Seattle Part 1
Day 1:
Land in Seattle… greenest and greyest place on earth…especially after coming from sunny Hotlanta where summer is in full swing, and getting here to see people in wool coats still. Went on a mini-tour of nerd headquarters, oops, uh, I mean Microsoft, where my friend Mike works. Every building is modern, they are grouped into “campuses” for different product lines… there are that many of them. I even got to see geeks in training when we ran into the new crop of interns at the Msoft store. Fought Seattle traffic back to pick up Megan. En route I noticed that it is actually quite hard to differentiate the homeless people from the left over post-Cobain grunge look… my personal opinion is that if they are carrying a large bag full of things that look like worldly possessions then they are most likely without permanent residence, otherwise they just chose to dress like they have just discovered their oversized pants, docs, and flannel in a dumpster behind the Spaghetti Factory.
Megan & Mike’s place is sooo grown up now. They went from totally rocking the Ikea style in Philly to a very sophisticated, modern chocolate brown theme here. Makes me begin to rethink my use of artificial vines and blow-up parrots I am currently using as décor. They have an amazing view of some or other body of water surrounding the city… too many to count and too confusing. So we meet Lauren and her hipster boyfriend for a bite to eat and to catch up on old times. This is followed by a bar where they serve Jello-tinis. At first I am apprehensive of a drink that has a gelatinous layer of green slime at the bottom, but once you get over it and realize you are supposed to take a big swig of vodka and a spoonful of Jell-O from the bottom and squish it back and forth b/w your teeth. I realize it is quite delicious and ‘Yes sir, may I have another.’
Day 2:
Early wake up to catch the ferry to the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound where Mike’s fam has a vacation home. We stop at a gas station on the way up and hunger drives Lauren, Megan and I to the call of a microwaveable bean and cheese burrito at that hour of the morning… little did we realize that said Mexican delicacy would come back with a vengeance to later reek havoc on us… like we couldn’t have guessed with beans and a Velveeta-type cheese as the main ingredients. Enough of my woes. Anyways, we also stopped to grab some things so that I could make dinner for everyone… I know, don’t be shocked b/c by dinner I mean a salad with 4 ingredients. Anyway they had a fresh seafood market out front which wooed Mike with the smell of steamed musseld, while inciting the exact opposite reaction in myself… even though I am from New England I am a self-proclaimed hater of all thing ‘seafood’, my theory is that unless a cow has gone wandering into a body of water I eat nothing that can be found in more than a half-inch of H20. The grossest part though was that there was a whole octopus sitting there… the biggest one I’ve seen outside of the Aquarium. It was all squishy, veiny and pink looking… I will not state the obvious comparison. I still can’t figure how the first person coming along one of these looked at it and said, “Ya know, that would probably go great with some rice and a piece of seaweed.”
Decatur is awesome. We took the ferry up and talked about guy problems most of the way. We landed and after getting settled we went off on our biology adventure to the beach. Megan and Michael showed me that if you flip over rocks dozens of itty crabs will skitter out in all directions. I saw starfish and this strange creature that looks like elliptical lichen, but is actually some sort of suction type animal… which Megan proceeded to wear as an earring. I was a bit more wary as I didn’t really want to come home with a big ole hickey on some part of me and then have to own up to it not being from a guy, but from some sort of sea creature. We went on a hike and saw a river otter while Mike rowed the ladies around a lake. I got to have my fun while I rocked the boat back and forth and got to have Megan and Lauren scream… and eventually try to hit me with the oar. I got to chase the resident sheep herd, and much to Megan’s chagrin I had apparently scared the crap out of them, literally, and she stepped in it. We spent the rest of the time intermittently talking, reading Cosmo sex advice out loud, napping and eating… perfect.
That’s as far as I get tonight… I’m sleepy and have to wake up tomorrow for Memorial Day brunch.