Seattle was a great time. We initially booked a room at the Sheraton downtown, who said they had space for RV parking, only to get there, pay and then find out they could not accommodate us. This happened to us in Chicago last summer, and the best thing to do is to retreat to the nearest suburb and get a room at a hotel with ample surface parking. After about 30 minutes of driving around, we found a nice Comfort Inn at 124thSt in Kirkland. Kirkland is a nice, toney suburb that has a great feel. We went out to dinner at Bottler and Bull and had a nice meal. They had tapas and other delectable small plates.
The next morning, while getting the bus ready, a couple of hotel employees came out and introduced themselves as Charles, the General Manager and Tori, the front desk person. He was asking about where we were parked, as it is on their lot but designated Chick Fil A during the day. He seemed a little surprised to know we were actually renting a couple rooms and not just squatting. In any event, they were very cool and welcomed us to stay there where we were. It turns out that both of them were leaving the next day on a 14-day mini Dead tour, so we had the good ‘ol Grateful Dead in common. When I went into the lobby to make arrangements to stay another night, Charles and Tori gave me a healthy Deadhead discount on our rooms, which was very cool!
We summoned an Uber to take us downtown to Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously running farmers markets in the country. It’s teeming with activity, both from the tourists, farmers and the fishmongers all doing their thing. After seeing all that seafood, we decided to have a seafood lunch and each got clam chowder and Alaskan King Crab claws overlooking the water. After lunch, we went and had some ice cream as we strolled around the market. We saw the long line of people paying homage to the original Starbucks at 1st and Pike which opened in 1971.
After lunch, we strolled about a mile away to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). It’s a great place, originally founded by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project to showcase his Jimi Hendrix collection. He has since expanded it to include Sci-Fi, Horror, an awesome jam room with instruments you can play, and individual sound rooms to play them in. The Frank Gehry-designed building is ultra-modern and is perfect to house such a place. Of all the exhibits, our favorite was the Jimi Hendrix exhibition, which had clothes he wore, lyrics he had hand written and the actual guitar he played at Woodstock. THAT was really cool!
After MoPOP, we grabbed another Uber to take us to the Vashon Island Ferry to go see Sherri, Matt and meet Matt’s fiancé, Alyce. Their house on the little island of Vashon is so beautiful! It overlooks Puget Sound, and they have actually seen whales breach from their deck. It was wonderful getting to see them and their home and eat an awesome home-cooked dinner. After dinner and more conversation, we grabbed our stuff and Sherri took us back down to the ferry to take us back to the mainland. Tomorrow will be a big day, as we leave for two days of The Gorge.
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