Pacific Northwest Trip June 2013 Day 9 Monday June 24

UPDATED: February 10, 2021

 

This is the ninth of a series of posts dealing with my tenth and most recent trip to Seattle as adult. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.  What few updates there are indicated by NOW in brackets.

First off a few oversights/other additions from before: In Ballard with my feet sore I decided to skip Arcane Comics, In West Seattle I skipped Alki Beach due to weather though if weather improves I'll put it back on the trip Wed or Thurs. At McDonald's yesterday they apparently misunderstood an order and gave a customer a chicken burger with no chicken.  Jeans are the heaviest thing in my backpack. I'm still carrying them with me in case of extreme weather but since they've either caused or aggravated the rash haven't put them on the last few days.  I probably look a bit silly in coat and short sleeved pants but my health is more important than my looks. At Easy Street I finally found a Troma movie I didn't have; Silver Platters had another one, a version of Toxic Avenger for the Japan market, but it was $19.99 so I passed.

[NOW: I never got to Alki beach that trip. I later found a cheaper copy of that Toxic Avenger DVD at a Sunrise Records in Toronto. Arcane Comics has moved to Shoreline]

Was still waking to the air conditioning though slept a bit better than yesterday.  My feet felt a bit better this morning but my rash was bothering me again. Despite this I dashed all the way across downtown to catch the Sounder (light rail/Sound Transit) at King Street Station. I rode it to Tacoma; it was the first time I'd ridden it this direction; always the other way before. Costs a bit more and is longer than a bus but far more comfortable. At Tacoma Dome Station I switched to the 603 bus (Intercity Transit) and took it to the Capitol in Olympia. There was a KING 5 van there. I took some photos of the fountain there before getting breakfast at the nearby Subway. Walking through the downtown core I decided to ride a bus I hadn't been on and got on the 44 bus (Intercity Transit; as a non-express bus I was now able to get a daypass). Before the bus left Olympia Transit Center a guy (who'd already been ranting) low on morals/intelligence but high in guts tried to steal a bike from the bus' bike rack.  Hopefully he'll enjoy his new free accommodations.

 

[NOW: The4 hostel was City Hostel Seattle.]

I rode the bus to Barnes & Noble and then started towards the Blockbuster. It was still a little early so before heading there I stopped at the nearby Safeway and got a couple of DVDs. I crossed the lot to Blockbuster, getting there just before they opened.  I got more DVDs there, which I'm glad because my suspicion is this will prove to be my last visit ever to a Blockbuster; I hope to be proven wrong on this but the writing's definitely on the wall for Blockbuster.

[NOW: That was my last visit to that Blockbuster before it closed, but I made it to the Sandy Oregon Blockbuster a couple more times before they closed.]

I took a 48 bus (Intercity Transit) to Olympia Transit Center where I switched to a 66 bus (Intercity Transit) to Lacey.  There I visited Olympic Cards & Comics and Boomerang. I wasn't that hungry but I knew it might be a while before I could eat somewhere I wanted to, so I had an early lunch at Arby's.  Then, in part to get out of the rain, I got on another bus I hadn't been on before (62B/Intercity Transit) which I rode to Lacey Transit Center then Olympia Transit Center.

 

[Boomerang has closed.]

In downtown Olympia I visited Browser's Books (didn't see the dog), Danger Room Comics, Heritage Fountain (though as I'd noticed earlier it was out of service), Rainy Day Records (got more DVDs), the Star Wars Mural (only glanced at from across the street as someone was doing something there and didn't want to disturb him), Orca Books (a cat with an apparently rough life was passed out on a couch; also found more DVDs), Last Word Books, Phantom City Records (they sell LPs and clothes), then back to Olympia Transit Center.

 

[NOW: Orca Books and Last Word Books have moved. Phantom City Records has closed.]

This time the 603 bus was half price because I had a daypass and even got a Pierce Transit transfer. I took the bus to SR512 Park & Ride (in Lakewood I believe) where I took a 300 bus (Pierce Transit) to Tacoma Mall Transit Center). In f.y.e. in the mall I got a couple more DVDs including a fancy One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest set. Heading east from the mall I would have liked to visit Atomic City Comics but had a bit of a time crunch.  I bought more DVDs at Half Price Books before dashing back to Tacoma Mall Transit Center. A 3 bus (Pierce Transit) had no identifiers that I could see but it was at the 3 stop and people were getting on so it was a pretty safe deduction.

I got off downtown Tacoma and walked to King's Books. A cat with a serious look on its face was at the till with a paw on the keyboard. So unlike the earlier cat this one actually seemed to want to help ring through purchases. I walked to the University Bookstore and the crossed to the Bridge of Glass by Union Station.  I'm not sure how much detail I'm given in past years: there's a covered section with glass displays on the ceiling, then two poles that look like blue glass squares mashed together, then another covered section with glass jugs and the like (on the right if you're going to the Museum of Glass (I don't go in due to the no photos rule) and on the right if heading back towards Union.  I was going to take the free Tacoma Link (Sound Transit) to Tacoma Dome Station and a Sounder train from there, but I saw a 590 bus arriving (Sound Transit just like last year; déjà vu) so I took that instead and got the front seat.

 

[NOW: TacomaLink, a light rail is now Line T.]

There may have been a prankster on the bus ringing every stop in Seattle including those with no one exiting. I got off just before Seattle Center.  Since I knew I had time left on my ORCA transfer, I rode South Lake Union's trolley (King County Metro Transit; the trolley is affectionately called the [read the initials and you'll figure it out] by locals) a couple stops and then walked the rest of the way to Seattle Center; it's not that much faster to get to Seattle Center that way, but how can I not ride the, well, you know?

At Seattle Center I ate at Mod Pizza (any number of toppings among the choices given; this time I checked and soda drinks are unlimited), then relaxed at the International Fountain until it started to rain too much. Before the rain I noticed that my new shoes were causing one toe to bleed; too bad they wouldn't let me have the other pair at the sale price; still better than the wrecked shoes though; maybe I'll break these in. Then, back to the hostel.