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Continuing from my previous post, here's part 2 of my trip to Seattle. I hope you like looking at signs.
Mood music. :) I seriously had this song running through my head for most of the time I was there.
Monday morning, it was off for a day of learning and excitement! But first, a historical marker (Seattle has lots).
These anchor signs are set up at various points along the waterfront, telling you about the many interesting things that have occurred at the Seattle harbor (or to the harbor, such as the marker for all the sand from San Francisco's telegraph hill used as ballast and then dumped). You get to see a picture of this one because it ties in with the Klondike museum later.
So, when I first arrived in Seattle on Saturday and was walking along the waterfront, I stopped in at the aquarium and was debating about whether or not I wanted to see the place then or later. The lady at the front desk was quite nice, gave me a pamphlet with the hours on it, and Monday morning I returned - and coincidentally paid for my ticket via the very same lady.
Anyway, the first thing you see when you walk in is this great big wall tank full of fish and, if you go on a Monday the same time as what appears to be every elementary school student in Seattle, a diver giving an interesting talk to a group of school kids.
I believe the theme of the tank was "stuff that's in the body of water that Seattle is located next to," or something like that.
Sorry about the weird reflections, but aquariums are way, way hard to take good pictures in for obvious reasons. Consider this my excuse for all of the following pictures as well.
The diver (and the person who was outside the tank helping give the talk, though the diver had communication inside the scuba suit) was totally comfortable in the tank and having a ball showing off the fish and feeding them and stuff.
This is from when the diver was like "Oh hey, check out this ugly fish that hangs out in the bottom of the tank! Let's see if I can get her to swim up a bit..." and this monster of a fish rose up out of nowhere and indeed, swam around a bit before retreating with food.
I thought it was cute (and a sign of the times) that a kid was using his DSi to take pictures. Surprised his teacher let him bring it in, though.
If you go up a flight of stairs, there's a cafe and the top of the big tank. It was behind glass, unsurprisingly, and this is the best picture I managed to get of it, but you get the idea. That yellow thing in the water is the diver's oxogen hose.
There was quite the extensive touch-tank exhibit, with your usual assortment of sea stars, starfish, sea cucumbers, anemones, and so on. Also, did I mention the school children?
In the back on the right, you can somewhat see the jellyfish ring, in which jellyfish swim in a great big ring over your head and under your feet, which I thought was a nice way to do it. Jellyfish are prone to getting unusal tanks, I've noticed.
This was pretty neat. The giant octopus had two tanks, connected by the big cylinder you see here.
Some crazy-looking jellyfish.
If you were wondering whether I have any shame when it comes to silly photo ops, the answer is apparently no.
Yes, Finding Nemo was a good movie. But if I have to hear one more kid say "Look, I found Dory!" when confronted with a blue tang, well...
I noticed a general focus at the Seattle Aquarium on really big tanks with lots of fish in them than on small tanks with just one or two species. It makes for nice set pieces, and they're enjoyable enough to watch (when not surrounded by small children), and they even had helpful staff scattered around if you had any questions, but it had the effect of making it seem like there wasn't as much to see since the actual number of exhibits was smaller.
More interesting fish.
There are two main building to the aquarium, as you discover when you encounter a door leading to the barren outside and are wondering why the exhibits end so abruptly. Through that door, across an unremarkable sidewalk, and then through another door, you suddenly find yourself in a beach-side aviary.
Oh, dear god. Do parents know about this?
As mentioned previously, Seattle is allll about salmon, and the aquarium has quite the extended series of exhibits about the fish and its life cycles. Here are some baby salmon, which were swimming overhead.
I believe the idea here is that I am riding on the back of an accommodating orca. Because that's what one does in Seattle.
They had a big, mostly underwater dome, which by all rights should have been pretty cool, but the many crossbars and lack of interesting scenery kept it from being quite the showstopper it should have been. I'm sounding down on the place, but it really wasn't bad at all - just lacking in personality outside of the salmon stuff, which was very good.
But enough about fish, let's talk GOLD!
A little bit before I left for my vacation, I learned that the upcoming week was National Parks Week, and entry to all national parks would be free! Woot! So I immediately looked up Washington and Oregon to see which parks they had, and learned that Seattle was home to the Klondike Gold Rush National Park.
As you can see from the sign, it's free even when it's not National Park Week, but I was thrilled to go anyway. Why? Because when I was a kid, my sister and I played the hell out of The Yukon Trail (think Oregon Trail but with less buffalo and more snow). Seriously, we had winning that game down to a science.
And that is why most of the following pictures will have no meaning for any of you except her. :P
So I walked in and was talking to the guy at the front desk and mentioned my adoration of the computer game. And what does he say? "Oh yeah, I remember consulting on that." That game is 16 years old. He seemed very surprised by my surprise, and amusedly told me that while he helped out with the background, he only actually played the game once to double-check they got the details right.
Oh, and note the tourist map spread out on the desk. I wasn't kidding when I said they were everywhere.
This "National Park" was once a hotel. I was surprised at the idea of a building being a park, but the guy at the desk (I really wish I remembered his name) said it was a lot more common on the east coast, where historical buildings are more plentiful.
Handy to know, I guess.
The trail!
They had a series of stations set up with a premise I don't think I've seen elsewhere before. There were five different historical figures of varying backgrounds selected, and at each station throughout the tour you could check on your chosen figure's progress, read notes from their diaries/letters, etc. I, of course, simply read each of the five's at each station, but it still made for an interesting way of putting history into context and creating a narrative.
Some exhibits were set up to mimic various things encountered along the trail, such as this outfitters shop. What they don't warn you about is that when you step in juust the right spot near any one of these, suddenly background noises will start up, scaring the hell out of you until you realize why suddenly the empty facsimile of a shop you're in sounds like Macy's at Christmas.
"Levy"? Who the hell is this "Levy"? Should I know them?
One of the things you could do in The Yukon Trail was buy stuff off a peddler before you got on the boat in Seattle. The guy would always have two things on offer, but what they were varied, as did whether or not they were a good idea (you could resell the eggs at a profit, for example) or utterly ridiculous (a bicycle that got thrown overboard by a couple sailors during your voyage for being completely impractical). You can picture my surprise at discovering this was apparently a totally real thing and not just made up for the game (a common theme, as it would turn out).
Speaking of... Which outfit you bought was absolutely crucial, and so was making sure you had that damned 1,000 lbs per person of food at the border. You'd think you were all set to go, and then - bam! A thief would make off with just enough in the night to send you hiking all the way back to the last town for more flour.
This is just about exactly what the background looks like when you get to the lake and have to build your boat. Did Mecc just come to this museum park and throw the whole thing into the game?
Cheechako Hill! If you got to the gold fields too late to get a decent claim, you could always stake at Cheechako Hill, so called because only a "cheechako," or greenhorn, would look for gold there. But of course, it would turn out there was gold there after all, and it was sort of the consolation prize for sucking. I had no idea it was real. Not only that, it turns out it sparked major environmental damage in the Yukon. Once miners discovered gold there, they correctly realized there was probably gold in the other hills too, and started all kinds of terrible erosive projects to get at it. Kind of makes me feel bad for all the times we played it out...
After that, I picked up some sourdough starter in the giftshop, which inexplicably was packaged to resemble a postcard. So I asked at the front desk if there was a nearby post office, and it turned out there was one just down the street. Mom and Dad assure me they might get around to using the one I mailed them this summer.
Then it was off to Bainbridge! A couple weeks before my vacation, a co-worker of mine also went to Seattle, since his girlfriend's there doing some kind of job for a few months and he wanted to visit her. Anyway, I asked if he had any suggestions on what to do, and he said the ice cream at Bainbridge was good, so off I went.
There's a regular ferry between the island and Seattle, shown here loading up cars while the people get on on the deck above. The ferry has an interesting fare system - you pay about $7 to get to the island, and then the way back is free. Makes sense; after all, where else are you going to go?
The ship was pretty big (after all, it can hold all those cars), and there was a variety of seating provided. This is the eating area, by the on-board cafe (visible in the back). They advertise that they cook all of their hot food (hot dogs, hamburgers, potato wedges, etc) on board, and my hamburger was indeed quite tasty, if overpriced. It's not like we were out to sea, for crying out loud.
After venturing to the top deck and deciding it was way to windy to eat outside, I settled down in this sort of booth area. Many people were taking advantage of the trip to stretch out and nap.
It was kind of a cloudy day (insert Seattle weather joke here), and there was that wind, so I didn't stick around outside much longer than it took to take these pictures once I finished eating and started exploring the ship.
Yet another view of the seating, to give you an idea of just how long the boat is.
While I was waiting to get on the ferry (which wasn't very long - I had really good luck with my timing both on the way there and back), I met an elderly gentlemen who suggested I take the Waterfront Trail if I wanted to explore the island a bit.
I am convinced this map is not to scale on the left-hand side.
At least early on, the trail is quite easy to follow. You just look for one of these signs at every crossroads. It's when you get to the residential area section and they get farther and farther between that you start to wonder if you're lost...
It was cloudy, the tide was out, and the area's still getting over a lot of pollution from its heyday as a shipyard, so the waterfront wasn't exactly spectacular in spots.
Still, it was a nice trail to amble down, the locals I ran into were quite friendly, and they had these random little stone statues set up at intervals for reasons that I'm sure must exist.
There was also this nice green section to walk through, though this is after I got separated from the trail markers and may or may not have been an official part of the tourist circuit.
By the time I was done walking and had found civilization again, I was majorly hungry. I decided I was in the mood for Italian, and conveniently, this little shop was just a block or so away from where I'd re-discovered the road.
Called Mon Elisa's, the main thing on the menu was pasta. You picked your pasta and your sauce, and they cooked it for you while you waited. They also did good business in selling prepared sauce, pizza, salad, and some other things. In fact, they didn't have a lot of indoor seating.
The boy you can see in the above picture was quite nice (as is everybody I meet), and it happened I'd interrupted his dinner as it was a slow day and he was eating on the job. I ended up eating my pasta with him and chatting about the island and assorted inconsequentials. Turned out he was in high school (sigh) and trying to figure out college stuff, so I was very handy in reciting platitudes about studying what interests you instead of what you think will make money and so forth. I also got to meet the owner as she breezed in at one point to check on things. Plus, it was very tasty, and if you're ever in the area I recommend stopping by.
After that, it was time for dessert. I couldn't quite remember the name of the place (I kept calling it "Mona's"), but as soon as I said "ice cream" everyone immediately knew what I meant and helpfully pointed me in the right direction. They had a ridiculous number of flavors. I ended up with tiramisu and quite enjoyed it, eating outside in the breeze.
::insert Seattle coffee joke here::
The trip back. It happened that I got on the same boat as had taken me over the first time, which I confirmed by saying "Is this the same boat?" and two different nearby crewmembers took one glance at me and said "Yep. Have a nice trip?" I am memorable even on ferries, it appears.
That pretty much wraps up Monday, since when I got back to the hostel I was totally beat from all that walking (it was a pretty long trail) and spent most of the evening reading a book. Hey, I was on vacation.
A general overview of where I was. Chinatown in the upper right comes into play on Tuesday.
It's Tuesday! While the city is nice, I wanted to get out an explore some of the mountains, too. I asked the guys at the Klondike Museum what would be a good day trip, and they suggested Snoqualmie Falls. The falls are not, however, a national park, but are instead operated by a power company.
Anyway, in order to figure out how to get there I made a detour between the museum and the post office on Monday and went to the metro station, which is in charge of public transport in Seattle, and they have these phones set up that connect you directly to people ready and waiting to help you figure out how to get places. My directions involved getting on a bus, transferring at a station, then getting on another bus, and viola! I'd be there. Less than $10 for the whole trip (each fare was $2.00-$2.50).
The bus station where I transferred. I was expecting something more like in Santa Barbara, where there's a building with people and everything, but no. Pretty much just this. (Well, times three, since there were three pavilions which opened on either side, for a total of six bays.)
I think this may be the least-clever bus sign I've ever seen. It doesn't even rhyme, or tell you how exactly you are to exchange one activity for the other.
Arriving at the falls. Total trip time was about an hour, with plenty of scenery along the way.
Unfortunately, the primary observation deck was under construction, though the proposed improvements looked like they'd be quite nice.
...But that didn't mean you couldn't still see the falls. They're rather big, after all. Detour signs were helpfully set up in case you couldn't triangulate and find the cliff on your own.
Peeking out from around a corner...
The falls proper.
Also available in widescreen!
The river below.
Looking off towards the mountains.
There was a gift shop on one side of the falls and this hotel and gift shop on the other side. I checked out both, and eventually decided I'd be set with just an ice cream bar - after I attempted the hike down to the bottom.
More mountains. I think I was trying to capture the rising spray in this shot.
Here you can see the observation deck that's under construction on the right, and then farther back is the area where I took my pictures of the falls from.
The top of the falls fully explored, it was time for a hike.
They are not kidding when they say "steep grade." It's fine on the way down, but coming back up...
It was very pretty, though, with tall trees and a well cared-for path.
The trees are so green because they're covered in moss, thanks to the waterfall spray. It's almost a little eerie, depending on how many other people are on the same section of the trail as you when you first notice the effect.
The bottom of the hill. I see the river, but where are the falls?
Is this all that's down there? An electricity plant? I was disappointed.
Then I realized, wait, there had been some other people ahead of me on the trail whom I hadn't seen come back up. Then I saw the people behind me head for the side of the building. And then I finally noticed the signs telling me the trail continued to my left.
Oh.
"Caution: Trail"?
This does not look ominous at all!
Actually, this part of the trail is restricted like this to keep idiots from messing with all of the power plant stuff. As you will see in just a few pictures, this is a very good idea.
Looking up at whatever it is these are. They're very long, anyway. And big, especially when you're standing at the bottom.
Once you get past the plant, the trail turns into a shady boardwalk.
I'm reasonably certain they want you to stay on the boardwalk.
The falls from below, plus someone blatantly ignoring the posted signs. In fact, I saw quite a number of people messing around down on the rocks, presumably with little regard for trivial things like safety.
Yet more water. I'm not really sure why there's a clearing on the other side. Logging, or plans to build something, maybe? Beavers?
They really don't skimp when it comes to warning signs, do they? I saw this one while waiting for the return bus and eating my ice cream. It's warning you to use the bridge instead of crossing the road.
It is a rather pretty bridge.
Once I got back to downtown Seattle, I decided to get off a couple stops early and hit China town. I remembered seeing a figure shop while Taylor and I were walking to get dinner, and decided to see if I couldn't locate it again.
How did I know I was in Chinatown? Why, by all the dragons on the light poles, of course.
I thought they were pretty awesome, to be honest.
I did find the shop, but they didn't have anything I was particularly interested in. I mentioned I was looking for some One Piece stuff, and the guy at the counter said I should try the local Kinokuniya, since he knew they stocked some and it was just down the street. I was like, "Kinokuniya?! I am so there."
So off I went, though surprisingly enough it didn't occur to me to take pictures while I was at the bookstore. After casing the whole place twice, I finally gave in and asked if they had what I was looking for, since I couldn't find it myself. (I was rather impressed with how much I could identify, though, since it was naturally almost all in Japanese) Sadly, they did not have either Asterisk or Jinjuu in stock, so I contented myself with buying an over-priced Kingdom Hearts cell phone charm. Hey, it was Roxas, and he's the rare one out of that series. (And yes, he's destined for my Christmas tree. Everything I own is.)
After that, it turned out the Kinokuniya was connected to a Japanese grocery store, so I then naturally spent plenty of time in there before settling on sakura mochi and delicious black sugar candy. Mmm. (The ingredients? "Sugar, Black Sugar, Corn Syrup, Artificial Flavor, Emulsifier." They're probably not very good for me.)
Yes, I did go to Chinatown and then spend all my time at the Japanese stores. What?
Obligatory picture of the main gate.
Another dragon. Seriously, I love these things.
Buses are free to ride in downtown Seattle during the day, so I hopped the first bus heading the same direction I was back to the hostel. This was not difficult, as you can see by the fact that there are four other buses going the same way in just this picture.
That night, they guy who organizes events at the Green Tortoise (I want to say Justin, but I'm not sure that's right) had set up an outing to the Can Can to see some singers. I wasn't planning on going, but he was very excited about it and I wasn't doing much else that evening and some of the other residents I'd become friendly with were going, so what the hell. I could afford the $2 cover charge.
This is all of a block from Pike's Market Place, despite the seedy decor. Then again, the Marketplace isn't all that upscale itself.
Inside, it was very dark, and the music was... interesting. Sort of a bluesy country, maybe? Enh. I had fun chatting, learned yet more about cheap local beers, and decided to take off after the second singer finished and it looked like the first was coming back for another set.
The Green Tortoise at night.
Back at the hostel, it was time to make sure I had everything packed and ready to go so I could catch my train to Portland the next morning.
To be continued (eventually)...
Click to viewMood music. :) I seriously had this song running through my head for most of the time I was there.
Monday morning, it was off for a day of learning and excitement! But first, a historical marker (Seattle has lots).
These anchor signs are set up at various points along the waterfront, telling you about the many interesting things that have occurred at the Seattle harbor (or to the harbor, such as the marker for all the sand from San Francisco's telegraph hill used as ballast and then dumped). You get to see a picture of this one because it ties in with the Klondike museum later.
So, when I first arrived in Seattle on Saturday and was walking along the waterfront, I stopped in at the aquarium and was debating about whether or not I wanted to see the place then or later. The lady at the front desk was quite nice, gave me a pamphlet with the hours on it, and Monday morning I returned - and coincidentally paid for my ticket via the very same lady.
Anyway, the first thing you see when you walk in is this great big wall tank full of fish and, if you go on a Monday the same time as what appears to be every elementary school student in Seattle, a diver giving an interesting talk to a group of school kids.
I believe the theme of the tank was "stuff that's in the body of water that Seattle is located next to," or something like that.
Sorry about the weird reflections, but aquariums are way, way hard to take good pictures in for obvious reasons. Consider this my excuse for all of the following pictures as well.
The diver (and the person who was outside the tank helping give the talk, though the diver had communication inside the scuba suit) was totally comfortable in the tank and having a ball showing off the fish and feeding them and stuff.
This is from when the diver was like "Oh hey, check out this ugly fish that hangs out in the bottom of the tank! Let's see if I can get her to swim up a bit..." and this monster of a fish rose up out of nowhere and indeed, swam around a bit before retreating with food.
I thought it was cute (and a sign of the times) that a kid was using his DSi to take pictures. Surprised his teacher let him bring it in, though.
If you go up a flight of stairs, there's a cafe and the top of the big tank. It was behind glass, unsurprisingly, and this is the best picture I managed to get of it, but you get the idea. That yellow thing in the water is the diver's oxogen hose.
There was quite the extensive touch-tank exhibit, with your usual assortment of sea stars, starfish, sea cucumbers, anemones, and so on. Also, did I mention the school children?
In the back on the right, you can somewhat see the jellyfish ring, in which jellyfish swim in a great big ring over your head and under your feet, which I thought was a nice way to do it. Jellyfish are prone to getting unusal tanks, I've noticed.
This was pretty neat. The giant octopus had two tanks, connected by the big cylinder you see here.
Some crazy-looking jellyfish.
If you were wondering whether I have any shame when it comes to silly photo ops, the answer is apparently no.
Yes, Finding Nemo was a good movie. But if I have to hear one more kid say "Look, I found Dory!" when confronted with a blue tang, well...
I noticed a general focus at the Seattle Aquarium on really big tanks with lots of fish in them than on small tanks with just one or two species. It makes for nice set pieces, and they're enjoyable enough to watch (when not surrounded by small children), and they even had helpful staff scattered around if you had any questions, but it had the effect of making it seem like there wasn't as much to see since the actual number of exhibits was smaller.
More interesting fish.
There are two main building to the aquarium, as you discover when you encounter a door leading to the barren outside and are wondering why the exhibits end so abruptly. Through that door, across an unremarkable sidewalk, and then through another door, you suddenly find yourself in a beach-side aviary.
Oh, dear god. Do parents know about this?
As mentioned previously, Seattle is allll about salmon, and the aquarium has quite the extended series of exhibits about the fish and its life cycles. Here are some baby salmon, which were swimming overhead.
I believe the idea here is that I am riding on the back of an accommodating orca. Because that's what one does in Seattle.
They had a big, mostly underwater dome, which by all rights should have been pretty cool, but the many crossbars and lack of interesting scenery kept it from being quite the showstopper it should have been. I'm sounding down on the place, but it really wasn't bad at all - just lacking in personality outside of the salmon stuff, which was very good.
But enough about fish, let's talk GOLD!
A little bit before I left for my vacation, I learned that the upcoming week was National Parks Week, and entry to all national parks would be free! Woot! So I immediately looked up Washington and Oregon to see which parks they had, and learned that Seattle was home to the Klondike Gold Rush National Park.
As you can see from the sign, it's free even when it's not National Park Week, but I was thrilled to go anyway. Why? Because when I was a kid, my sister and I played the hell out of The Yukon Trail (think Oregon Trail but with less buffalo and more snow). Seriously, we had winning that game down to a science.
And that is why most of the following pictures will have no meaning for any of you except her. :P
So I walked in and was talking to the guy at the front desk and mentioned my adoration of the computer game. And what does he say? "Oh yeah, I remember consulting on that." That game is 16 years old. He seemed very surprised by my surprise, and amusedly told me that while he helped out with the background, he only actually played the game once to double-check they got the details right.
Oh, and note the tourist map spread out on the desk. I wasn't kidding when I said they were everywhere.
This "National Park" was once a hotel. I was surprised at the idea of a building being a park, but the guy at the desk (I really wish I remembered his name) said it was a lot more common on the east coast, where historical buildings are more plentiful.
Handy to know, I guess.
The trail!
They had a series of stations set up with a premise I don't think I've seen elsewhere before. There were five different historical figures of varying backgrounds selected, and at each station throughout the tour you could check on your chosen figure's progress, read notes from their diaries/letters, etc. I, of course, simply read each of the five's at each station, but it still made for an interesting way of putting history into context and creating a narrative.
Some exhibits were set up to mimic various things encountered along the trail, such as this outfitters shop. What they don't warn you about is that when you step in juust the right spot near any one of these, suddenly background noises will start up, scaring the hell out of you until you realize why suddenly the empty facsimile of a shop you're in sounds like Macy's at Christmas.
"Levy"? Who the hell is this "Levy"? Should I know them?
One of the things you could do in The Yukon Trail was buy stuff off a peddler before you got on the boat in Seattle. The guy would always have two things on offer, but what they were varied, as did whether or not they were a good idea (you could resell the eggs at a profit, for example) or utterly ridiculous (a bicycle that got thrown overboard by a couple sailors during your voyage for being completely impractical). You can picture my surprise at discovering this was apparently a totally real thing and not just made up for the game (a common theme, as it would turn out).
Speaking of... Which outfit you bought was absolutely crucial, and so was making sure you had that damned 1,000 lbs per person of food at the border. You'd think you were all set to go, and then - bam! A thief would make off with just enough in the night to send you hiking all the way back to the last town for more flour.
This is just about exactly what the background looks like when you get to the lake and have to build your boat. Did Mecc just come to this museum park and throw the whole thing into the game?
Cheechako Hill! If you got to the gold fields too late to get a decent claim, you could always stake at Cheechako Hill, so called because only a "cheechako," or greenhorn, would look for gold there. But of course, it would turn out there was gold there after all, and it was sort of the consolation prize for sucking. I had no idea it was real. Not only that, it turns out it sparked major environmental damage in the Yukon. Once miners discovered gold there, they correctly realized there was probably gold in the other hills too, and started all kinds of terrible erosive projects to get at it. Kind of makes me feel bad for all the times we played it out...
After that, I picked up some sourdough starter in the giftshop, which inexplicably was packaged to resemble a postcard. So I asked at the front desk if there was a nearby post office, and it turned out there was one just down the street. Mom and Dad assure me they might get around to using the one I mailed them this summer.
Then it was off to Bainbridge! A couple weeks before my vacation, a co-worker of mine also went to Seattle, since his girlfriend's there doing some kind of job for a few months and he wanted to visit her. Anyway, I asked if he had any suggestions on what to do, and he said the ice cream at Bainbridge was good, so off I went.
There's a regular ferry between the island and Seattle, shown here loading up cars while the people get on on the deck above. The ferry has an interesting fare system - you pay about $7 to get to the island, and then the way back is free. Makes sense; after all, where else are you going to go?
The ship was pretty big (after all, it can hold all those cars), and there was a variety of seating provided. This is the eating area, by the on-board cafe (visible in the back). They advertise that they cook all of their hot food (hot dogs, hamburgers, potato wedges, etc) on board, and my hamburger was indeed quite tasty, if overpriced. It's not like we were out to sea, for crying out loud.
After venturing to the top deck and deciding it was way to windy to eat outside, I settled down in this sort of booth area. Many people were taking advantage of the trip to stretch out and nap.
It was kind of a cloudy day (insert Seattle weather joke here), and there was that wind, so I didn't stick around outside much longer than it took to take these pictures once I finished eating and started exploring the ship.
Yet another view of the seating, to give you an idea of just how long the boat is.
While I was waiting to get on the ferry (which wasn't very long - I had really good luck with my timing both on the way there and back), I met an elderly gentlemen who suggested I take the Waterfront Trail if I wanted to explore the island a bit.
I am convinced this map is not to scale on the left-hand side.
At least early on, the trail is quite easy to follow. You just look for one of these signs at every crossroads. It's when you get to the residential area section and they get farther and farther between that you start to wonder if you're lost...
It was cloudy, the tide was out, and the area's still getting over a lot of pollution from its heyday as a shipyard, so the waterfront wasn't exactly spectacular in spots.
Still, it was a nice trail to amble down, the locals I ran into were quite friendly, and they had these random little stone statues set up at intervals for reasons that I'm sure must exist.
There was also this nice green section to walk through, though this is after I got separated from the trail markers and may or may not have been an official part of the tourist circuit.
By the time I was done walking and had found civilization again, I was majorly hungry. I decided I was in the mood for Italian, and conveniently, this little shop was just a block or so away from where I'd re-discovered the road.
Called Mon Elisa's, the main thing on the menu was pasta. You picked your pasta and your sauce, and they cooked it for you while you waited. They also did good business in selling prepared sauce, pizza, salad, and some other things. In fact, they didn't have a lot of indoor seating.
The boy you can see in the above picture was quite nice (as is everybody I meet), and it happened I'd interrupted his dinner as it was a slow day and he was eating on the job. I ended up eating my pasta with him and chatting about the island and assorted inconsequentials. Turned out he was in high school (sigh) and trying to figure out college stuff, so I was very handy in reciting platitudes about studying what interests you instead of what you think will make money and so forth. I also got to meet the owner as she breezed in at one point to check on things. Plus, it was very tasty, and if you're ever in the area I recommend stopping by.
After that, it was time for dessert. I couldn't quite remember the name of the place (I kept calling it "Mona's"), but as soon as I said "ice cream" everyone immediately knew what I meant and helpfully pointed me in the right direction. They had a ridiculous number of flavors. I ended up with tiramisu and quite enjoyed it, eating outside in the breeze.
::insert Seattle coffee joke here::
The trip back. It happened that I got on the same boat as had taken me over the first time, which I confirmed by saying "Is this the same boat?" and two different nearby crewmembers took one glance at me and said "Yep. Have a nice trip?" I am memorable even on ferries, it appears.
That pretty much wraps up Monday, since when I got back to the hostel I was totally beat from all that walking (it was a pretty long trail) and spent most of the evening reading a book. Hey, I was on vacation.
A general overview of where I was. Chinatown in the upper right comes into play on Tuesday.
It's Tuesday! While the city is nice, I wanted to get out an explore some of the mountains, too. I asked the guys at the Klondike Museum what would be a good day trip, and they suggested Snoqualmie Falls. The falls are not, however, a national park, but are instead operated by a power company.
Anyway, in order to figure out how to get there I made a detour between the museum and the post office on Monday and went to the metro station, which is in charge of public transport in Seattle, and they have these phones set up that connect you directly to people ready and waiting to help you figure out how to get places. My directions involved getting on a bus, transferring at a station, then getting on another bus, and viola! I'd be there. Less than $10 for the whole trip (each fare was $2.00-$2.50).
The bus station where I transferred. I was expecting something more like in Santa Barbara, where there's a building with people and everything, but no. Pretty much just this. (Well, times three, since there were three pavilions which opened on either side, for a total of six bays.)
I think this may be the least-clever bus sign I've ever seen. It doesn't even rhyme, or tell you how exactly you are to exchange one activity for the other.
Arriving at the falls. Total trip time was about an hour, with plenty of scenery along the way.
Unfortunately, the primary observation deck was under construction, though the proposed improvements looked like they'd be quite nice.
...But that didn't mean you couldn't still see the falls. They're rather big, after all. Detour signs were helpfully set up in case you couldn't triangulate and find the cliff on your own.
Peeking out from around a corner...
The falls proper.
Also available in widescreen!
The river below.
Looking off towards the mountains.
There was a gift shop on one side of the falls and this hotel and gift shop on the other side. I checked out both, and eventually decided I'd be set with just an ice cream bar - after I attempted the hike down to the bottom.
More mountains. I think I was trying to capture the rising spray in this shot.
Here you can see the observation deck that's under construction on the right, and then farther back is the area where I took my pictures of the falls from.
The top of the falls fully explored, it was time for a hike.
They are not kidding when they say "steep grade." It's fine on the way down, but coming back up...
It was very pretty, though, with tall trees and a well cared-for path.
The trees are so green because they're covered in moss, thanks to the waterfall spray. It's almost a little eerie, depending on how many other people are on the same section of the trail as you when you first notice the effect.
The bottom of the hill. I see the river, but where are the falls?
Is this all that's down there? An electricity plant? I was disappointed.
Then I realized, wait, there had been some other people ahead of me on the trail whom I hadn't seen come back up. Then I saw the people behind me head for the side of the building. And then I finally noticed the signs telling me the trail continued to my left.
Oh.
"Caution: Trail"?
This does not look ominous at all!
Actually, this part of the trail is restricted like this to keep idiots from messing with all of the power plant stuff. As you will see in just a few pictures, this is a very good idea.
Looking up at whatever it is these are. They're very long, anyway. And big, especially when you're standing at the bottom.
Once you get past the plant, the trail turns into a shady boardwalk.
I'm reasonably certain they want you to stay on the boardwalk.
The falls from below, plus someone blatantly ignoring the posted signs. In fact, I saw quite a number of people messing around down on the rocks, presumably with little regard for trivial things like safety.
Yet more water. I'm not really sure why there's a clearing on the other side. Logging, or plans to build something, maybe? Beavers?
They really don't skimp when it comes to warning signs, do they? I saw this one while waiting for the return bus and eating my ice cream. It's warning you to use the bridge instead of crossing the road.
It is a rather pretty bridge.
Once I got back to downtown Seattle, I decided to get off a couple stops early and hit China town. I remembered seeing a figure shop while Taylor and I were walking to get dinner, and decided to see if I couldn't locate it again.
How did I know I was in Chinatown? Why, by all the dragons on the light poles, of course.
I thought they were pretty awesome, to be honest.
I did find the shop, but they didn't have anything I was particularly interested in. I mentioned I was looking for some One Piece stuff, and the guy at the counter said I should try the local Kinokuniya, since he knew they stocked some and it was just down the street. I was like, "Kinokuniya?! I am so there."
So off I went, though surprisingly enough it didn't occur to me to take pictures while I was at the bookstore. After casing the whole place twice, I finally gave in and asked if they had what I was looking for, since I couldn't find it myself. (I was rather impressed with how much I could identify, though, since it was naturally almost all in Japanese) Sadly, they did not have either Asterisk or Jinjuu in stock, so I contented myself with buying an over-priced Kingdom Hearts cell phone charm. Hey, it was Roxas, and he's the rare one out of that series. (And yes, he's destined for my Christmas tree. Everything I own is.)
After that, it turned out the Kinokuniya was connected to a Japanese grocery store, so I then naturally spent plenty of time in there before settling on sakura mochi and delicious black sugar candy. Mmm. (The ingredients? "Sugar, Black Sugar, Corn Syrup, Artificial Flavor, Emulsifier." They're probably not very good for me.)
Yes, I did go to Chinatown and then spend all my time at the Japanese stores. What?
Obligatory picture of the main gate.
Another dragon. Seriously, I love these things.
Buses are free to ride in downtown Seattle during the day, so I hopped the first bus heading the same direction I was back to the hostel. This was not difficult, as you can see by the fact that there are four other buses going the same way in just this picture.
That night, they guy who organizes events at the Green Tortoise (I want to say Justin, but I'm not sure that's right) had set up an outing to the Can Can to see some singers. I wasn't planning on going, but he was very excited about it and I wasn't doing much else that evening and some of the other residents I'd become friendly with were going, so what the hell. I could afford the $2 cover charge.
This is all of a block from Pike's Market Place, despite the seedy decor. Then again, the Marketplace isn't all that upscale itself.
Inside, it was very dark, and the music was... interesting. Sort of a bluesy country, maybe? Enh. I had fun chatting, learned yet more about cheap local beers, and decided to take off after the second singer finished and it looked like the first was coming back for another set.
The Green Tortoise at night.
Back at the hostel, it was time to make sure I had everything packed and ready to go so I could catch my train to Portland the next morning.
To be continued (eventually)...