Täglich Wiederkehrendes Abenteuer

We had just left the Ballard Locks where we saw these two kids who just had their hair done.

Wait, that’s a different story.

We had just left the Ballard Locks when we saw this wonderful restaurant.  It was just outside the gate to the locks.  I did not take a picture of it, but remembered a sign saying “world famous”.  I googled around and found this picture on the Internet.

I know this is the right place because I stepped into that phone booth and made a call.  I can even show you what I had.  Remembering the fluffy cod Joni and Eldon had the day before, I ordered this fish & fries basket.

I also got some clam chowder.  The chowder was good but not great like the chowder I had yesterday.  We got some deep fried pawns.  They were delicious; like little balls of cod.  So go ahead and eat pawns on your Seattle trip, but don’t eat mussels.  YUK!  Eldon had the same thing I had and I don’t remember what the kids ordered.  This little restaurant is well worth the stop.

We got back to Fremont on the bus and I’ll tell you, people, we were all shot!  I don’t know if it was the excitement at the Locks or 3 days of touring, but it caught up to all of us and we needed naps.  Eldon and I went over to the Hotel Hotel and I slept for 2 hours; 4pm-6pm.  Then I was ready to go again.

The kids walked over to our hotel at 7pm and I had my mind made up!  We were going in here.

The Blue Bird Ice Cream shop was on one side of the Hotel Hotel and the Dubliner was on the other side of the hotel.  So in we did go.  Will and I each had a Guinness, Eldon had Coke, and Joni had something sweeter tasting.  I was a bit disappointed in the Dubliner.  It was Monday evening and there were not many people in there so it was devoid of the usual loud visiting, dancing, and singing of old Irish tunes you would normally expect to see/hear in an Irish pub.  On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening the pub was hoppin’.  From our beds in the hotel, we could hear muffed voices and music coming from the Dubliner well into the night.  Something woke me at 2:00am Monday morning.  It was a collective groan from a large group of people.   I concluded it must be the “last call” at the Dubliner.  I suppose that noise would have bothered most hotel guests, but to me it seemed normal.  You could play pool and old Atari games in there too.

We walked down a block to a Thai restaurant.  It was quite fancy and very large; would seat a lot of people and there were a lot of people in there.  Since this was the kids’ first visit to this restaurant, we decided to sit at a table instead of sitting on the floor, which you could do.  Or maybe it was just wise planning on the part of the kids.   Lifting two old people up off the floor is not an easy task.  We soon discovered that we were still very full from our 3pm lunch so we had to have lots of the food packed in those little white cartons oriental folks use.   We were also too full to go back to the apartment for dessert as planned.  Will was lining up a special dessert.  All I know is that it involved an ice cream maker and whipped cream.  I was looking forward to tasting what he had in mind, but maybe we can get him to insert the recipe <here>.

Editor’s Note: Nutella Frozen Dessert: Mix 2 cups of whipped cream, 1 cup of milk, and 6 Tbsp of Nutella.  Freeze it to have popsicles or throw it in an ice cream maker for an ice cream like dessert.

It was about 9:30pm so we all had to return to our sleeping places, get packed up for the trip home tomorrow, and get some sleep.  Besides, I was really getting sad to think about leaving tomorrow!  But ya know what.  Our kids are happy, healthy, successful, and lovin’ it in Seattle.  And making friends.  The first day, we had just gotten to downtown Seattle when we ran into a colleague of Joni’s.  What are the chances of that happening in a city that size?  All of that has to count for a lot.

Tuesday morning Will and Joni walked over to our hotel at 7:30am.  We had to say our good-byes to Joni, who had to get home and prepare for a 10:30am German certification test.  (Earlier I had offered to help her study for the test but sie war damit nicht einverstanden.)  Will, Eldon, and I got on the bus for downtown.  Will walked us to Westlake Station, we said good-bye, got on the light rail, and Will walked to work.

We got to the airport with lots of time to spare………………..and it is a good thing we did! The security line was long, really long; woven 6 lines deep back and forth.  It took more than 30 minutes to get to the front of the line, but again, everyone was most pleasant about the long line.  Nobody was pushing and shoving, angry at the officials, etc.  One guy was saying that the most he had ever experienced was 5 or 10 minutes in the security line.  I suppose everyone had the same idea we did; fly out the day after the holiday.

We got on our non-stop flight to Minneapolis arriving at 4:45pm.   Here we are almost to Helena, MT.  How do I know that?  Eldon took the picture with his Iphone which pinpoints and stores the exact location where every picture is taken.  SCARY!

We had left the pickup parked at the airport so it was easy to get on the road for home.  It was a beautiful evening to drive home too; not dark, not pouring rain.  Everything was fine at home.  The dogs did not even get off the front step to greet us.  That ended our wonderful trip to Seattle and I know it’s the end because I’m out of pictures.

Odds and Ends

MEMORIAL DAY – We did not see one indication that Seattle even knows what Memorial Day is.  There were no parades, flags flying, groups of people gathering for programs, people in uniform, etc.   Won’t you think we would have seen something at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (named after an Army guy, operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers) to commemorate the day?  We did not watch any TV, but no newspapers or people on the street spoke of Memorial Day.  At the airport the next day, we saw one airplane pilot wearing a red/white/blue flag-looking tie instead of his usual black one.  And that was it!  Maybe Memorial Day is just a rural, Midwestern thing?

THE FIRST DAY – The picture of the Aurora Bridge was taken the first day we arrived.

Remember we checked into the hotel and then went for a hamburger about a block away?  The hamburger place was right next to the kids’ gym.  After we ate, we walked along the canal some and saw the bridge.  Right along there are also big Adobe and Google buildings.  Will said, “So there are options.”  I think that meant “We love Seattle.  So if this Amazon thing doesn’t work out, there are other work options.”

We also got to eat ice cream at the shop across from the hamburger place.  I don’t recall if, after our walk that first night, we got ice cream or when we did that.  It was organic ice cream.  It was very surprising to me that all these many, many little shops and stores (2 ice cream shops within a block, 2 coffee shops in the same block, clothes, bakery, eating places) could all make a living; don’t know how they do that.

?? –Actually, I have one picture left over.  I don’t know what this is.  Maybe Will’s work building, but I don’t recall going over to this side of the street; kitty-corner…………….or catty-corner if you’re from IA.

Editor’s Note: This is a building across from where I work.  Sorry, catty-corner from where I work.

SLEEPLESS – I slept like a log every night except the night the Dubliner patrons woke me up.  I was awakened a few times that night.  You might say I was “Sleepless in Seattle”.  When we were riding in the duck boat on Lake Union, we went right by the house here they filmed part of that movie.  I’ve seen the movie a couple of times and readily recognized the gray/blue house with red deck right on the water so that was interesting to see.

THE INTERN – Will told us his summer intern was coming next week.  All he knew was that the intern was from China and, being unfamiliar with Chinese names, we could not tell if the intern was going to be a male or female.  You’ve probably seen on the other blog and twittering thing that it turned out to be a woman.  Along the line, I hope we hear more of her story, how she got here, where she’s staying while in Seattle, etc.  That would be interesting.

THANKS – Once I was at a conference where the presenter ended with, “If I’ve offended any of us, don’t tell me about it.  Don’t call me and don’t write to me because I don’t care.”  And you thought I was miffed at the tour guide.  I was downright ticked off at that woman’s remark and attitude!  I had paid good money to hear the woman speak!  I don’t think many harbor tour guides will be reading this blog, but if I have offended any of you, please let me know.  I’ll apologize.  Certainly hurt feelings and strained relationships are of much more importance than anything I say…………..wrong or right.

Thanks much to Joni and Will for letting me babble on the way I do.  They are like the kids in the hotel; they just nod and smile and let me go to it.  This has been fun.  When something else important happens, I hope they will consider letting me again describe the events.

Mary’s final words of caution?  When you make your trip to Seattle, head right over to Joni and Will’s.  Get with them and they will see to it that you have one of the most enjoyable vacations you will ever take.  Thanks kids!