Days 5-8 of the trip were spent in Seattle. I spent a few days at a conference and then a couple in town exploring the sights. Sorry, no riding in this post, just things I liked about Seattle. After this I would ride up to Vancouver and try an Iron Butt Border to Border ride to see if I could get from Canada to Mexico in less than 24 hours.
View from my hotel room.
One of the best names for a food processing machines I’ve ever seen – the Donut Robot…Mark II!
It’s been 5 years since I took this photo and it still makes me laugh when I see it. Maybe I’m immature.
The guys working the counter have this Ling Cod hooked up to a string – they’ll yank it at times to frighten the hell out of unsuspecting people. Well, unsuspecting tourists. Sadly, I was a victim, but it’s still hilarious.
Checking out the Public Market.
Non-interstate routes in Washington use a silhouette of George’s face as the backdrop. Cute.
Mt. Rainier looms behind Qwest Field.
As someone who grew up in a suburb of Boston, I feel obligated to take a break to say Go Pats and share this. Sorry, Seahawks fans, but I could watch this all day:
Alright, back to your regularly scheduled programming. This part of the market is very cool – there’s a hierarchy of vendors who can rent the stalls. If your number is under 20 (or 30, I forget what the clerk I was talking to said), then you can just claim what you want. Otherwise, you have to go in a lottery to pick a stall. Fees are nominal – they range from $15-30 or so depending on the day (Sunday is more expensive than Wednesday, as an obvious example).
We stopped in a woodworking shop on a whim and saw a couple of cool (and filthy expensive) works. I loved this table, though the glass top doesn’t really do it for me. Anyway, I’m not buying it, so I’m sure the artist doesn’t care what I think. With that said, the legs are really cool – they’re each one individual piece of wood that’s been steamed, softened, then split into what you see there.
Again, each leg is just one piece of wood! Craftsmanship like this is very cool.
The reason why I was in Seattle was for a conference for my ‘real job’. This is the only picture I’ll bother with – maybe you’ll get a guess of what I do when I’m not riding motorcycles.
I’m annoyed I didn’t get a better picture of this. A gentleman was riding his K100 with his wife in the sidecar. They were late to catch a ferry so we didn’t get to talk much, but you gotta love a couple that’s rocking a sidecar in the rain. It made me want to put a sidecar on the K75 I had at the time.
Space Needle and…
Dreary fog. Seattle was awesome when it was sunny. I’m done with rain.
Public transportation uses the Orca card. More cities should have absurd names like that. Metrocard is boring.
One of many breweries/taphouses. I’d guess I tried about 25-30 new beers while on the trip, none of which I’ve been able to find in the LA area.
Post Alley
Post Alley is famous because for some crazy reason, people have put a whole bunch of chewed up gum on the wall.
Disgusting, but fascinating.
Saw a Nissan Sentra with some interesting sticker-based pinstriping.
Ninjas and Jesus!
The Fremont Troll – the Volkswagen Beetle and the strange girl hopefully give you a sense of scale.
Mini-boat!
Gas Works Park.
View of downtown from Gas Works
More shots of Gas Works.
A duck tour enters the water while a dog plays fetch.
Exploring a college bar.
VyVy and I caught the game with the Seattle Alumni of USC. This is right after ASU attempted a loooong field goal to try and take the lead at the end of the game. The kicker’s sad, sad face on the TV screen means he missed and USC is about to win. Woohoo.
The next day Vy flew back to LA and I headed up to Vancouver to check out the city and start my Border to Border run…
Back to Day 4 – Lincoln City, Oregon to Seattle, Washington, ~300 miles
On to Days 9-10 – Seattle, Washington to Surrey, British Columbia, then to Tijuana, Mexico, ~1,400 miles