Seattle

Blair took the first shift at the healm, and managed to get us lost 30 miles outside of Pine Grove. He straightened out after an hour and blasted off toward Seattle on a 14 hour drive. Not much of note happened on the drive, and we were both eager to see Seattle and embark on our bike trip. Finding cousin Maryanne's was easy. We parked the car and went up to the roof of her condo and talked to her and boyfriend Mike over beers.
Talk about great location - Maryanne lives right downtown, almost directly under the 605 ft. Space Needle, and a short walk from the famous Pike's Place Market and both the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums.

We went to breakfast the next morning at the 5 Spot Cafe, a Seattle must. I had a shrimp and Avocado Omelette and about 6 cups of delicious, Seattle coffee. To be continued, I am being kicked off by the mean Library Nazi! In MT, more soon...

Thanks to the help of a wonderful angel who works at the Libby, MT chamber of commerce, I am able to resume my blogging from the chamber office. I stopped by to ask if there were any internet cafes in town. She said there were none, but I could use her computer here in the visitor's center. How nice.

Back to Seattle... So after stuffing ourselves and filling our nervous systems with caffeine at the 5 Spot, Maryanne drove us around the different Seattle neighborhoods, stopping at parks and overlooks, and of course the city-famous Troll Under the Bridge, some community art project my cousin Lucy would really dig. It was very cool. The huge sculpted troll has a real volkswagon beetle in his clutches and is raising it to his mouth to consume. This whole scene takes place under an overpass.

We spent the afternoon wandering through Pike's Place Market. What a vibrant, exciting place. Young men at fish stands throw the freshest fillets back and forth, chopping them up to be sold to gawking tourists. Rainbows of fresh fruits and vegetables line the aisles. Indie girls with short hair and thick rimmed glasses walk around in khakis and chacos searching for organic produce. I watched Blair take it all in. He was loving the different people and panhandlers playing instruments for change. Other cities may try to do the whole market thing, but none will ever hold a candle to Seattle's. The vendors continue outside for blocks and there was a truck full of black gospel singers in pin-stripe suits, belting out soul. It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was crawling. You could hardly walk. We ducked into Kells Irish Pub for an afternoon Guiness, and Maryanne and I discussed respective futures and the states of our parents, etc. We made big plans to rally the entire family for the Waupaca Triathalon next summer, and assigned different legs to different aunts, uncles, and cousins. Hopefully we'll be able to work it out and make it happen. If you're family, take note. The triatholon is next August. Better start training now. Maryanne and I were in the midst of discussing this when Blair ordered two shots of Bushmill's Irish Whiskey - one for him, one for me. He toasted to the trip and we had whiskey at 2pm. I said I don't know if that was entirely necessary at this point in time, but then again, I've never been one to look a gift drink in the mouth. We walked back to Maryanne's condo and planned to go to Mass at 5pm, after Blair and I went to the Seattle REI store to see about some last minute camping odds and ends for the trip. Suddenly everything we saw, we needed. We gradually got over the excitement of wall to wall camping gadgets and focused on items we actually needed. Thinking ahead to Glacier and Yellowstone, we picked up some hiking packs for backcountry hiking. I also picked up a French-press coffee mug that I use every day. We threw the packs on and hiked back to Maryanne's to get ready for church.

After church we drove around until we found Laurelhurst Park, which Blair was dying to see. One of his favorite authors, Don Miller, spent a lot of time in the park, apparently. We walked around the park and caught a glimpse of Lake Washington, and drove to Mike's house (Maryanne's Mike) to pick him up. Mike's garage door was open when we pulled in and my jaw dropped as I stared at his silver Porsche Carrera. I thought Mike was really cool before I saw his car. Man! nice catch Maryanne! We went to dinner at a pizza place called Serious Pie, and it was seriously good. From dinner, we walked to Fado's Irish Pub, where members of the Brazilian Soccer team were hanging out after a game in Seattle. I have no idea why they were in Seattle. Haven't seen sportcenter in awhile. Usually I have a strict policy against establishments that want me to pay a cover charge, but I ponied up the 5 bucks to see some live local music. We got in and ordered beers.
The band was called "The Boys of Greenwood Glen" - a drinking band with an Irish problem. They played terrific old Irish drinking songs and the bar filled up with dancing Seattleites. Mike and Maryanne left and Blair and I eventually made our way back to the condo after walking down to the pier to take pictures of the skyline. Everyone slept in the next morning and we walked to an afternoon Mariners game at Safeco Field. It was no Miller Park, but we did eat sushi at the game. Safeco is the only ballpark in America that sells sushi, and it was sure good. We had fish for dinner at this place on the water called Ivars Salmon House. I had the most delicious halibut. After dinner we drove to Gastworks park and then went to bed early since Blair and I planned to leave at 9am the following morning.

I had a blast with Maryanne and Mike. It was so nice of them to take a weekend and show us around their cool city, picking up meals and drinks left and right. I am truly blessed to have such fine relatives.

After Seattle, my contacts had run dry. From here on out it would be just Blair and I fending for ourselves on the open road. We were very excited, yet nervous to begin.