Seattle: part two.

So, let's just sum some of this trip up.

Part two: after my first update I went on a little more exploring. Saw some more neon signs, stumbled upon some gum-walled alleys, wondered my way through a shopping district of some sort with a cool public art area of blue trees and weird figures. 

The next day, upon awaking and after a little phone conversation with family members, I went back into the world, touring it up at Theo's Chocolate Inc where (watch out) I found out that chocolate over 70% cocoa is considered a health food! Get it! Also, I found out how chocolate is made and that I like chocolate nibs that most people find disagreeable. On my way back towards the Bolt bus (which I highly recommend taking) I saw the space needle. 

Overall, I toured it up and with the exception of an expensive yet low quality dinner the first night the whole experience was very affordable. 

Let's do a quick price breakdown:

$20 round trip bus ride to and from Seattle 

$26 hostel stay (the hostel's of Seattle are not the cheapest)

$2.50 in bus fair to get around

$6 for the chocolate tour

$6 burrito for lunch 

$free breakfast

$free water

$(stupid 19) dinner I bought a lot of food 'cause I was starving before I learned that the food sucked. 

79.50 (coulda been a bit less if not for that stupid meal) But, I didn't skimp on meals in general. If I had wanted to go cheaper I could have packed food. The hostel was nice and clean. 

I went to have fun and I did.

The view from my hostel

 A kinetic sculpture

 A moment of sunlight at the end of an otherwise dreary day in Seattle

 More  "neon"

What was I saying? So much neon.

 Stumbled unto this gum alley

 Several yards of  gum walls

 Gum window

Displays of love in "ABC" gum 

 Kiki Smith-esq sculptures

In a grove of blue trees 

 fire hydrant of Seattle

 Garish signs galore

 Went on a chocolate factory tour.

 Funnel for chocolate nibs

 Space Needle!

(yeah I'm a tourist)

Flowers I brought back to Portland

Day one of the Adventure

Surprise, surprise, I didn't take any pictures from the road.

But, no worries little people, I redoubled my efforts upon arriving in Seattle.

Here you have what I had:

building that looked cooler in real life (dagnabit my lack of camera mastery). 

 part of a underwater scene mural

Another part of that mural 

Some of the street signs are on the corners in the ground 

 Another example (and a glimpse of my new shoes)

First picture from Pike Place Market. The first of many "neon" sign viewings.  

 Shellfish at the market

 Lil' clams

 Flowers at the market

 I'm tellin' you. They love neon in this town

 Or garish signs at least

 My pants and my shoes on "vacation"

 This is when I was figuring out if you could take pictures through view finders.

Down at the dock some detritus and a ship  

Some neat column sculptures 

 Another in the series of "columns"

Mural at the hostel

Comfort

One more restaurant off the list today.

I knocked out Comfort today for a pre-run lunch with some friends and running buddies. "What was had?" you ask. It started off with some sweet tea.

A note: Thank you, the south, for bringing us yet another thing that is good. I know you've had some bad moments with slavery and everything, but you've gone above and beyond with both fried foods and sweet tea.

Next we got into entrees and sandwiches. I picked an entree because I wanted two sides (I really wanted only sides and would have appreciated a  combo side plate option). My friends had respectively, blackened chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, and a country ham sandwich with potato salad. I personally had meat loaf with squash casserole and french fries. Give me the option and I will always get french fries. That may be something that I need to change, but I deeply love the ol' frenchies, especially with some pesto mayo. But, I digress...

Everyone seemed to enjoy their own meals. I, personally, was not disappointing by mine but I also did not fall in love. Maybe, meatloaf isn't for me. I really don't have much experience with the stuff and in the process of giving something new a chance, I may have found that thing that I don't really like. The squash casserole was cheesy and off the hook and the aforementioned frenchies were classic, salty fried potatoes. Who can complain about that?

Dessert was a caramelized banana topped banana pudding which was plenty rich and would probably overwhelm the individual but we shared. So, it was all good. As it was a dessert, I enjoyed it a whole bunch but it didn't blow me out of the water. I still favor both the tiny pecan pie of Pasture and the appropriately sized tres leches cake of Kuba Kuba. I can't wait to get some pie at Ipanema later.

I've got to step up my running game to deal with all of this eating out. On a pro exercise note, I did get my bike into Richmond today and it is near being completely put together. So, then, I'll be biking everywhere I go in town. I can not wait.

There's my review take it or leave it. Also, if you don't favor being uncomfortably full during your bout of exercise, try to not eat at comfort on the day of exercise.

Into the Wild and other Christmas Adventures

Katelyn and I spent Christmas morning hiking at a spot called Angel's Rest. Much of the time, we were wondering about what in the world we were doing outside, in the rain on Christmas day.Some of the photos may reflect that.

Katelyn, unsure about the babbling brook. 

 Me "why are we doing this"

 Katelyn's finally coming around to the hike (in the background is the beautiful Colombia River)

 A beautiful tree burnt in a past year's forest fire

 A little gnomey doll we found on a tree.

 At the peak of our hike

 There was a lot of fog but we know the view would have been spectacular

Bracing against the cold under this tree.

 Frowning at the cold, in front of the void.

A window into the void through these rocks

pictures really can't do it justice

We spent the rest of our day baking labor intensive cookies, making (and eating) curry and coconut rice and watching Christopher Nolan movies with my friend Jon. Making cookies, eating curry and watching movies is my and Jon's new Christmas tradition. We did it last year and hopefully we'll do it in years to come. After Jon left Katelyn gave me some delicious looking canned foods to eat. We got into one of them this morning. 

Canned goodies

To continue our Christmas festivities we will be opening a package we received in the mail today from home.

Hopefully you all are having safe travels and fun times out there over this holiday season.

The Big City

This past week I visited San Francisco. I spent some good time with the little sis, and some sweet but fleeting moments with the elder of us kids too. I went on an impromptu date, ate so much delicious food, checked out downtown Oakland, and spent a few nights with a good friend from back in school. I also got to see a bunch of cool things and experience what a beautiful city San Francisco was.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

The sisters in front of the "golden" gate bridge

Delicious pastry I couldn't resist eating a bit of before photographing.

The view from Buena Vista park (you can kinda see the bridge in the distance)

A buena vista park bench

Coit Tower, where I met my impromptu date

A mural of naked people I stumbled upon

A "yellow tree" with yellow leaves walking away from the famous part of Lombard St.

Don't park here, I guess

The Tenderloin area had awesome murals

Mural in the Tenderloin

Same mural

The kind of close together housing that I miss about Richmond

A shop sign on Haight Ashbury

A carousel in The Golden Gate Park

Store in Haight Ashbury

I think this is a eucalyptis log

Plant in Golden Gate Park (everything grows there)

One kind of San Francisco architecture.

The view from some famous pier where there are sea lions

Giant Yoda statue made out of Legos

I'm about to turn in for the night. Trying to wake up and go to a morning Yoga class tomorrow. We'll see if that happens. Trying to be productive with my free time these days.