Pacific Past Posting

Here's an entry I wrote the other day (September 9), but didn't post because, well, you'll see when you read it.

I feel like there has been an angel of good fortune following me around since I've been here. Not only has the weather been, oh, perfect, but my hosts have been kind and generous (not a surprise there, but still a very nice element of the trip), and on several occasions I've had the experience of wondering where to find a thing, and then turning around and having it be RIGHT THERE. "How hard will it be to get those half-price theater tickets? Oh, the booth is right there." "I wonder where that club is where that band is playing? Oh, what do you know - right there." "I'm kind of thinking it might be fun to go see the Yankees play the Mariners while I'm here. Huh? You have an extra ticket for a great seat that you want to give me for free and all I have to do is go with your kid whom I kind of love anyway? Um, ok."

So, I wasn't even surprised when something as simple as an impossible parking space turned up - imagine wanting to just dash into, I don't know, the M&M store in Times Square, and as you pull up to it, there's a spot where you can park for an hour (again, for free).

Very quick rundown of some of what I've done since I've been here:

• Brief driving tour of city upon my arrival
• Lunch with the Simonds/Holmes clan
  
• Pike Brewery & Pub with friend from the dayjob who lives out here
• Show at the Intiman Playhouse
  
• Delicious breakfast in very funky neighborhood with Amy, more driving tour (including aforementioned parking luck at touristy but awesome fish market)
  
• Baseball game with Reuben
• Eating of best grilled salmon EVER with Young and Simonds clans
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Showbox
• Kayaking Lake Union
• Rented a car ("Oh, if you want to upgrade from this Kia station-wagon-looking-thingy, you can have this Prius for an extra 6 bucks a day.")
  
• Sushi with Lauren
• Slumber Party at the Youngs'

And now I'm on day four. Heading to Rainier. ("Oh, don't you want camp rather than stay in a hotel? Didn't bring gear? Brian has a garage full of the best gear available, and he likes nothing more than going through it with you, telling you more than you thought you needed to know, and loaning you everything you could possibly want and then some.")

Writing this down, I actually am staggered a little bit. And don't want to jinx anything, so I think I'm not going to post this until my trip is finished (it would really suck to end up as one of those front page articles: "New Jersey Idiot's Luck Runs Out on Mt. Ranier")

So now I'm back in the 'boken. Wiped pretty well out, but feeling good. Much more to come on the PNW front...

Seattle, day one

Reuben appeared the moment I stuck my head out of my bedroom door. I gave him a ‘good morning.’

He eyed me with curiosity that was more anticipation than apprehension. “Good Morning!” Anticipation with a pinch of glee.

“I’m the kid of the house.”

“And I’m the guest of the house, I guess.”

Lauren surfaced and started scurrying me around – “the bagels are in the freezer, the fruit is probably bad, these veggies are looking feeble, but those should be ok, there are plenty of eggs, do you want a cup of coffee?”

Of course.

Chris was there as well, hadn’t seen him since Cat & Rich’s wedding. He looked good. They all looked good. After we exchanged greetings, Chris said to Reuben, “do you want to get the paper off the front porch, please?” They were off to Shabbat School, and needed to leave kind of right now.

Lauren talked me through the keys, the car, the GPS.

“I’ll probably just hang here until you return, but thanks so much. If I do need to roll, I’m all set – you guys have really hooked me up.”

The six-year-old returned with the paper. Pointed to a photo on the front page. “This guy looks kind of like you!”

“Not nearly as handsome,” I retorted.

Chris chuckled “In town a few hours, and already made the front page!”

“Not as a good guy, I’m afraid. Evidently I ‘Kill for God.’” My Post-Intelligencer likeness has been accused of murdering six people. He doesn’t really look that much like me.

They have to get going. More pleasantries out of the way, and they get into the car and go. On their way out, Reuben shouts “You can’t use my Leapster! You can’t play Leapster unless you do ten minutes of the Word Game!”

“Isn’t there a nicer way you can say that?” Lauren is eager to make up for lost time, but can’t let decorum go unaddressed.

He lowers his voice a bit. “You can use my Leapster as long as you play ten minutes of the Word Game for every ten minutes of Leapster.”

“Ok. Thanks! See you guys at noon.”

And they’re out. I warm up the coffee and defrost a bagel. A text from Rashmi reminds me that the U.S. Open semifinals are on. I breakfast to tennis, check on my couchsurf in Portland and walk around their house. Beautiful place, set in the Northwest wetlands. Very green, the sun struggles to break through the clouds. I step up onto their wooden patio and over toward a mosquito-net tent and am faced with a spider who’s stretched his web across the deck, guarding the passage. I recall the spiders at the gas station last night: big, unmoving and plentiful. This gal is something special, however, and her net is quite an achievement.

“It’s ok, I’ll go back the way I came. Good luck out here with the flies.”

And then it’s back to another cup of really good coffee, chill and write this till they come back from Shabbat School. Life is good.

What the fuck is a Leapster?

This is Seattle?

Hehehe.

10-Day Forecast for
Seattle, WA

			High / Low (°F)	Precip. %
Today Sep 06		Partly Cloudy	71°/57°	10 %
Sun Sep 07		Sunny	75°/57°	20 %
Mon Sep 08		Sunny	77°/55°	0 %
Tue Sep 09		AM Clouds / PM Sun	68°/53°	10 %
Wed Sep 10		Sunny	70°/54°	20 %
Thu Sep 11		Sunny	72°/55°	10 %
Fri Sep 12		Sunny	72°/54°	0 %
Sat Sep 13		Sunny	70°/54°	10 %
Sun Sep 14		Sunny	68°/53°	20 %
Mon Sep 15		Sunny	69°/54°	10 %