[Posted to Xanga 6/29/11]
Yesterday I got to go to Seattle for the first time. I also got to ride on a Washington ferry for the first time.
For those of you who live somewhere else, and have never been here...these ferries are HUGE. Big enough to hold at least a hundred cars, and a whole bunch of people besides. Before I moved here, I had only been on one ferry in my life; it was very small, holding maybe thirty people, and it was a long time ago. I had no idea I would someday see ferries that could hold cars, and had vending machines and arcade games on them. Sarah and her dad and I played Pounce (Nertz) about half the way to Seattle from Bremerton. When we got to the point where you could see Seattle, Sarah and I went outside.
The wind was blowing really hard; from my perspective, at least, we were going pretty fast. And in the distance I could see skyscrapers, and the Space Needle. I wanted to go to Seattle for years, and the sight of it made me happy, at least momentarily. We stood there and watched it draw nearer; Sarah pointed out some landmark-type things to me.
We came ashore and took a bus to the international district. The bus was so long that it had a bit in the middle like a bendy straw so it could go around corners less dangerously. Once we were in the international district, we went to Uwajimaya. Which turned out to be another one of those places that made me want to BUY ALL THE THINGS. Instead of buying all the things, I got pineapple Hi-Chew (the Japanese kind, for the first time), which Sarah's dad wound up buying for me, which was awfully nice of him. The bookstore was even more tempting. Le sigh. Oh, to have disposable income.
Anyway, then we went to Samurai Noodle, where I had non-instant ramen for the first time. I hadn't actually known there was a non-instant form of it until Sarah told me...to her amusement and my embarrassment. It was pretty delicious. And Sarah had gotten some kind of aloe drink at Uwajimaya and let me have some of it, and it was really good and reminded me strongly of something, but I can't remember what. Bah.
So after that we went to Pink Gorilla and poked around for a little bit (more BUY ALL THE THINGS impulse, but I didn't buy anything). And then we went to Pike Place Market. It reminded me a little of the straw market in the Bahamas. Open and crowded and selling all manner of things, making me want to look in every direction at once. Sarah and I went to watch the fish sellers who were throwing fish and yelling and being generally amusing, and her dad left to to go the bathroom, and came back with hot sugary fresh donuts. Which were also pretty awesome.
Then, if I remember correctly, we headed for the Science Center so that Sarah could stand in line for the IMAX 3D Transformers movie. The tickets were sold out or I might have gone too. No matter; we left her there, and went to ride the monorail. We ended up at some place with lots of stores that were closed because some unspecified thing had happened. Sarah's dad got some shoes and we headed back to the ferry and went home. Sarah came home much later, at around 1:30 or 2.
It was a pretty good day. Being amid skyscrapers made me think of Atlanta, but it was different from Atlanta. Atlanta doesn't have hills like that, nor does it have a shipyard, of course. Nor does it have viaducts. Which are apparently going to be taken down because they're dangerous in an earthquake. I'd never seen a viaduct before, though.
Sarah's dad took a few pictures, so those might get added to this post in strategic places when I'm able to get them.
For those of you who live somewhere else, and have never been here...these ferries are HUGE. Big enough to hold at least a hundred cars, and a whole bunch of people besides. Before I moved here, I had only been on one ferry in my life; it was very small, holding maybe thirty people, and it was a long time ago. I had no idea I would someday see ferries that could hold cars, and had vending machines and arcade games on them. Sarah and her dad and I played Pounce (Nertz) about half the way to Seattle from Bremerton. When we got to the point where you could see Seattle, Sarah and I went outside.
The wind was blowing really hard; from my perspective, at least, we were going pretty fast. And in the distance I could see skyscrapers, and the Space Needle. I wanted to go to Seattle for years, and the sight of it made me happy, at least momentarily. We stood there and watched it draw nearer; Sarah pointed out some landmark-type things to me.
We came ashore and took a bus to the international district. The bus was so long that it had a bit in the middle like a bendy straw so it could go around corners less dangerously. Once we were in the international district, we went to Uwajimaya. Which turned out to be another one of those places that made me want to BUY ALL THE THINGS. Instead of buying all the things, I got pineapple Hi-Chew (the Japanese kind, for the first time), which Sarah's dad wound up buying for me, which was awfully nice of him. The bookstore was even more tempting. Le sigh. Oh, to have disposable income.
Anyway, then we went to Samurai Noodle, where I had non-instant ramen for the first time. I hadn't actually known there was a non-instant form of it until Sarah told me...to her amusement and my embarrassment. It was pretty delicious. And Sarah had gotten some kind of aloe drink at Uwajimaya and let me have some of it, and it was really good and reminded me strongly of something, but I can't remember what. Bah.
So after that we went to Pink Gorilla and poked around for a little bit (more BUY ALL THE THINGS impulse, but I didn't buy anything). And then we went to Pike Place Market. It reminded me a little of the straw market in the Bahamas. Open and crowded and selling all manner of things, making me want to look in every direction at once. Sarah and I went to watch the fish sellers who were throwing fish and yelling and being generally amusing, and her dad left to to go the bathroom, and came back with hot sugary fresh donuts. Which were also pretty awesome.
Then, if I remember correctly, we headed for the Science Center so that Sarah could stand in line for the IMAX 3D Transformers movie. The tickets were sold out or I might have gone too. No matter; we left her there, and went to ride the monorail. We ended up at some place with lots of stores that were closed because some unspecified thing had happened. Sarah's dad got some shoes and we headed back to the ferry and went home. Sarah came home much later, at around 1:30 or 2.
It was a pretty good day. Being amid skyscrapers made me think of Atlanta, but it was different from Atlanta. Atlanta doesn't have hills like that, nor does it have a shipyard, of course. Nor does it have viaducts. Which are apparently going to be taken down because they're dangerous in an earthquake. I'd never seen a viaduct before, though.
Sarah's dad took a few pictures, so those might get added to this post in strategic places when I'm able to get them.
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