Seattle, WA - July 18-22

Random shot on the way back to Seattle

So here we are the next day. This is actually the day of the tide pools. We went to tide pools in the morning. That afternoon I managed do dig up Dave on the phone and we chatted a bit. There had been some plans to get the old college gang together tonight before the wedding tomorrow. So he said we were going to meet at this beach called Golden Gardens and then off to someplace to go bowling. I needed a place to crash, and ended up getting a room at a Travelodge nearby. So with a warm goodbye to my parents, I headed out. The ride back was uneventful. I passed the casino and noted that I never did get back for a visit. I picked up a ferry farther North than on my first crossing, and noted that the line was a lot longer. Sadly, this would be foreshadowing of things to come. As always the ferry trip was wonderful. Its like 9 months later now, and I still can't get over how cool ferries are. I'm sitting on a train right now and the train is fine, but I have to say I'd much rather be spending 3 hours a day on a ferry than on a train. I don't know, maybe that is just grass is always greener syndrome.

Yet another ferry photo

Anyways when I got to the other side, I absolutely could not believe how long the line was to get on the ferry back to the other side. I mean, it must have been like five miles long. It was totally insane. I found my way to the hotel pretty easily, and had something to eat before heading down to Golden Gardens.

It was on my way to Golden Gardens that I started really noticing the differences between Seattle and Chicago. First, traffic. It was like 6:00 on a Friday night and there were no real tieups on the freeway. I was in shock. I'm pretty sure anyone who actually reads this page will be familiar with Chicago traffic, and at 6:00 on a Friday night you're not going anywhere. Second, after exiting the freeway, I was driving behind a bus, and I realized that I wasn't hacking up fumes. Electric buses, what a concept. The most amazing differences were still to come though. As I got closer and closer to Golden Gardens I realized there was parking everywhere. Free parking. And I found parking a short walk from the beach on a Friday night. I was in shock. Then the beach itself was just wonderful. Standing on that beach, looking around, I never would have had any idea I was in the middle of an enormous urban area. This is demonstrated well by this cool panoramic photo. High cliffs surround the beach in the back, and in front its just wonderful beach with bonfires burning everywhere. It was a very west coast scene. I have in the last couple years become really disillusioned with living in Chicago, but I had pretty much convinced myself that any other mjor metro area would have all the same problems Chicago had. However through this day and the next, I realized that maybe this wasn't so true. It was in some ways a nice realization, but in a lot of ways it was a sad one. I just love Chicago so much, and I had always been of the opinion that I would live the rest of my life here. Now, I'm pretty much of the opinion that if and when my current job dies, I'm gone. But I won't be leaving voluntarily, I'll be leaving because Chicago is no longer a liveable place if you're not loaded with cash, and that really just sucks.

Sunset while walking to Golden Gardens

OK, enough of that. I parked, I wandered around for a while, I found Dave. It was nice to see Dave. When I was in college, Dave and I were really close, and he was always one of my favorite people in the whole world. At this point, I probably hadn't seen him for over five years. We just hung out on the beach chatting for a while. His family was in tow, some of whom I had never met. I discovered that his brother Jim had been the subject of a This American Life piece I had heard a while back about apartment living in San Francisco, which was entertaining.

After some time we went to the bowling alley and met up with the rest of the gang. I hadn't seen most of these people in as long as I had seen Dave, and it was great to just hang out catching up with everyone. I don't know how in the hell I managed to not get any pictures from the bowling alley, but somehow I did. It was a great time though. Everyone sat around drinking and talking for a couple hours, then went to bowl a couple games. Well, everyone else bowled while I hung out and chatted. I'm not much of a bowler. Sometime around midnight it was back to the hotel. The plan tomorrow was I was going to get up early and wander the city a bit, possibly giving a surprise call to my friend Lee who lives in Seattle. Then I would catch a ferry across to Bainbridge Island, checkin at the new hotel, eat, and off to the wedding.

Dave Broustis and his brother Jim

Golden Gardens

Dave's sister Petra and Jim's girlfriend whose name I've forgotten watch some random guy twirl a flaming batton.

<< Prev >> Next

Return To Photos Index