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Seattle Day 9 Summer Road Trip 2016

Yesterday I braved the cold, chilly Pacific Northwest weather and road south about 20 miles to the Harley Davidson dealership in Lacey. I couldn't leave the area without the obligatory 'destination' shirt! After buying shirts and a warm hooded sweatshirt, I plugged the address of the shipping company into my phone, connected my wireless headset (one of the best purchases I made for this trip) and eased back onto I5, which is Ten times more congested and frantic than I4 at rush hour! Gritted my teeth, gripped the handlebars until I'm sure my knuckles were white under my heavy gloves, and listening to Siri as she coached me towards the Port of Tacoma.

The folks at Air Van Moving were very nice; taking me on a tour of the facility after I expressed my anxiety over leaving Bessie behind. She looked to be in good hands; lots of other bikes waiting to be shipped out as well. I said goodbye as my Lincoln Towncar pulled up to whisk me away to the Seattle airport. A traditional cab was only $10 less than the chauffeur driven Towncar, so I said, 'what the hell?' After 9 days of traveling on two wheels, I sank into the plush leather of the Towncar, sipped the bottle of water that was offered, and paid no attention to the hectic traffic my driver expertly negotiated. I gave Thanks for safe travel and patted myself on the back for being so good to ME.

Checked into the hotel, stood way too long in the hot shower, then decided to eat in the hotel restaurant...something I don't do usually. My Garden Burger was tasty, which well it should be for $17 and the Starbucks Sweet Green Tea quenched my thirst. I've come to the conclusion that you just can't get a decent sweet tea west of Mississippi. Returned to my room, and promptly fell asleep for the next fourteen hours! I guess my body was telling me it was tired.

I awoke Saturday morning feeling refreshed and relieved that I would not have to travel on two wheels today! Paul arrived before noon; as usual I was 'sittin on 'g' waiting on 'o'' when he arrived, map of Seattle in my hand. We headed downtown on the train to walk around Pike Place Market. Being a holiday weekend, it was shoulder to shoulder people...worse than Main Street Daytona during Bike Week! Had lunch in a funky waterfront restaurant, the Athenean, that has been there since the early 1900's. Excellent cod sandwich made with a slaw topping. Sat at the waterfront park and watched people for awhile then went in search of the famous 'Gum Wall.' Located in Post Alley, under Pike Place Market, it started in the early 1990's. Theater goers who resented standing in line for tickets started sticking their chewing gum on the brick walls...it is now a certified tourist attraction, and the second germiest place on earth...the first is the Blarny Stone. We trekked up several flights of stairs in search of the Mt. Rainier Harley Davidson store...gotta have a tshirt!

After our quick tour of Seattle, we headed back to the hotel and a 3am wake up call for our early flight to Anchorage. Ugh!

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 6, 2016 at 10:04 PM

    Cool!!! I have eaten at Athenean and played with the gum wall too. There is a really good sandwich shop right off that alley.

    ReplyDelete

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