Back from Seattle.
Snoqualmie Falls
It was a great weekend in Seattle.
On Friday, I stayed downtown (Priceline ROCKS) and first met up with some friends of Jeff that I had met when I was in Iowa, Lisa and Matt. We first went to a bar named Contour, which had a great vibe and cheap food. After that, we headed next door-ish to an Irish pub for some Irish beer. By then, it was 8PM and Lisa and Matt turned into a pumpkin to head back to their place in Bellvue.
At that point, I walked from there to Capitol Hill, where I met up with my DC peeps, Todd, Joe, and Swiss Chris. We ended up spending the remainder of the evening at The Cuff Complex, which was pretty full by midnight, but I still felt it was a bit too big and it couldn't decide whether it was a leather, bear, or something else kinda bar. Fun people though.
One thing I noticed about Seattle is that even in the "straight" bars there seemed to be many gay people, and the straight people didn't really care or see it as an issue at all. Woofy guys all around, regardless of sexual orientation! Also, guys on the west coast seem to be much more obvious when they check you out. Being from the east coast, I'm not used to having guys completely stare back when walking on the streets. :-)
The next day we played tourist. Went to the Pike St. Market... Lots of good food. I wish DC had more of this kind of stuff (yeah, we have Eastern Market). I went to the original Starbucks there. I got teary eyed. But I mainly was crying because I hadn't come up with the idea to sell marked-up water ran through coffee beans. :-)
After the market, we walked to Pioneer Square and found an awesome place for Dim Sum. YUM! Then we walked to the Seattle Public Library. It's an amazing public space. After that, we really touristed it up and took the Monorail to the Space Needle. Wheee!
After all of that, it was time to head up to the Ballard neighborhood, where Mark was having his party. The party was a grand time! I got to meet Mark's mother and grandfather, as well as an impressive collection of great friends that he has met since moving there. It was a great night and thank you, Mark, for your hospitality.
The next day, Sunday, we drove out to see Snoqualmie Falls... It was lovely. :) After that, we had lunch at a complete dive in Falls City. I don't think they get gaggles of gay men in there that often. It was a hoot!
That night, we drove back into Seattle to do the beer bust at the Cuff... it was kind of mellow... After that, we went to Madison Pub, which was very laid back with a friendly staff and all-you-can-eat peanuts. :-)
Then it was back to Ballard for a quick 4-hour nap... and then Mark took me to Sea-Tac for my flight back. The way back I made my 6AM flight and my upgrade... It was a nice ride back on United to BWI.
I'm now back in DC until the 29th.