This is the first of a series
of posts dealing my sixth trip to Seattle as an adult and first 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 was hoping to get a
good night's sleep last night to be ready for the trip, but it was lighter than
usual outside, then a bottle(?) dropped causing a woman to curse, then more
glass shattering for a while probably at the garbage bin.
I worked at Pacific
Peoples' Partnership. I was out of milk
so ate breakfast at McDonald's. A woman
slammed the door as she exited and then later returned and violently knocked
down a garbage bin before being escorted out.
[NOW: This is the
McDonald’s at Douglas & Yates, downtown Victoria. At the time I was volunteering with Pacific
Peoples’ Partnership as part of an unsuccessful attempt to get back into work
with the government. I’ve since returned
to volunteering there though no longer as part of a formal process.]
Okay, the above two
bits are technically not part of the trip, but they happened today and I
thought you'd all find them interesting.
So I left work and
made it to the Victoria Clipper ferry terminal around 3:40. My friend Troy, who is also going to the same
convention but staying at a different hostel was already there so we chatted
until it was time to go through Immigration.
As with the Coho you go through Immigration on this side and then
Customs in the US.
[NOW: Troy was at the Green Tortoise, which I used
to go to but will no longer do so due to reasons outlined in previous
reports. My main reason for taking this
trip was the Emerald City Comic Con, hence the convention reference above.
Because I was juggling this and my volunteering efforts and because it was off
season, I opted for the more expensive but more direct Clipper ferry this time.]
The Immigration line
opens at 4, an hour before the ferry leaves, and it really needs that time due
to the number of people; I got a really happy guy luckily. The Clipper boards by group numbers and Troy
and I were both Group 5. Consequently
while I did let a window seat, it was on the left side rather than the more
ideal right side. Also in the five hours
since the ferry would have arrived, no one had cleaned the windows. The seats are somewhat like an airplane, only
without the seatbelts. Moving around opportunities
are minimal and yes, there is a tray for food.
Selection was minimal but actually comes with more items than you'd
think from a Light Dinner section.
While Troy and I were
talking we were talking we were often interrupted by a woman making announcements
who repeated herself a bit. I want to stress that she repeated herself a fair
bit. She really repeated herself a
lot. She also talked fairly slowly. At one point she talked at length on how this
was the last announcement. There was a
pause and I attempted to talk to Troy again but then the last announcement from
her resumed.
But the most interesting bit of news was that
a piece of wood had gone into the engine as the ferry was arriving in
Seattle. Nothing serious happily.
The ferry arrived a
little after the schedule 7:45 time, but the lady who had previously announced
that she had given her last announcement made a new announcement indicating
that the people without checked in luggage had to wait until baggage was ready;
people without baggage could leave.
Half an hour later the
people with baggage were allowed to leave the ferry to pick up our baggage and
go through Customs. I took some pics of
the baggage pick up area but had to erase them.
The Customs guy said that the no photos rule had been announced but I'm
pretty sure I recall most of what slow and repetitious woman said. In fact I have bits of info regarding a tulip
festival not for a few more months permanently burned into memory thanks to
her.
[NOW: Perhaps
fortunately her specific points have actually faded; it’s more the general
experience of her announcements and not what she actually said that’s stuck.]
Customs went okay beyond the above and I
finally made it out of the Clipper building 55 minutes after the ferry's
scheduled arrival in Seattle. All talk
the whole trip from Clipper arrival was 5 hours. My usual route (ferry to Port Angeles,
transit hopping, then ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle) is a little over 8
hours but I get to move around a lot and explore towns along the way. Any guesses as to which is my preferred means
of getting to Seattle now that I've sampled both?
[NOW: Ironically, my
next trip to Seattle required a new longer route because they cancelled one of
the bus runs, but that route is now possible again.]
I actually recognized
the "Enter as strangers, leave as guests" slogan at the hostel before
I saw the actual hostel sign. When I
arrived at City Hostel Seattle the manager, Nancy, who hadn't actually met me
during my July trip, correctly guessed my last name from previous
correspondences with her and gave me a warm welcome. A security guy also apparently remembered
me. During my various visits to the
Green Tortoise the people there never seemed to have any strong opinions one
way or the other that I was a returning guest so this was a very nice change. The previous visit the hostel was in a remote
area of Ballard; this time it's in Belltown, close to Seattle Center.
My room has four
people max which is nice. After storing
my stuff it was 9 pm. Heading out, I
passed the Chief Sealth statue (from whom Seattle gets his name) and got a shot
of the Monorail passing over the statue.
This being night it's probably a neon white blur over the statue, but
appears to still be a nice shot.
I visited Silver
Platters (bought 3-movie set of SS-related 1970s exploitation films), visited
Seattle Center and got some nice night shots.
The International Fountain, which first caused me to fall in love with
the city was at low power but still running).
I visited Easy Street Records and got some more cult films including a
50-DVD set for $9, then returned to Seattle Center for some more pics. The Space Needle looked really nice at night as did the fountain
in front of the Space Needle (Robert S. Wright I think; the water looks a shiny
yellow at night). And Pacific Science
Center looks great at night as well.
Sadly the International Fountain's lights were off, but I managed some
okay shots by positioning the Space Needle in the background.
[NOW: That Silver Platters moved to 1st Ave S and that Easy Street Records is now closed. The fountain is actually the Howard S. Wright Memorial Fountain]
At one point I saw an
animal (cat?) passing through the amusement park side. It went under the gate labelled
"Enter" so it was considerate at least. I got some refreshments at Seattle Center and
then returned to the hostel. There are
more computer terminals this time and the computer screens are incredibly wide.
[NOW: The computer terminals were later removed.]
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