Saturday, July 09, 2011

Hello Seattle!




Whew. It was a long night flight from NYC yesterday, but here we are, at last, on the western edge of the country. It is lovely here - I had forgotten what that Pacific light does to everything. Seattle, you'll recall, is the jumping-off point for the Alaska cruise I threatened to tell you about a few weeks ago. The boat leaves tomorrow.

We had a Seattle day today and ran around town checking off the sights. The closer we got to the waterfront, the less Shack liked it. Pike Place Market was mobbed but I wanted badly to see it. Shack claimed it made him sick (there were some beggars and - quel horreur - people smoking cigarettes. He is not used to such sights - he'll kill a thousand aliens before breakfast on "Halo" but a guy sitting by a sign asking for spare change reduces him to a jelly). We had to leave eeeemediately.

And, dear internet, though I could not possibly overestimate your interest in my vacation I will be back with more later.


(This is the Seattle Public Library. I read an article about it in the New Yorker some years ago when it was first opened (it was designed by uber cool architect Rem Koolhaas) so I was sort of excited to find that our Priceline hotel room has this great view of it). Bye for now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too bad you couldn't get to Rainier. I was out there a couple of years ago for some depos and took two extra days to hike around that park.

Absolutely beautiful.

And I, for one, demand lots of Alaska posts and photos, as my wife and I have never been there but want/desire/lust to go. In fact, the only cruise we'd ever take would be there. So get busy with the camera and the typewriter.

Cheers.

Kim Velk said...

Hey R -

We have two days back in Washington before heading back to VT and if the weather cooperates we'll try to get a day trip into Rainier. I have my hiking poles and boots and I really want to see those big Pacific Northwest trees (as much as anything on this whole trip). Be careful what you wish for... Thanks, as ever for the nice comment. T minus 3.5 hours to departure (Lord willin' and the creek don't rise...)

Nan said...

I'm the kind of person who loves looking at others' vacation photos and (in the old days, slides) so I'm eagerly looking forward to your trip. I'm quite sure I'll never make it to Alaska, so you shall be my armchair traveling resource!

SanDiegoTim said...

Great pics. Have a great trip to Alaska

Kim Velk said...

Nan - I already knew you were the nicest person in the blogiverse. Is there someplace in Switzerland that hands out internet sainthoods along with domain names? I have posted just a few more.

Hi Tim - Thanks for dropping by. Your coast was looking great...