing and editing and uploading photos for a few hours and am dead tired. I am only on day two of six.

Kate took me to Pike Place Market and the flowers were the thing that blew me away the most. These AMAZING bouquets were everywhere, and some of the most colorful and elaborate ones were less than fifteen bucks.

So I'm trying a new thing... linking my flickr account with my LJ and whatnot. Not sure how well it'll work out, so I'll be making a few posts and testing things.