The Royal Bank @ 1st and Commercial is an excellent place to waltz. Just saying.
I felt like this on my way home, I'm not scared
I pass the boats and the Kingdome, I'm not scared
Foo Fighters, New Way Home (excerpt)
My passport is ready and waiting to be picked up downtown, and in just under a week's time, I shall be heading to Seattle, along with the rest of Orkestar Slivovica, my first roadtrip to those United States in years. I feel like a child counting down the days before Christmas.
For reasons unknown to me, I have had a long-standing infatuation with Seattle which has lasted for years, starting with my first trip shortly after moving to Vancouver from Manitoba. Coming from the Prairies, I couldn't get over how big everything was: even the packaging for such commonplace things as Coca-Cola at the grocery store in Blaine seemed larger than life, a perfect introduction to America as far as I was concerned. With six-lane highways stretched out like welcome mats to the south, those two-hour roadtrips down the I-5 always felt like momentous occasions to me, even if for only a day; to stay for a weekend, even in something as basic as a Motel 6 was nothing short of thrilling.
In the past, whenever I felt sad or isolated, I would occasionally head to the Spaceneedle webcam, point a camera down on the streets below (especially the ones facing ENE), and watch pedestrians, cars, anything that resembled our modern world in rapid motion. The images were always inexplicably comforting, especially the ones taken at night. I could picture myself huddled by an overpass, with nearby neon and sodium streetlights more certain than stars and more comforting than religion, and serenaded by the almost-neverending traffic as it passes by on its way to countless untold destinations, oblivious to my existence. They've all gone to look for America.
The strange thing is, even after all these years, I still experience that sense of comfort when looking that these images. I cannot wait to be back.