A Tale of Two Trips, Part I
Oh see, here I go, neglecting my blog again. And now, I have two trips to summarize. Well, luckily for you, that means I’ll have to brief on each. Ha ha.
Seattle, June 25-30th
As previously stated, we visited Seattle to participate in the Inaugural Rock ‘n Roll Marathon. But we made a mini-vacation out of it.
Friday:
We got up at o’dark thirty and arrived in Seattle at 11:30 a.m. This was because Matt wanted to attend the Mariners game playing that afternoon at 1:30. We had perfect timing between our flight and taxi ride. We were able to check in to our hotel, as our room was ready. Yay. Then we walked across the street to Safeco Field for the game. The game was fine, the Mariners won. The field is very nice. We planned on getting lunch there, and both assumed that, being Seattle, I would have lots of vegetarian options, or at least one beyond the soft pretzel/plain pizza/french fries usual. But the only thing we could find was chocolate covered fruit on a stick. I forget what they called it. I passed. Later on, I saw a vendor selling them in the stands and they just reminded me of poop on a stick. Seriously. Throughout the game though, I fought very hard to stay awake. I fell asleep a few times. Baseball is just not that action packed and added to my lack of sleep, it was a recipe for disaster. We were on the aisle seats, so I had to keep getting up, otherwise, I probably would have had a very long nap.
After the game, we walked a bit into town and had a look around to see what was there. It was not very exciting. We went into Pioneer Square, which was really pretty. We noticed a large bookstore that we promised to visit another time. We checked out a huge toystore as well. Very cool. But we were pretty exhausted by this point, it was probably only 6:00. We stopped at a Starbucks (no, really) and I got an iced Chai tea latte that woke me up enough to get through the evening. We had dinner at the hotel, where I had the tastiest vegetarian “Philly Cheesesteak” sandwich. YUM! I think we fell asleep at 10:00 p.m. and yes, that meant we woke up early, but we managed to stay in bed until around 9:00 the next morning.
Saturday:
We attended the marathon’s health expo and picked up our packets. The expo was held where the Seahawks play. We didn’t wear any Steelers clothing though. This was a nice expo, as all of the Elite/Competitor Group ones are. I bought an awesome sport belt that can hold my iPhone when I run and and doesn’t bounce as well as picked up a pair of new running shoes for $50 (retail price: $125!) Score! They are slightly used, but very slightly. 
We also bought souvenirs of course.
We dropped off our goody bags at the hotel and decided what the rest of the day would hold. We couldn’t do too much because we couldn’t get too tired and needed to be back earlyish to rest. So we decided to go to the Space Needle. Looked online to see how to get to there on public transportation. We found what we thought to be the stop. It wasn’t, and so we went to another stop. That took about 30 minutes for us to deliberate. The Space Needle was okay, it seems to be a tradition to go to any lookout tower in every city we visit that has one. But nobody has that glass floor that the CN Tower in Toronto has. That is the coolest thing. The Space Center is nestled in Seattle Center where the science center and the Science Fiction Museum and Music Experience are, as well as a little amusement park. It’s cute.
After the Space Needle, we walked down a steep hill to eat at the Spaghetti Factory, which is very similar to the Spaghetti Warehouse in Pittsburgh. Then we attempted to get back to the hotel. Argued a bit about how to get back, decided to hop in a cab before we killed each other.
Saturday:
Race day. After the race was over and we rested, showered and ate, we walked to the big bookstore in Pioneer Square. Honestly, I cannot remember what we had for dinner … I know we ate after the race at the hotel and went out for Quizno’s but it was closed. So I really don’t remember. Matt couldn’t move well, so we rested in the room the rest of the evening.
Sunday:
Zoo day. We thought we had it all planned out. We’d take the *free* hotel shuttle! Guess what? It didn’t go that far. Oy vey. So they called us a cab. The cabbie actually missed the turn in to the zoo and drove around and of course charged us for it.
The zoo is beautiful! It is bigger than Pittsburgh, but not nicer. They are on the same level. It is not as big as Toronto or the San Diego ones. We enjoyed the new Penguin exhibit. There were also lots of beautiful and unique birds. We took lots of pictures of animals of course. And I had many vegetarian choices to choose from for lunch.
When we were tired out, we called my friend Jen, who met us at the zoo with her baby, whom I hadn’t met yet. She is such a cutie pie. We went back to Jen’s house and hung out for a bit. Met her two beautiful cats. After our visit, her husband drove us back to the hotel. Thanks Doug! The search for dinner was …. exhausting. So we just ordered pizza.
Monday:
Attended the Science Fiction Museum and the Great Music Experience museum. Took the hotel shuttle, yay! We totally expected to like the music side better. It was cool, but the really fun things we couldn’t play with because it was very crowded. In their lobby on their huge video screen, they had a tribute to Michael Jackson and had his sequined glove and coat on display. However, we totally loved the Science Fiction side. I would swear that I am not a science fiction fan, but apparently, I am. Even though we were not allowed to take pictures, Matt did photograph some book titles for us to read. I can’t really explain the place … it was just awesome and if you are ever in Seattle … go. However, don’t plan on eating lunch there. The food they have is totally, um, pathetic. As we were leaving, we sat down for a few minutes break in the lobby. I used the restroom and as I came out, I noticed an inebriated patron walking around. I just ignored him, he started harassing a younger guy and an older man came over and rescued the guy and then had security called, who was pleased to escort the drunk man out. That was kind of interesting.
Headed over to the Science Center. It was a typical science center in its exhibits. We saw the Imax movie Lewis and Clark. The layout was kind of interesting, with the open atrium in the middle. Seattle must think it is a warm city or something.
Since we were on that side of town and knew it was a sure thing, we ate at the Spaghetti Factory again. We love carbs, can you tell? Then took a cab back to the hotel, after running after a hotel shuttle, only to discover it was for a different location.
Exhaustion set in, so we went back to the hotel and rested and read and watched tv. The next morning we got up, packed and flew home.
My impression of Seattle is that it is probably a very nice city. After all, I’ve been hearing for years how wonderful it was. We acknowledge that we stayed in a bad part of town, bad in the sense that there really was nothing around us that stayed open late. Public transportation was confusing. I understand that not being familiar with the geography is part of it, but we have never had that much trouble using public transportation in Portland, Toronto, or San Diego for instance. But I honestly didn’t see anything compelling me to move there. I’d probably visit again. But to me, it was just like Pittsburgh on the West Coast, with more yoga studios and vegetarian and vegetarian friendly restaurants.
As it turns out, this was long after all. Imagine had I written this when it was fresh in my head. LOL. So part II of the two trips will be written tomorrow or the next day. Look for it!