Pacific Northwest Trip 2022 Day 14 July 30 Seattle Including Torchlight Parade

 

This is the 14^th in a series of posts covering my trip to the US Pacific Northwest in 2022, adapting emails originally sent to friends. I use NOW to refer to any updates since I did the trip.

 

Apologies in advance if there are more typos this time. There's a karaoke night here at the Green Tortoise Hostel. It's overly loud so I want to whip through this.

 

[NOW: I’ve hopefully corrected any such typos.]

 

Fire trucks by Pike Place Market this morning. Fortunately the market still opened later so the damage couldn't have been too severe. Before and after breakfast I walked along the then upcoming Torchlight Parade route getting photos of the set-up. The seating area by Westlake Center, probably for rich people looked a lot different this time. I saw motorcycle cops escorting some floats to the starting point. At times passed a giant red Popsicle sculpture

 

I returned to the hostel in part because I forgot my water bottle. I went to Pike Place Market when I snapped a few shots of Rachel the Pig before visiting Golden Age Collectables. I decided to ask about any connection to the Vancouver version. It seems the Vancouver owner used to be a patron of the Seattle version and became friends with the owner. When he opened his own shop he named it after the Seattle version. The market also has a Giant Shoe Museum (peep show format) but I didn't pay for the show.

 

I grabbed a few more things from the hostel, then went to the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library and managed to take care of ArriveCAN there using a temporary library card number and PIN. I took a C Rapidride bus (all transportation today King County Metro Transit) to Alaska Junction in Seattle's West Seattle district. I visited Pegasus Book Exchange and bought a DVD from Easy Street Records. I took a few shots of Tales of Astonish, not yet open for the day. It's almost certainly named after a Marvel title.

 

[NOW: At the time, it was mandatory for people visiting or returning to Canada to fill in vaccination details in advance in ArriveCan to enter the country.]

 

I took a 50 bus to Jack in the Box. Again I had to order via a drive through. The bus schedule at the stop proved inaccurate; I missed a couple buses because I thought they weren't for a while. I made it to Alki Beach, The Birthplace of Seattle Marker was gone. Don't know if moved or removed. I did see the miniature Statue of Liberty and some art tents. I lay down on the sand and rested a bit. The seashore was too shallow to swim at but I did sit in the water.

 

[NOW: Google Street View shows that the marker is still there. Because I arrived on foot I might have been a block away.]

 

I took a 775 becoming 773 bus and then a C Rapidride bus back to near Pike Place Market. Curiously since I got on the earlier bus at 10:30, the transfer didn't expire until 9 pm. At the market I visited Left Bank Books, Lionheart Books, BLMF Books, Holy Cow Records (bought DVDs), Orange Dracula (novelty shop), Rummage Around, Lamplight Books. After a stopover at the hostel to grab batteries I took the parade route to Seattle Center.

 

At the International Fountain there I took a lot of shots but was trying to keep an older guy in a black speedo out of the shots. A couple people trying to get a petition for universal healthcare in the state seemed impressed that I couldn't sign because I was Canadian and thus already had it. It took time to locate but I got money from a Bank of America ATM near the center. I grabbed dinner from the 7-11 near Seattle Center and found a place across from Westlake Park. Unlike before the parade route was fenced off so no "Repent or Go to Hell" types with loudspeakers, no butting in front of me. I saw mini-marathon runners.

 

No motorcycle pre-show this time. Across the street a family was playing rap music so lots of n-word. Alaska Airlines was offered cookies, water, and airplane shaped hat. At one point a guy with a beef against a group in the parade pushed beside me and flipped the group and cussed them out. No horses this year. Did see a chicken place vehicle shaped like a giant helmet, the Seattle Seahawks helmet car, the Seattle Seafair Clowns, and the Seattle Seafair Pirates firing a cannon. My mind wanted to follow them a ways to get more shots of the cannon firing, but the body was unwilling and I returned to the hostel.