seattle

Most people know this about me: I like to bike, I like to eat, and I like photography. Apparently Portland exists at the intersection of all three of those. Seriously I liked Portland so much, it was hard to leave.

The distance between Portland and Seattle is not very long. In fact, I biked it almost exactly one year ago, during the 2011 Seattle to Portland bike ride. The bike ride is 200 miles, but the drive is more direct and a bit shorter than that. As we approached Seattle, it started to rain very hard, then it started to hail. We decided to pull over for a bit, and then ended up booking a room in Tumwater, just outside of the Seattle-Tacoma area. The lady at the front desk was very nice, she gave us her own personal special room rate. Wow, first the snacks from the old ladies in Portland. Now the special room rate. I’m beginning to think I have some special charm– too bad it doesn’t seem to work on women closer to my age…

In the morning during breakfast I watched the news. Apparently the 2012 Seattle to Portland ride was going on this weekend. It brought back memories of my ride last year, and my subsequent 800 mile bike ride back home from Portland.

After breakfast we drove into Seattle. By then the weather had cleared and it was a gorgeous day by the waterfront. We parked somewhat midway between Pike’s Place and Safeco field, our plan was just to park and then walk everywhere, ending our day at a Seattle Mariner’s game at Safeco field.

Pike’s place market was exactly how I remembered it from last year. Extremely crowded.

I always like looking at the seafood at the market. If we were planning to camp that night, I probably would’ve bought some seafood and attempted to grill it.

The gluttony continued. At least this time around it’s a bit more healthy. I really only ate seafood and fruit at Pike’s Place– they have awesome fruit stands from which I purchased a pound of cherries. I came to realize that a pound of cherries is really, really filling.

One of the famous attractions near Pike’s Place is the bubble gum wall. I found it disgusting. Gid doesn’t seem to mind it though.

Afterwards we hit up Safeco Field for a Mariner’s game. One of Gid’s bucket list items is to visit every baseball stadium. This is number three for him, so he has a long way to go.

It was Ichiro night (and also single’s night). We got a free Ichiro t-shirt and sat in right field behind Ichiro. The lens I bought in Portland came in handy for the game– I’m amazed at how sharp this picture looks, even though I took it from our seat 32 rows up.

By the top of the 8th inning the Mariners were up by seven, so we decided to head out early to beat the rush. We got to the waterfront just in time to catch the sunset over the Puget Sound. The sunset was an amazing shade of orange that night.

The next morning we hit up this church that Ray’s friend goes to. The pastor’s message was on temptation– mostly he talked about Jesus’s forty day fast in the wilderness. Ironically when I return from this trip I’ll most likely need to fast for forty days to make up for all the gluttony in Portland and Seattle.

From the church we parted ways with Ray. He was going to stay with his friend for another day and fly back home from the Seattle airport. Gid and I are continuing east toward Glacier National Park in Montana.

Things I’m thankful for:

• Seafood
• Sunsets
• Seattle, I guess, too… Although I clearly like Portland better…