Post from the Road
Impressions from halfway through my vacation in The Great Northwest:
(1) I am an opposite vacation personality type from my family. They enjoy activities, whereas I believe vacations should be free of required activities. Yesterday we spent the entire day driving up mountains. We drove up Mt. St. Helens, and we drove up Mt. Rainier. And you know what we saw? NOTHING. It was too foggy. We did get to see SNOW IN MAY, and I mean like a crapload of snow, on Mt. Rainier. On the drive home from Seattle today (home to Portland, my sister's home) we saw Mt. Rainier perfectly from the car. In my opinion, that is all you need.
(2) Seattle is a totally kick-ass city, and I would totally live there if they could kick it up about twenty degrees and cut down on the rain. It was BEAUTIFUL today (seriously, everyone we saw kept commenting on it. sunshine to people in Seattle is like water to people in the desert.) and we had, in my opinion, a perfect vacation day: delicious pastries and a walk through Pike Street Market (where they supposedly throw the fish, only we didn't see anyone throw any), a walk along Puget Sound, a ride on the monorail, a Duck Tour (my family has an odd obsession with Duck Tours...this was our fourth. they really are a great way to see a city in a short period of time), a trip up the Space Needle, a fresh fried seafood lunch followed by ice cream, and shopping, where I got a kick-ass bright red totally inappropriate pair of stilettos to wear to graduation.
(3) It is true that the West Coast is much prettier, and the people are much nicer. But the niceness is disconcerting to us East Coasters. We expect a little rudeness with our service, and we expect it to be faster.
Tomorrow it is on to the coast!
(1) I am an opposite vacation personality type from my family. They enjoy activities, whereas I believe vacations should be free of required activities. Yesterday we spent the entire day driving up mountains. We drove up Mt. St. Helens, and we drove up Mt. Rainier. And you know what we saw? NOTHING. It was too foggy. We did get to see SNOW IN MAY, and I mean like a crapload of snow, on Mt. Rainier. On the drive home from Seattle today (home to Portland, my sister's home) we saw Mt. Rainier perfectly from the car. In my opinion, that is all you need.
(2) Seattle is a totally kick-ass city, and I would totally live there if they could kick it up about twenty degrees and cut down on the rain. It was BEAUTIFUL today (seriously, everyone we saw kept commenting on it. sunshine to people in Seattle is like water to people in the desert.) and we had, in my opinion, a perfect vacation day: delicious pastries and a walk through Pike Street Market (where they supposedly throw the fish, only we didn't see anyone throw any), a walk along Puget Sound, a ride on the monorail, a Duck Tour (my family has an odd obsession with Duck Tours...this was our fourth. they really are a great way to see a city in a short period of time), a trip up the Space Needle, a fresh fried seafood lunch followed by ice cream, and shopping, where I got a kick-ass bright red totally inappropriate pair of stilettos to wear to graduation.
(3) It is true that the West Coast is much prettier, and the people are much nicer. But the niceness is disconcerting to us East Coasters. We expect a little rudeness with our service, and we expect it to be faster.
Tomorrow it is on to the coast!