SEATTLE DAYS

So we spent the weekend in Seattle, and shipped out last night. There was a severe lack of camera that will be rectified next time we visit. For now, words will have to do.

We arrived at about 1100 and, again, not much of a dismissal from anyone, as they all ran down the gangway as fast as possible. We packed up with the intent not to return for over 24 hours. Why? Seattle Webbies!

We caught a cab to the apartment of Webb alumni Justin, Marion, and Brent, and found Jimmy, Doug, and Sam also in attendance. Marion made us lunch! It was pretty much the best thing ever, and it was awesome to see some Webbies, even if Jimmy made creepy faces at us in the elevator. We had been invited to crash at the apartment for the weekend, but unfortunately after lunch all the people with normal 9 to 5 jobs (weirdoes) had to return to them. Their office building happens to be directly across the street.

So, we dropped our stuff off and, after asking for some guidance as to the best places to supertourist, we headed to Pike Place Market. We wandered around in there for a while, and I picked up a very important thing which I cannot reveal right now. Highlights include: a Russian bakery (more on this later), a traditional wooden boat builder, accordion players, fish-throwers, hipsters by the dozen. Super neat place to check out.

It’s also right next to the Ferris wheel, which we considered, but supertourist-ing is expensive, so we decided no. Then, on another suggestion from those who know the area, we walked up to the Columbia Center, the tallest building in Seattle, which supposedly offers a better view than the Space Needle, and is less harmful to wallets. It was a neat view, and not bad weather, although we couldn’t see much beyond the city. Great view of the Manoa though.

The next thing on the agenda was to meet the freshmen Barr and Bree, who are at a shipyard in the area, for dinner. We went to wait for them at the Japanese restaurant, and who should also appear but Webb’s beloved alum, Mike LaRose. Good times and good food were had by all, and as Justin and Marion were not yet home (Brent was out for the rest of the weekend), we loitered for a long time. Much walking was done this weekend. As we started to head back, we met a detour in Doug and Samm heading the opposite way down the street. Eventually, sleep was achieved.

The next day Marion and Justin had to leave around 11, so we all got up for breakfast together before they went. We had breakfast on the inside terrace…which means we brought the table into the hallway and put it in front of the huge window between the elevators. The view is of the waterfront with the Ferris wheel. We ate waffles and ship-spotted. It was so great.

Unfortunately, after that, the weather started to get unpleasant. Our plan for the day was to meet Barr and walk around somewhere, but it soon became clear that for this expedition one would need a raincoat, because it was seriously windy and pouring buckets. Hey, guess what I don’t have? So, first adventure of the day was to get a raincoat. We decided to try Target first because there were a couple other things we needed to get, but Target was…completely out of raincoats. After a mishap with an expensive boutique in disguise ($400? Be serious) we ended up at the North Face store, and I am now the proud owner of a gray raincoat with a lifetime warranty. (I really like it, ok?) At this point Barr showed up and assured us that Seattle is never this rainy.

We decided to take the bus to the Space Needle and go to one of the museums there, and we ended up at the EMP Museum. I had thought it was really a music museum, and they did have extensive exhibits on Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana, and neat instruments to try out. But the downstairs exhibits were all pop culture: sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

We started with the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. They featured blurbs about their chosen authors along with props straight from the most famous sci-fi movies and TV shows. It wasn’t a huge collection, but it included things like original Star Trek uniforms, tribbles, a Dalek, and a Power Rangers ray gun. There were interactive exhibits as well and a reading corner with books.

So in case you haven’t already guessed, this is pretty much the coolest museum ever. The next exhibit we walked through was about horror movies, and they had a lot of props on display there as well, but I’m not much of a horror fan, so it didn’t grab me as much. The very best part was next: the fantasy exhibit.

I freaked out in this room. Like, people laughed at me. Here is a list of things they have:

 <Animatronic dragon (reminded me a little of the alligators at the Rainforest Café)

 <Ursula LeGuin’s first draft of A Wizard of Earthsea

 Manuscript of Eragon, with notes

 Christopher Paolini’s doodles and concept art

 A whole room of fantasy landscape paintings

 Inigo Montoya’s sword

 Actually, Inigo, Buttercup, and Wesley’s full costumes

 <Wizard of Oz costumes

 Susan Pevensie’s archery set and horn

· Original artwork from the illustrated Chronicles of Narnia

 MORE THINGS I CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER

< I almost died

From there we moved on to the aforementioned Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana exhibits, and the timeline of guitars, which was really neat but would probably have been even neater if I knew much about guitars.

After the museum, we took the monorail back into downtown Seattle and weren’t really hungry for dinner but wanted a snack, so we went to Piroshky Piroshky, the Russian bakery I mentioned before. (Also, Barr, the more it pours in Seattle, and the more you tell us it never rains like this, the less we believe you.) I got a cranberry and apple piroshky, and we went to a different coffee shop to eat (and we bought coffee/chocolate so they wouldn’t throw us out). It was awesome. I’m really hungry right now. I’m going to stop talking about bakeries.

And then, we said our farewells to the city and got back on the ship. I really enjoyed Seattle; I might consider living there if only the weather wasn’t so terrible.

A picture out the window of Justin/Brent/Marion’s apartment (not even the one with the best view, I don’t know what I was thinking)

And I finally got to try out the miniature effect in the situation it was always meant for

Hello, tiny people!

And today, it is Sunday, and everyone is back to work. We departed last night (official time 2200, but I know the engineers didn’t get to sleep until about 0500 this morning). Guess what was waiting for us right outside Puget Sound? That’s right! BAD WEATHER. This morning was really exciting; I got seasick for the first time in a while (not too bad though), and at about 0630 we started experiencing SLAMMING followed by HULL GIRDER VIBRATION. It’s exactly as fun as it sounds, which is to say, not fun. The first engineer told us to be on the lookout for leaks today, because sometimes slamming can crack tanks. I got worried when I saw water all over the deck near the boiler, but it turned out the wiper was just mopping really enthusiastically.

So tomorrow, we should be in Oakland. I think we’ll be arriving in the evening and leaving the next morning, so we may not have time to get out, but we will try.