Seattle in a couple weeks

[garbon]

If you go to the Voodoo Donuts go to the one across the river. So much more reasonable.

[merithyn]

 

I wanna go!

[crazy canuck]

I wouldnt try to get to Victoria or Vancouver in the limited time you have.  Those are really separate trips in themselves.  You will have a lot of great things to do in closer proximity that you will miss if you spend the travel time to come north.  Now if you had a couple weeks that would be different. 

[fhdz]

Or Portland is only about 3 hours down the road.  Hit up Fahdizzle (and stop at a Burgerville...and Waffle Window...and Voodoo Donuts), and drive up a bit along the Columbia Gorge for some multiple waterfall action (though I dunno how impressive they'll be in Sept).

I thoroughly endorse this plan.

[MadImmortalMan]

So far, we did half the stuff on Toni's list. There is a museum called the EMP next to the space needle. Apparently, Paul Allen made it happen. Anyway, we were going by and weren't going to go in, but the screen outside flashed that they had a sci-fi exhibit in there. They had a Dalek. Mrs. MIM had to go in. 

It was cool. Another exhibit just for Nirvana. The scifi part had uniforms from Data and Sheridan (that was the only B5 thing in there) and an Alien. Some lightsabers, and yeah a Dalek. The fantasy exhibit had some cool props too. Outfits and swords from the Princess Bride and the sword Connor gets from Sean Connery in the first Highlander. Bowie's costume from Labyrinth.

People here can't decide about their weather. Half of them are wearing coats and the other half are in shorts and t-shirts. The weather is nice though. It's been sunny since a couple hours after we landed. Until now that is. This is my third time here, and never have I seen a sunny day here before. :p

Mrs. MIM is at the Evil Empire atm. I think I'll wander around a bit.

Here's yesterday from my hotel window.




Here's right now.

[crazy canuck]

Turns out you should have come north.  Nothing but blue skies and temperatures from 26-30 forecast for all week in Vancouver.

[Maximus]

Turns out you should have come north.  Nothing but blue skies and temperatures from 26-30 forecast for all week in Vancouver.

Seattle 1 Vancouver 0

[crazy canuck]

Turns out you should have come north.  Nothing but blue skies and temperatures from 26-30 forecast for all week in Vancouver.

Seattle 1 Vancouver 0

Its that kind of backward thinking that got you where you are now.

[MadImmortalMan]

Well all that has burned off and it's crystal clear out there now. Maybe the trick to the Pacific Northwest is just don't go outside before noon...

[Maximus]

 

[crazy canuck]

Well all that has burned off and it's crystal clear out there now. Maybe the trick to the Pacific Northwest is just don't go outside before noon...

More like it.  There was probably just fog because we had some rain last week and now that it has warmed up again it should be blue skies for you for the rest of the time you are here.

And why doesnt Max like good weather?

[Tonitrus]

It looks like great Seattle fall weather...though it also looks like it's going to cram in one last heat wave before the real Fall sets in next week.

And I just figured out what hotel he is at.  They set him up with some nice digs there. 

[crazy canuck]

And I just figured out what hotel he is at.  They set him up with some nice digs there. 

Yeah, he is easly walking distance to a number of things and some great places to eat.  The question is what the heck is he doing sitting in his room performing manual time lapse photography?

[Tonitrus]

Now all this thread needs is an AAR. 

[MadImmortalMan]

Ok fine, you internet detectives. 

I was staying at the Pan Pacific, but you knew that.


Last weekend, we hit the list Toni gave me and did nearly all of it. While the missus was working, I basically went around trying all the different restaurants and stuff I could find. This is a common theme on our vacations. MSFT sends her to X city, I try all of X city's pubs while she works. It's a winning formula I guess. 

There is a guy named Tom Douglas who apparently owns most of the restaurants in Seattle. I went to several of these and they were all pretty good so I guess that's cool. The space needle is kinda expensive and only the seventh or eighth tallest building in town. I don't regret going up there, but now that I've done it I probably won't want to the next time I'm in town. The monorail is all but worthless unless your itinerary includes specifically the stuff at the space needle and then shopping at Macy's. At no point did I make any use of the public transit setup there. I did, however use the Uber service a couple times. Apparently the cabbies hate that thing, and it's easy to tell why. It's awesome and not more expensive than a cab.

I learned that people in Washington really support their teams. Sounders games sell 40k tickets and they set some crowd noise records this weekend at the Seahawks-49ers game. Bill Gates might be all over Africa but Paul Allen owns Seattle. I think he's a hero there. He also owns the Highlander sword, which is pretty awesome. That's a guy who knows what to do with money.

I went to Pike Place Market twice--unfortunately the second time was yesterday and the place was full of SF fans killing time before the game. They were not good ambassadors for San Francisco. The first time I went there was Tuesday or Wednesday by myself and it was much more pleasant then.

On my birthday I met my buddy and we went to Pyramid brewery. Almost went to a Mariners game across the street but wound up not doing that. We were waiting for women. (His wife works for MSFT too.) So we just had a bunch of beer.

The rain came yesterday as we were getting on the plane, so I guess our timing was pretty good.

Oh, I bought a powerball ticket. Can't do that back home.

One scary thing happened. When we were at the park where the space needle is and all the WTO protests you see on tv, there was a Hawaiian cultural festival. I don't have to tell you how dangerous that can be. All kinds of dudes in grass skirts and shit just ready to spill your blood. I did notice that the hula girls were either elderly or in third grade. I wonder if that's a dying art. Polynesian food has too much sugar. I can't be the only one who has noticed that. The third graders danced to "Aloha means I love you" while the adults tried to hide their shivs and bats from the tourists.