Blog-o-rama; The Seattle Edition

Seattle 1st Full Day

Friday, Scooter up early and off to work while Kandi and I went out for local Seattle coffee and a walk around their AMAZING neighborhood. Mansions with overflowing gardens lined the streets of their hill top hood, one more luscious than the last. It was a fantastic morning, sun streaming, flowers blooming, just being outside without my jacket and umbrella was a treat (NYC has been underwater for 2 months).

At midday we gingerly traversed the GREAT HILL to meet up with Scooter at his shop then spent some time at the animated fountain at the base of the Space Needle soaking up more sun while kids played tag with the spurting orb. Off again through Seattle Center, past the mini amusement park, to the Monorail that whisked us away to the heart of downtown and closer to our final destination, Pikes Place Market.

The market was amazing, and crowded, and full of life. The ‘fish boys’ were putting on a show but the celebrities of the stalls were the flowers. Overflowing buckets of every type and color imaginable with sellers creating bursting bouquets for just $10, I wanted to buy them all, or at least take a full memory card of photos.

A quick preview of the market then up to a restaurant with a view of the harbor. Scooter picked out a local brew for me (he was my personal Beer Sommelier for the extent of my visit) which I pared with a local crab and shrimp salad …yummmm. After lunch Scoot had to jet to a top level meeting so as planned Kandi took me on a tour of the entire market and surrounding area. The weather remained perfect and even though the streets were teeming with tourists it was just lovely. We popped into every specialty shop; imported cheeses and meats, German chocolates and French baked delicacies, you name it, they had it. Kandi even found time to introduce me to one of her favorites, a pumpkin cookie with frosting – that was something.

Late afternoon at the base of the Space Needle Kandi handed me back off to Scooter then we were off to pick up our rental car for our upcoming road trips. We walked and walked, and walked, until we finally strolled into Enterprise Car Rental. Avis got nothing on Enterprise, (see Oct. blog for Avis rant), the agents were great, they had my car, and we were rollin’ in our Ford Escape Hybrid in minutes flat.

Back up at the apartment I plopped myself into the comfy chair in the bay window and enjoyed a large cup of pink soda – my hosts think of everything.

Scoot and I dined at a local pub for dinner then just spent the remainder of our Friday night plying Wii and hanging out….perfect. I miss Scooter so much here in NYC, just the easy comfortable way we communicate and laugh. We don’t need to be doing anything really it’s just that we’re together.

On our return walk from dinner we heard the rhythmic chorus of a hip hop track pouring out of a local watering hole. The words and backbeat were so entrancing that it stuck with us as we traveled the several blocks back to the apartment, Kick, Push…Kick, Push…Kick, Push. We were certain the song must be about child birthing, however after a quick google search we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the meaning behind the lyrics belonged to the act of skateboarding. That Lupe Fiasco is a true poet!