Days Eleven & Twelve (Or: "I landed in the old Northwest / Seattle, Washington")

Before it slips my mind: I've been through both Gary, Indiana and Kearny, New Jersey, but Ontario, Oregon is by far the smelliest city through which I've ever traveled.

Greetings from downtown Boise, Idaho, 2,704 feet above sea level, home of Bodybuilding.com, the 4th largest Basque population in the world, and the Idaho International Film Festival!

Yesterday, Amelia and I swung by downtown where I got to see the Space Needle up close (because I haven't stopped talking about that since Amelia and I made these plans a few months ago) and the Monorail (which I found out only goes a mile, which is very funny), along with the Experience Music Project. We illegally parked in a McDonald's parking lot--suckers! Hee hee. Then we went to the Pike Place Market on the waterfront, which was totally great. We walked around, went to the eponymous brewhouse where we had BBQ pulled pork nachos which were excellent (I tried a brew called the "Kilt Lifter"), and went down to the Perennial Tea Room, where I bought some loose tea to take home--pouchong with coconut! Tasty! Antioxidant-rich!

We then went back to the apartment, popped some popcorn and watched "Love, Actually," which I hadn't seen and boy, was it totally squishalicious with the romance and improbably perfect setups. I was irked by poor Laura Linney's plight, though, and it made the ending unsatisfactory. Let Laura Linney live happily ever after, I say!

This morning, Amelia and Tres took me to Top Pot, which is a homemade doughnut place in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. I had a chocolate sandcastle doughnut, which was just what I wanted, and I brought a pumpkin doughnut with me for tomorrow morning. The coffee was also excellent. After that, we said goodbye and they led me back to I-5.

Thanks, you guys. I hope I expressed what a good time I had!

So the trip today involved taking Interstate 5, to 90, to 82, to 84 into Boise. It was more or less as annoying as it sounds but I did manage to find an Exxon--finally, and a cheap one!--in Yakima. Thanks, Universe.

The most unexpected part was the Snoqualmie Pass through the Cascades. OK, so it's about 3,000 ft. above sea level (which has been the theme of the trip: altitude) and, literally, one moment I was driving through on I-90, la-dee-dah, and just around the next curve: blizzard. It was unbelievable! Not totally in a bad way, but unexpected. All around me, 18 wheelers were pulling over to put on their snow chains. This is a minor problem when traveling across the country, so keep it in mind: so often you only check the weather for the place where you're going, and that's fine if you're flying, but every day that I've been driving, I have experienced the complete spectrum of weather.

Side note: If you had a PC in, say, 1993, you probably had a word processing program that had an early version of Word Art in it. You might remember, as I do, that the typefaces had names like "Walla Walla," "Wenatchee," "Enumclaw," and "Anacortes." All are Washington place names. I think "Ellenburg" was one, too, which I passed through today. Anybody else know what I'm talking about?

Amelia: Oh, Yakima. That'll be scenic.
Me: Really?
Amelia: No.

I would have seen both Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier, but there were a lot of snowy, low-lying clouds, so I missed them, just like I missed Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens driving between Portland and Seattle. Those two I saw the last time I was in Portland, though, so it's less of a loss.

But anyway, after the snow in the Snoqualmie Pass, it was totally fine. Eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon are totally beautiful and charming, not overdeveloped in the least and the sprawling farmland and rolling hills were terrific. I also witnessed another really terrific sunset in the Blue Mountains, which I wish I could have traveled through during the day, because I get the feeling it's a pretty magnificent region.

The Oregon-Idaho border leaves something to be desired, that's for sure: aroma. For serious, people. There are some industrial plants and things and this MUST be the source.

"Look, I think that's a natural gas plant over there."
"Honey, there's nothing natural about this smell."

Misc:

• Puyallup, a city in Washington, is pronounced "Pee-wall-up," FYI.
• Coffee and beer are awesome in the northwest.
• Yakima has a lot of coffee shops.
• There's a sign on 82 with little arrows that says:
• IN DISTANCE:
  
• Mt. Adams
  
• Mt. Rainier
• I passed over the 45th parallel again, and the sign I saw in Salem was there on I-84, too.
• I crossed into Mountain Time while still in Oregon... whuh?
• My hotel has geothermal hot water. The cold water is city water, but the hot water comes from a natural hot spring. Which is, of course, a little sulfurous. Which made for an... aromatic bath. The lady proprietor left a big shaker of lavendar bath salts, but, um, still. I don't smell like sulfur right now... but I didn't quite know what to think at first.
  

So, that's two-thirds of the trip done. Now, to get home for Christmas and avoid any and all "Planes, Trains & Automobiles"-type delays. Wagons east!

In not-exactly-chronological order:

Over the Columbia River from Portland.

At the Kennedy School, the announcement of the school's opening (when it was still a school) in a 1916 edition of Ladies' Home Journal.

In the Music Room.
14 Carrot in Seattle, where I ate breakfasts on days 10 & 11.
14 Carrot interior. Get the egg nog pancakes or one of their omelet specials.
She makes a convincing Viking, no? In Ballard.
Amelia spotted this bar and was totally all over it, telling me where we could park and walk up to take the photo.
I thought this was kind of funny: in Washington state, the numbered state routes appear in a silhouette of George Washington's head.
At the Seattle Center.
Monorail! With random guy who later felt bad about stepping into the photo.
Hi Mom.
SPACE NEEDLE!
Frank Gehry's EMP building, which everybody in Seattle seems to hate.

Give me candy.
The very first Starbucks ever. In front, there is a guy playing a fiddle, and another guy playing a tub bass.
It's a farmer's market and flea market and everything else market.
Christmas pigs.
Note the giant light-up fruit.
From today, sunset in the Blue Mountains.
The Columbia River.
Yakima!


Amelia reminded me the other day how my dad asked her when we all first met on moving-in day, freshman year, if she lived in a covered wagon. So this one's for my dad, along the Oregon Trail on I-84.

The Road Viking is very much at home in rural Washington with the cheap sunglasses on.
Vicky: See the 405 sign? That's the 405 in the Death Cab for Cutie song.
My cute little room at the Heritage Bed & Breakfast.
I wish my house looked this antique-y.
It's the Senator room, which overlooks West Idaho Street. In the lefthand corner, note the Frank Church poster and other framed memorabilia. He was an Idaho senator from 1957 - 1980. He ran for president the year that Carter won and he even carried some states in the primaries that year. Church is universally beloved around here because he was a big outdoors guy and is responsible for much of Idaho's preserved wilderness areas.
Po-tay-toes.
Also? The first time I've seen the moon on this whole trip. That would be it, the indistinguishable light spot in the middle of this photo.

Days 11 & 12:
Seattle, WA - Boise, ID
Mileage: 554 (including miles driven while in Seattle)
Total Mileage: 4,970

I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough.
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Bob Dylan