Best little city in da woyald

Granted, I haven't been to a lot of cities in my life. I'm not so much of a city person...I've always loved the serenity of the countryside and the idea of the tranquility of a simple life. But goddamn, Seattle, you impressed me today.

My poor hosts had a rough night last night. Their little one, Noah, woke up at least 3 times, and was a pretty unhappy camper. I have a fabulous little setup in the basement, and although his cries woke me all I could think was, "Poor Mom & Dad!", and then would fall back to sleep. By the time I left for work I was coming to and feeling well rested.

I got out around 9, and made my way to the bus stop. Fantastically Fat Freddie from last night was not on the bus this morning. He was replaced by very normal sized people doing very normal commuting and it was all good. After about a 30 minute ride I was back at Westlake Station.

Coffee and a bite of breakfast was found at, surprise surprise, the Starbucks. From there I was pointed in the direction of Pike Place Market, my own little slice of heaven on earth. This was the scene:











Not to mention all of the unbelievable crafts for sale. I tell you, I could spend a FORTUNE in that place.

Now, you're saying to yourself, whoopdee fucking doo, I've seen flowers and fish before. Ok, I hear you. Here was the scene a couple of hundred feet from Pike's Place.





Yeah, how's that mountain grab you? I think it's Mt. Rainier. That's what happens when you walk around in a strange city without a guide, you guess about things that are common knowledge to others.

By now it's about 12:15, time to go meet Banner for lunch at McCormick & Schmick. I find the trolley and take a 10 minute ride over to Lake Union. There I am served a $10 masterpiece.


That's Dungeoness Crab, mango, and avocado, in a mango sauce with a balsamic vinaigrette. Unreal.

After lunch Banner suggested I visit the wooden boat museum across the street. Sadly, they are closed for renovations, but I saw something even better on the dock.



Uh huh, that's an otter. A real, live, genuine, WILD, otter. A little boy pointed him out to me and I am forever indebted to him.

Well it's taken almost an hour just to upload these pics so I think I'll throw the rest onto my Flickr account and call it a night. Just one last one...we'll make it a game. What is Frazar doing in this picture, and more importantly, why? Answers tomorrow.