Day 7: Denver to Seattle

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Today it was time to say goodbye to Denver, and more importantly to Anna. It was sad to leave her, but I was looking forward to my trip so it was easier to say goodbye this time than it was when she was in Australia.

The flight to Seattle was fairly uneventful. At Denver airport I was called to the counter after check-in. I was hopeful that it was for a free first class uprade. Yeah right! Instead, I was asked if I minded swapping seats with someone so she could sit with her partner on the flight. I agreed to this, however once on the plane I regretted that decision. I was sat next to a couple with an 11 month old. To his credit, he slept the whole flight so I wasnt disturbed.

Upon arrival in Seattle I had a 40 min train ride and a 20 min walk to my hostel in Belltown, named City Hostel Seattle (really creative). The walk was pretty easy, although it rained the whole time. By the time I arrived at the hostel I was pretty wet, so I decided to dump my stuff and keep exploring. I ended up walking a couple of km's to Pike Place Market, the famous fish and produce market in Seattle. It was pretty cool, local vendors selling everything from fish, fruit and meat to touristy t-shirts and souveniers. I ended up wandering around and found a great comic book/sci fi store. If it was the end of my trip and I had money left over, I'd definitely buy some stuff from there, but I just cant justify carrying around a full sized Bobba Fett blatster, or a full sized Sheldon cut out for 7 more weeks! Anyway I wanered around for a bit and saw some of the famous fish throwers. The salesmen sing songs and throw fish to each other to give to customers. This included a fish that without its head or tail, was the size of a human torso. It was pretty cool to see, but when I head back in the morning (tomorrow maybe) I hope to see more of it and take photos. As I was wandering I also came across three guys just playing with yoyos, doing all sorts of tricks. They werent busking or anything, they were just practicing I guess. For dinner, first I decided to get a peanut butter and chocolate brownie. Yes I ate dessert before dinner. It just looked so good. As I was walking home I stopped and got a burrito. Turns out most burritos in America are 1lb. I had a chat to the guy working there about Melbourne. He seemed genuinely interested in Melbourne, but maybe he was just trying to pass the time, after all I was the only customer. I was definitely early for dinner, but I was hungry.

On the way back home I stopped into a bar called "Shorty's", which is a little bar that is lined with pinball machines. It's a pretty cool place to hang out, and the drinks are super cheap which is a plus. I played a few games of Batman pinball, trying to wait for the rain to stop, but it didnt, so I just headed back to the hostel. Here, I met a couple of my room mates. All of the people I met (5 so far) are only here for one night. It seems like its pretty common for people to stop in Seattle on the way to somewhere else, which seems strange to me.

Tomorrow I plan on going to see the Experience Music Project, and maybe the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center. If I wake up early enough I will head back to Pike's Place Market as well, but I'm not putting my alarm on so hopefully I can get a good sleep.

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