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Published: July 31st 2010
After finishing up school for the year (2010) I have decided to catch up on these a bit. I will start with my trip from last summer. Summer 2009, I traveled to Seattle, Washington to visit a friend that lives there. During that week Seattle had the hottest weather EVER! Of course I left Iowa's 70 degree weather for 100 degree heat in Seattle, just my luck! I spent about a week at my friend's house while she and her family showed me around the city and I also visited the University of Washington Law School.
After first arriving at SeaTac Airport I was greated by Allison who immediately wisked me away to the parking garage and her car where we proceded to weave in and out of the Seattle traffic toward her house. While we caught up on each other's lives since returing from England the previous May I gazed out at the traffic and surrounding landscape. Seattle is surrounded by forests and all you see are trees as you approach from the airport (except for the Boeing plant which is just outside of the city). This was a new experience for me, most cities I've had the pleasure
Crystal Bat Chandelier
Safeco Field, home of the Marinersof visiting I have approached only seeing twisting miles of concrete freeways and brightly colored cars narrowly avoiding each other as they speed along. The absolute first thing we did was grab some food on the way home, so we stopped by Dick's, the Seattle drive-in institution. Basically, they have cheap hamburgers, fries, and shakes, but make sure you bring cash, they are old school and do not accept any other form of payment.
For my first afternoon in Seattle we stopped off at her house first to drop off my bag, change quickly, then we headed for Safeco Field, the home of the Mariners. Safeco is the Major League Baseball Stadium in the Center of Seattle and is a combination outdoor/indoor stadium. It has a retractable roof, but when it is closed it still feels like you are outside. It was an afternoon game and it was so hot outside, but we got lucky and had seats in the shade and there was a breeze, so we were ok. We were at the very top of the stands, but we could see everything, so they were great! One cool thing about the games at Safeco, the sweepers that
come out to clean up the field dance during the break, it is kind of funny, but they do a great job. I wonder how long they practice, because they look pretty coreographed and in sync. One other cool thing about Safeco is the crystal bat chandelier in the entrance...it is quite large, but it is in the formation of a cyclone and made of crystal bats (there is a picture). Sorry that is the best I can really describe it, I know it is an awful description. Guess what, the Mariners won! Whoo Hoo! After the game we had to slowly make our way through rush hour traffic to the downtown shopping center where we were to meet up with Allison's aunt and uncle for dinner. We ended up being kind of late because the traffic leaving the game was so thick. We were at a crawl on the freeway for quite a bit.
We met her aunt and uncle at a restaurant in Pacific Place Shopping center called Il Fornaio, an Italian Restaurant. The food was great and since they are both lawyers I had the opportunity to ask them about my upcoming LSAT test and applying/choosing
a law school. They were both very helpful and I was lucky to get to talk with them. That evening we returned to Allison's house where i met her mother and her brother and we spent a quiet evening at their house.
My second day in Seattle was a day of University exploration. With Allison working in the morning, I was set upon University of Washington to tour the Law school and the rest of campus. Allison dropped me off on the edge of campus and with a wave she departed leaving me standing on the street corner wondering where to go first. Since I was standing about a block from the law school I decided it was best to start there first. Upon entering, I was immediately lost, as only one can be on a college campus. Full of enertwining sidewalks that lead aimlessly to no where, I imagine every school's plan is to, primarily, disorient all visiors, and, secondly, to make them immediately fall in love with the landscaping which in turn makes them forget their lack of direction. Upon finding the law school I made my way to the administrative offices first to ask the admissions
office some questions, I will not bore you with all of the details, but I was able to talk to an admissions counselor who answered my questions and generously passed me a map of both the law school and campus, bless. I then poked around classrooms, the law library, then vetured out the rest of campus. I would like to first mention about campus: it is huge. I thought KU was huge; I was mistaken, it is mearly an adequate size to hold 30,000 students, which I can not think of an adjective to describe. U. of Washington is gigantic. The central plaza is amazing paved red brick that seems to go on forever, the bell tower is much taller the KU's campanile, and the library is appropriately Gothic, but even more grand because of it's original stone interior and brief informational center on the University's founding. (yes, I visited it and read/viewed mostly all of it) I then walked toward the fountain that lines up with Mt. Rainier, which you can see from the fountain on clear days, alas it was quite cloudy/foggy out. I was then mistaken for a local and asked where the Union was (I love
it when this happens, it means I was blending well) and since I had absolutely no idea, but was armed with a map we both set out to find it. I mean, why not? I should probably find it anyway, right? After a short stop off at the union, I meandered down the aimless paths through the cherry blossom trees, which I imagine are gorgeous in bloom, to find the Burke Museum. Up abover I heard a thunderous noise, and saw a plane shoot across the sky. Slightly alarmed, I quickly remembered that Allison said the Blue Angels were practicing for their air show for SeaFair that we would be attending in a few days. So, reassured, I moved on towards the museum. The Burke Museum of Natural History...it is wonderful. For a college museum, they do a good job. Approaching the museum one sees totem poles and other figures from Indigenous communities along side a brown one level building. While I was visiting there was a temporary exhibit on Coffee growth, production and distribution. Being a enthusiastic coffee enthusiast and visiting the home of Starbucks, I was pretty excited about this exhibit. I was even more interested in the
At the game
I think this is the only game I saw all summer, except for the little girls I umpired for! Indigenous peoples exhibits in the downstairs portion of the museum. I think these collections are permanent within the museum as the University has a large archaeological program and has many things pertaining to the Pacific rim Indigenous Nations. Although I am unsure about how the objects were obtained, I would just like to say I appreciated the University's effort to explain the individual Nation's customs and rituals that went along with each of the objects. Anyway, I enjoyed the Burke Museum. Before I was rejoined by Allison, I had a chance to walk along University Way, the main commercial street. I stopped inside the University bookstore and a music store, then met up with Allison in the early afternoon.
For the afternoon, after picking up her brother and taking a quick, nap we headed out to see the famous (and some not so famous) sites of Seattle. For those who are familiar with the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, and with the particular scene with the giant troll under the bridge, our first stop was to go see the troll. The Fremont troll was created by local artists and is under the Aurora Bridge. Allison said it
used to be surrounded by a gate so you couldn't climb on it but when we arrived we could walk right up to it and climb up on it if we wanted, so Ryan and I got up on its arms and took some pictures. We had fun playing around there for a few minutes, then we went to see Seattle's Lenin statue where it was transported to Seattle from Czechoslovakia. The three of us also made a trip to Gas Works Park where there used to be a manufacturing plant for coal, but now it has remnants of the original structure and a playground. There are also some great views of the Seattle skyline from here!
Allison had to work again the next day so she dropped me off down town next to the Olympic Sculpture Park. I spent some time walking the gravel paths looking at large and small sculptures that had been placed in a seemingly hapazard way. The Sculpture Park was right along the water front so there were great views of the sound and since it was a nice cool day it was nice to walk around looking at the art. Armed with a
map of the city I decided to take a walk along the shore toward the market. I walked along the port and saw where the cruise ships left from, they were quite large. Once I arrived at the Seattle Market I found a multi-level complex of stalls that housed everything from used book shops to produce. I stopped in a book shop and bought some Rainier cherries and peaches. I loved looking around at all of the flowers and homemade crafts. One of the coolest things was the fish stall. Even though I do not eat fish they were cool to look at because they had king crabs and giant shrimp. They also throw fish when there is an order; they are famous for this. After the market I walked across the street to the original Starbucks. It was quite crowded, but there was a bluegrass band out front that I stopped to listen to for awhile. There was also a man talking to his parrot that was kind of interesting. I decided to pass on getting a coffee there because it was too busy and headed a block up the street to find another Starbucks. For the rest of
the day I took my map and walked toward the Space Needle. It was a lot of fun exploring the city by map. I basically just started walking and anywhere I saw something worth stopping for, I did. I walked around the Space Needle, saw the building for the Music Project, and walked around the gardens. Early afternoon I was met by Allison and we went to go watch an end of the summer ceremony that her brother was participating in, then we all went to dinner at Pagliacci Pizza in the U District.
Allison and her mom had the day off so we all got into the car and drove the 2 (or so) hours to Mt. Rainier. We stopped for lunch along the way at a rail car diner. It was a nice little place in the middle of no where, but had pretty scenery all around it. We drove along a scenic highway lined with trees, getting nearer and nearer to mountains. We stopped at the entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, the visitors center to look at the museum, and then we drove up to Paradise Lodge. There is a new visitors center there that
is formed like a large log cabin. The inside of the Paradise Inn is also very beautiful and looks like a log cabin with fire places and big comfy chairs. From there we drove around the side of Mt. Rainier and continued home down the other side. We stopped at various lookout points to take pictures and even walked down a path towards a lake where there was a large drift of snow to walk across. I couldn't believe that there was still snow on the ground in August!! When we got back into town that evening we did a bit of window shopping at an outdoor mall, drove around some different neighborhoods in Seattle including a scenic road along the sound, and Allison and I went to get pasta while her mom went out with a friend.
One of my last days in Seattle we all went to the Seafair Celebration where the Blue Angels put on an air show. The day was hot and sunny, but there was a nice breeze. We parked a few blocks away and walked towards the water, found a seat, and waited for the show to start. The air show was really
great, there were great views of all of the flips and dives. The fighter jets were my favorite, but there were a couple of larger planes as well. There were also hydroplane races that sped through the water of Lake Washington. That night we went to a Mexican restaurant on the west side of the Puget Sound called Cactus. Afterwards we walked along the water for a bit until I was splashed by a large wave.
While Allison was working one of the last days I was in town, her mom took me to see Snoqualmie Falls. Just beyond the city limits and into the surrounding suburbs we came upon the visitors center where we parked the car and walked towards the falls. Unless you care to do hiking there is not much to do there, but the views are stunning. The falls drop off the cliff behind the lodge and creates breathtaking views of trees, mist, and cliffs. We walked along the short path to the look-out tower for a more up-front view and lingered there as we looked our fill. The most interesting thing to watch was the hikers at the bottom of the gorge. I think
Fountain
the fountain lines up with Mt. Rainier, so on a clear day you can see the mountain, not a clear day obviously the path to the bottom is about a mile, so not too far. I would have gone, but we were short on time and I was in flip flops 😊 The people who had taken the path to the bottom must have had the best view! They all looked like ants to me up at top! After gazing at the falls we took a brief look at the spa that was in the lodge and made a trip to the gift shop for some post cards. We then headed home to meet Allison when she got off work.
My last day was a quick one. We only had the morning free so we headed out early to Lake Washington at the University of Washington. We picked up paddles and life jackets from the University Waterfront Rec Center and then we took to the waters with Allison and I in one canoe and Ryan and Wendy got in the other one. The waters were a bit rough but Allison and I took it like a champ, pretending we were Pocahontas, and conquered the waves. After docking our boats we had to rush to the airport, so on our way we
stopped at Dick's for some burgers one last time and we all drove to SeaTac so I could get on a plane and head back to Iowa.
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