UPDATED: February 5, 2022
This is the third of a
series of posts dealing my fifth trip to Seattle and second of two trips that
year. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports. Also, I’ve added additional
thoughts with the hindsight of three years later or to add further
clarification. I’ve decided to delete
references to an outdated contest which probably wouldn’t be of too much
interest to people who don’t know me.
Very sleepy right now
so pardon typos. At computer terminal at
least.
[NOW: Typos corrected
for the blog.]
Last night people were
talking until past 11. Then this morning
people got up and started using the bathtub or shower (probably the former)
around 4:30. I had a couple options of
when I started the day; since I was unlikely to fall asleep again despite a
little over four hours' sleep due to noise, I decided to do the earlier option.
I took a bus downtown
to transfer to a bus to Tacoma, but due to construction rerouting had to dash
quite a few blocks to a later stop; made it, so getting up early wasn't a lost
cause.
[NOW: The bus downtown was King County Metro Transit. The bus
to Tacoma would have been one of the 590s/Sound Transit.]
The stop at Tacoma was
brief and I grabbed a few schedules at Tacoma Dome Station. Then I took another
bus to my real destination: Olympia
[NOW: That bus would be 603 Intercity Transit. This
was my second time in Olympia and my first real time exploring.]
First stop was the
legislature building. It's kind of like
tourists visiting Victoria: if you're touring the city, you're going to snap
pics of the legislature building because that's what tourists do. No point in trying to fight it.
I visited a very
smelly Heritage Park Lake, then the much nicer Heritage Park Fountain (water
jets). this was all downtown, which is
a radical left winger's dream and right winger's nightmare. Very liberal stores, only franchise was
Subway and even that was remote.
[NOW: The lake was probably Capitol Lake, but I don't recall scent issues in future visits.]
Because I arrived
early I noted opening times, so I'll only list the places when I actually went
in if applicable. I visited Five Corners
(gone), a bakery for breakfast, Star Wars Mural, Fireside Books (didn’t buy
anything), De Colores Books (ditto), Rainy Day Records (bought a lot of DVDs,
mainly left wing documentaries. Orca Books (had a cat), Browsers Books (had a
dog, breaking with tradition) (didn’t buy anything latter either).
[NOW: Fireside Books, De Colores Books has closed. Orca Books has moved. I now think the dog might have just been a customer's.]
I took the 48 westbound bus and got DVDs at
Hollywood Video, then went to Borders (Westfield shopping centre promenade;
didn’t buy anything), Best Buy (attached to mall proper; bought exclusive
Watchmen DVD with Rorschach mask), went in the mall but saw a no pics sign,
walked a few blocks to Backlot Video (apparently gone), Barnes & Noble
(didn’t buy anything), School Daze (didn’t go in; just children's), Olympia
branch of Lassley's Paperbaks (no buy), almost Blockbuster (proved too far to
walk), then back to mall to get bus downtown.
[NOW: 48 bus is
Intercity Transit. Hollywood Video and Borders are now defunct. Blockbuster turned out to be a lot closer
than I thought, just hidden with the back of the store to the street, but it's also now closed, as are School Daze and Lassley's Paperbacks.]
I too the 13 bus to
Tumwater (just south of Olympia); I just missed my arrival stop and next one
was right in front of McDonald's so had lunched there. I walked a few blocks to a Blockbuster mainly
to take pics of Tumwater and got a couple DVDs, then backtracked and visited
Tumwater Video (didn’t buy anything). I
just missed a bus; went for a short walk and took another 13 back downtown
Olympia. Visited Last Word Books,
Phantom City Records (didn’t buy anything either place), Danger Room Comics
(bought a few comics; the Danger Room is the X-Men's training room), and a
washroom at Olympia Transit Center (actually woman's; it was one at a time so it didn't matter and
I was desperate).
[NOW: 13 bus is also
Intercity Transit; Tumwater Video, Blockbuster, and Phantom City Records are now closed. Last Word Books has moved.]
I took a 66 bus east
to another town (Lacey) (along the way there was a cemetery near Phoenix Road,
which I thought was optimistic) where I visited Olympic Cards and Comics
(bought a couple more comics), Lacey branch of Lassley's, Hollywood Video (didn’t
buy anything and hard to find; being
sleepy started to get disoriented), CD Connection, renamed Boomerang (didn’t buy anything, hard to focus by then
due to sleep deprivation). Another bus
back downtown Olympia, then another bus to Lakewood.
[NOW: The 66 bus, which I took both ways is also
Intercity Transit, as is the 603 I took to Lakewood. Hollywood Video, again is
defunct. Boomerang is closed.]
It was supposed to be
a short stop but there was a convoy on the hey so I missed my connection and
did a quick visit of Lakewood, buying a drink nearby). I took a bus to Seattle via Tacoma. After Tacoma I started to half-dream. In this half-awake state I still took pics so
I'm curious to see what I actually took in my sleepy state.
[NOW: I took one of
the 590s/ Sound Transit back to Seattle.]
I walked to the
McDonald's near Seattle Center (the one with the sports motif), then to the now
open International Fountain, which a dog was playing in.
[NOW; The sports balls have been removed from that McDonald's.]
I just missed a bus
back towards the hostel; there was a sign at the bus stop saying must stop for
people or something like that. A drunk
was at the stop but he wandered off.
Finally made it back. Turning in
early hopefully to be refreshed for my mystery day tomorrow.
[NOW: I took one or
two King County Metro Transit buses back to Ballard and walked the rest of the way to the
hostel.]
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