Seattle, WA

Well, I spent a lovely evening and dinner with my friends, and the next day I was out early on the way to Seattle. Laurie graciously offered me to use a smaller vehicle, which made things so much easier for parking. I also left Jo Jo in the RV as the weather is still cool and comfortable. I got to the public market right before they opened and I was number two in line to Beecher's Homemade Cheese. I was anxious to get in there to get some cheese, and decided upon a toasted cheese sandwich for breakfast. It was worth the wait. I walked through the public market when it was crowded, however within an hour it became a mass of people. It is a holiday weekend, so apparently there are more people than normal. I also decided to go to the very first Starbucks ever established in 1971, on Pike Place. It's the first time in my life I've actually waited in line for about 40 minutes to get a cup of coffee. But in the meantime there was people watching and using the phone to catch up.

I headed over to the Seattle Art Museum and took a couple hours going through the museum viewing all type of works from the indigenous Indian collection, Asian, contemporary, including a Jackson Pollock. As well as a special unique exhibit of European Art, and a black and white photographic portrait series, which was profound.

I was close enough to the Space Needle, so I moved my parking spot to that area. By the time I got there, they were already booking a 6 p.m. slot. I wasn't willing to wait about four hours to get in, and fortunately I've already been on the Space Needle so it wasn't a massive disappointment. Instead I took more time walking through the shops, and the displays, and the street musicians which there are plenty of. In general, I've never been a big city kind of person. And towards the end of this afternoon it really solidified that feeling, and how tired I became with all the continual noise. Crowds, outbursts, traffic, etc. It's a lot of fun during the time, but at some point it does get me overwhelmed. Yes, I must really be getting old. I was grateful for the opportunity, to have a date in this city, drove past the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building, which is probably the best example of corporate graciousness.

 I was eager to return back to Laurie's house, where we had a wonderful evening having, pizza and wine, on their lovely back patio.

It was certainly a special and very enjoyable time. I was sad to go this morning, but very excited knowing that soon we will have more opportunity to get together again.






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