Seattle Pt. 1

The drive from Montana to Seattle was absolutely gorgeous; I saw a moose by the road and then got to drive through Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (Google it). I also stopped at the Columbia River Gorge which is a breathtaking canyon that formed about 60 million years ago.

I also had some challenges on my drive. First off, I got my first ever speeding ticket on highway 90 in Montana. I’ve been pulled over MANY times but have never actually had a ticket- I can attribute this to my led foot and my white woman privilege but even that can’t get you out of a ticket for going 97 mph in a 80 mph. Oops.

Then I killed a bird; well, a bird flew into my moving car- but still.

Arriving in Seattle I went from 80 degree weather at the end of my Montana trip to 60 degrees and raining. I also had what I started calling a Montana hangover where the rest of the world just doesn’t shine as bright once leaving that gorgeous place and my amazing experience while there.

The first thing I noticed when moving into my AirBnB was how everyone in the building was friendly and welcoming. Being from a small town, I feel at home when everyone is saying hi and asking how you are. I ended up running into the man in the apartment next to me many times; so much so that we’d both laugh and say, “Hi, neighbor!” He was probably in his 50s and was frequently returning from riding his motorcycle.

Another stark difference, I went from little to no mask wearing in Montana to seeing everyone in masks again in Seattle; with the rest of the country ending mask mandates, the PNW is keeping them. The first Sunday I grabbed breakfast at a cafe that was still takeout only and the dining room was closed.

The first night we were there Benny was playing with some toys that the AirBnB host left for him (so sweet!!). He ended up in an open closet near the front door where the garbage cans are. The closet had 2 sliding door without a floor track so when he pushed against the doors they could swing outwards. In his excitement, he got too far under the door and got stuck. It was absolutely terrifying- he was screaming and scratching to get out and I couldn’t move the doors off of him; if I pushed them back it would squish him but they also wouldn’t come any further forward or to the side. In a panic, I ripped the door out of the track to free him. He had been so scared an/or in such pain that he had peed himself; I felt awful for him. After he was out, I examined him to see if he was hurt and paid extra attention over the next few days.

Seattle is full of amazing parks for running, walking, and exploring. My first run in Seattle was at Magnusum Park by the water with the mountains in the distance. I felt like a superhero running at sea level again with an abundance of oxygen! Later in the week I went to Doscovery Park for my speed session which was amazing for the views but not great for the speed. I was running on trails, sand, and precarious hiking stairs with lots of epic hills. At a certain point I just let go of it being a speed workout and enjoyed the view at an easy pace. I also got lost about 10 times, potentially due to poor signage and potential to poor navigation skills. I found Green Lake Park for my first long run and fell in love. I ended up doing most of the rest of my runs there because it’s a perfect 3 mile loop around a beautiful lake. Once the heat wave arrived it was an amazing bonus to jump in the lake to cool down at the end of my runs.

I had a lot of soreness and tightness on my runs in Seattle and had to take a little time off. I also got a sports massage on my legs to try and work out some of the tightness.

One thing I knew to expect in Seattle was to see a lot of homeless folks. There are tents and old rvs everywhere. I’m not sure if they have more homeless people but the city seems to allow them to set up tent cities without interference. One encampment I saw even had a port-o-potty and a hand washing station.

One of my good grad school friends from home in Massachusetts, Alexia, happened to be in Seattle for a week to see her friends during the time I was there. My first Thursday I met up with her at her friend’s home to eat takeout Ethiopian food and catch up before she headed out with her friends the next day for their winery vacation. It was a treat to see someone from home and someone I haven’t seen in person since before COVID- even though we meet virtually for a book club on a regular basis.

On my first, very rainy, Friday I went out to explore the city. Most of the time I arrive somewhere on a Saturday night, get organized, grocery shopping, and cook on Sunday, work long days Monday through Wednesday and then finally get to see the new city I am in starting Thursday or Friday. When I happened to be in a Whole Foods parking lot a woman in her 50’s stopped me to say hello after seeing my Massachusetts license plates because she had attended Boston University for college.

I headed to the Elliot Bay Book Company which was stunning and highly recommended. After that I went to a few stores in the same neighborhood and got delicious dairy free coconut chocolate chunk ice cream from Molly Moon’s.

After enjoying my ice cream while FaceTiming with friends I went in search of a waterfall I heard was in downtown Seattle. Even though it was raining heavily, I was able to spend time in Waterfall Garden Park. I then got lost and missed the on-ramp to the highway no less than 2 times and getting on the highway in the wrong direction; I have not found the signage in the PNW to be very intuitive…

My first Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. I went down to Water Front Park to watch the ferry boats, see the Ferris wheel, and purchase some postcards. For a late lunch/early dinner I went to Ray’s Boathouse. It was about an hour wait but I knew it would be worth it. I wandered around and enjoyed the scenery and then had a wonderful meal. I sat on the deck overlooking the sound and enjoyed shrimp cocktail and salmon, wine and a gin cocktail while writing out my post cards.

Sunday was overcast and cool and I met a friend to explore Pike Place Market. I met Beth Anne while visiting my friend Leah in Chicago in 2015. She was living there at the time and we hit it off and stayed in touch on social media. Beth Anne is the friend who inspired me to make a yearly reading goal and post about it on Instagram. She read 52 books the first year she did it; my goal was 33 for my age at the time and I was in awe of her accomplishment and stoked to find a fellow book worm.

I met up with her and her fiancé, Robert, and we walked through Pike Place which is an iconic open air market with flowers, local venders, famous fish throwing, the original Starbucks, and an epic wall of bubblegum. While they weren’t throwing any fish due to COVID it was a great place to explore. I had grabbed some double bubble chewing gum on my way downtown so the three of us headed to the gum wall to blow bubbles for the first time in quite possibly more than a decade. The gum wall is more like a gum alley and is pretty Diagon-Alley-esq. We laughed and chewed until our faces hurt and got some pretty great pictures. We ended the day with brunch at Shelter Lounge in the Green Lake neighborhood (yea, near my new favorite running spot).