the west coast!
the west coast...sorta...
this past week, i went to Seattle for a Sleep conference. (Work paid for my flight and hotel.) I've previously never been further west than Glacier, MT, but when I arrived, the city looked very confusingly normal and irritating. It could have been Columbus, or Madison, or any other city that I've never been to. It was somehow older and more outdated than I expected, and transportation was perplexing. Of course, I worked an overnight the night before, so I was extremely sleep deprived. Belief I was on the west coast: 5 percent
However, we (ABC and I) had very good luck being confused tourists on buses. It was our best source of information. For the most part, people were more friendly and willing to talk than anywhere else I've been. We met one cyclist on the bus, told him where we were going, and he said he was the architect that helped design it and offered to show us the way. Then...he gave us his home phone number in case we needed anything else. (we verified his identity on the internet; he really was with a prominent architecture firm!)
We got lost a bit searching for food in the downtown area, and literally stumbled upon a pizza place called MOD. They made pizzas with really thin crust in about five minutes. They were cheap too! We also had a huckleberry milkshake. You will begin to identify two themes in this post: random luck and the consumption of cheese. The later is because ABC loves cheese.
On day two we went to Pike's Place Market. The best part here was a cheese shop that made the cheese right there behind a glass wall. They served the best mac and cheese I've never had. Instead, it really should be called cheese and mac (cheese and penne?). Also, we consumed cheese curds that were less than an hour old. I had no idea they were so delicious! From here we could see the Puget Sound.
On the next bus, we met a drifter who had nothing but a pack on his back who showed us Volunteer park. There was a water tower there that supposedly had a higher elevation above sea level than the space needle, so we climbed it (free!) and also saw a greenhouse/arboretum. We then made a decision to walk three miles to Lake Washington and caught it just at dusk.
Fortuitously, we discovered a grocery store a mere three blocks from the hotel that sold almost all organic food. What wasn't organic was minimally processed. There really were few things open at night in the business district, and the store was a lifesaver. We ordered pizza one night, and ate pizza at Whole Foods one night, and ate some brisket there another night. ABC found a lot of smaller coffee shops in the midst of the Starbucks, and we ate at a gelato place and a cool bakery during the day. At this point, the bikes, the coffee, the organic and green trends were convincing me that Seattle was actually pretty cool. And i began believing I was actually in Washington.
I supposed I should mention my first conference ever. The trainee day had the most interesting information; the lectures were sometimes good, sometimes bad. I enjoyed understanding all of the neurobiology terminology and feeling smug. We went to all of the poster session and I got a really good feel for what the rest of sleep research is like.
Sara took us out to eat at Purple. We ate a bunch of little appetizers (goat cheese! gorgonzola and dates!) and then had a delicious salad of chicken, celery, cranberries, apples, bacon, and cheese. It was just cubed in a pile, no lettuce, haha. It was a wonderful dinner and really nice of Sara.
We saw a crazy guy, carrying several branches around, saying "stick-stick-stick-stick-stick-stick-stick!" on our last day. We trekked around picturesque Discovery Park, and the vegetation convinced me the rest of the way that this was actually not the East Coast. Then hopped on a plane and came home.
I really really liked my seattle vacation =)
in unrelated news of the day, at work ABC cut his finger on a granola bar. there was actual blood. i didn't know that was even possible.
this past week, i went to Seattle for a Sleep conference. (Work paid for my flight and hotel.) I've previously never been further west than Glacier, MT, but when I arrived, the city looked very confusingly normal and irritating. It could have been Columbus, or Madison, or any other city that I've never been to. It was somehow older and more outdated than I expected, and transportation was perplexing. Of course, I worked an overnight the night before, so I was extremely sleep deprived. Belief I was on the west coast: 5 percent
However, we (ABC and I) had very good luck being confused tourists on buses. It was our best source of information. For the most part, people were more friendly and willing to talk than anywhere else I've been. We met one cyclist on the bus, told him where we were going, and he said he was the architect that helped design it and offered to show us the way. Then...he gave us his home phone number in case we needed anything else. (we verified his identity on the internet; he really was with a prominent architecture firm!)
We got lost a bit searching for food in the downtown area, and literally stumbled upon a pizza place called MOD. They made pizzas with really thin crust in about five minutes. They were cheap too! We also had a huckleberry milkshake. You will begin to identify two themes in this post: random luck and the consumption of cheese. The later is because ABC loves cheese.
On day two we went to Pike's Place Market. The best part here was a cheese shop that made the cheese right there behind a glass wall. They served the best mac and cheese I've never had. Instead, it really should be called cheese and mac (cheese and penne?). Also, we consumed cheese curds that were less than an hour old. I had no idea they were so delicious! From here we could see the Puget Sound.
On the next bus, we met a drifter who had nothing but a pack on his back who showed us Volunteer park. There was a water tower there that supposedly had a higher elevation above sea level than the space needle, so we climbed it (free!) and also saw a greenhouse/arboretum. We then made a decision to walk three miles to Lake Washington and caught it just at dusk.
Fortuitously, we discovered a grocery store a mere three blocks from the hotel that sold almost all organic food. What wasn't organic was minimally processed. There really were few things open at night in the business district, and the store was a lifesaver. We ordered pizza one night, and ate pizza at Whole Foods one night, and ate some brisket there another night. ABC found a lot of smaller coffee shops in the midst of the Starbucks, and we ate at a gelato place and a cool bakery during the day. At this point, the bikes, the coffee, the organic and green trends were convincing me that Seattle was actually pretty cool. And i began believing I was actually in Washington.
I supposed I should mention my first conference ever. The trainee day had the most interesting information; the lectures were sometimes good, sometimes bad. I enjoyed understanding all of the neurobiology terminology and feeling smug. We went to all of the poster session and I got a really good feel for what the rest of sleep research is like.
Sara took us out to eat at Purple. We ate a bunch of little appetizers (goat cheese! gorgonzola and dates!) and then had a delicious salad of chicken, celery, cranberries, apples, bacon, and cheese. It was just cubed in a pile, no lettuce, haha. It was a wonderful dinner and really nice of Sara.
We saw a crazy guy, carrying several branches around, saying "stick-stick-stick-stick-stick-stick-stick!" on our last day. We trekked around picturesque Discovery Park, and the vegetation convinced me the rest of the way that this was actually not the East Coast. Then hopped on a plane and came home.
I really really liked my seattle vacation =)
in unrelated news of the day, at work ABC cut his finger on a granola bar. there was actual blood. i didn't know that was even possible.