Washington State--West of the Cascades

Flying Fish, A Timely Homer, and the Great Bed Race
May 10-17, 2003




It's wonderful to be a member of a profession which is held in such high esteem wherever one goes; in this case, outside a bookstore in Seattle.





    Lest you think Mary is the only one with friends and relatives around the country, when we got to Seattle, we visited with my old friend from law school, Mike Fox and his wife, Sally. (What if you're both a lawyer and a politician?)

    Mike and I both started in Legal Services right out of law school, in Washington and Maine, respectively. Mike made something of himself and is now a Superior Court Judge. I don't know where I went wrong.




Here are Mike and Sally and our gang about to get on one of the Puget Sound Ferries; Seattle is like Portland (Maine) in this respect--a substantial number of people live on nearby islands and commute into the city by ferry. It's nice to be on the island at the end of the day, but I'm not sure I could get used to organizing my life around the ferry schedule.







And on a warm Sunday afternoon, what could be better than a ball game? We saw the Mariners beat the White Sox in a game that had everything--homers, double plays, dropped fly balls (the sun was in his eyes; really), and a wonderful moment that usually only happens in the movies.

    The most beloved Mariner is Edgar Martinez--who's been with the team for something like twenty-five years and is now the DH (I like it--what's the big deal about watching pitchers strike out? Mary, the baseball purist, hates it--it's the only thing she has in common with George Will). Edgar is sort of the Yaz of the Mariners. Anyway, he's due to lead off the bottom of the 6th and between innings, they play a nice video tribute to him on the huge screen in center field (see above); he comes to the plate to a standing ovation, and, on the first pitch, hits it out. Pure Hollywood; the crowd, naturally, went nuts.


    A happy couple after the game. Notice the shadows--we had wonderful weather the whole time we were in Seattle. Maybe all this talk of rain is really to keep people from moving in, sort of like how we do with winter in Maine. Right.

    We had sun in Seattle and rain in San Diego. Go figure.
















After the game, we had seafood on the wharf (you should see the size of the crabs out here--they're HUGE). Ben smiles a lot, just not for the camera--but here's a spot where I caught him. Great kid.


Downtown Seattle from the top of the Space Needle; Puget Sound is to your right and Lake Washington is just out of the picture to the left. Beautiful city with a lot of life and energy, but why two domed stadiums right next door to each other (far right center)? Whoever got them to build an entirely new stadium for the Seahawks (eight games a year) was a pretty good salesman.



    And of course, no visit to Seattle would be complete without a stop at the Pike Place Market. We wandered for a morning--fish (they throw them over the counter to be wrapped), antiques, restaurants, a store devoted entirely to left-handers (sample t-shirt--"If the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, does that mean that only left-handers are in their right mind?"), magic tricks, luggage, collectibles (Wayne Gretzky's rookie card--$300), and old records and CDs.

    I bought the only album I've ever run across with no bad cuts--Van Morrison's Moondance. Fabulous.
From Seattle, we headed north and west to the Olympic Peninsula and again experienced the contrast between our country's urban centers and the hinterlands. Rolling fields, small towns, narrower roads, but lots going on, if you take the time to stop and look.
    One of our conclusions about the trip is that you can never really see America. There's just too much. We did a lot of planning, but often the best stops are in places you never heard of (we haven't found too many people out here who've heard of Brunswick, Maine), all with  their own character and stories. It's this sense of discovery and surprise that's made this experience so special. Mary and I would do it again in a minute; the kids, maybe not.

    The lighthouse above at dusk is in Port Townsend, not far from the westernmost point in the continental US. We hit town in the middle of the annual Rhody Fest (that's rhododendron, not helpers on a rock tour) and fell in love with the town.




    Rhodys in bloom at the entrance to Fort Worden State Park, where we camped, about a hundred yards from the entrance to Puget Sound. This old army base was the setting for "An Officer and a Gentleman." It was in great shape--and great demand; we had to leave Saturday morning--the RV park was completely booked that night--






But at least we made the Friday night Bed Races; here the Jefferson Transit District team heads to victory. Afterwards, we had a great meal in a local Thai restaurant. Who needs the city when you can have all this without the traffic?









The police pig bed didn't fare so well; perhaps because the cops were trying to run in helmets, combat boots, and flak vests. Pretty good sports.






And how's this for a prototype two-story RV? Yes, that's a 60s vintage VW Microbus welded on top; I like the terrace out back. It's for sale; alas, so's the Dutch Star.



    This was Mary's favorite spot in town (she and Molly are at the end of the counter--their third visit!), a perfect Fifties diner. It even had a fully stocked jukebox (The Everly Brothers, The Coasters, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Elvis, Bo Diddley, and the immortal Chuck Berry, among others). I played a selection from the outpost on the right (remember, where you flip the little pages and push a letter and a number button on the bottom); Ben was blown away by the technology.





And how can you not like a town with a store named "Wandering Angus"? This made me feel a little better after that rodents and politicians thing in Seattle.

On Thursday afternoon, Ben and I saw the premier of "The Matrix: Reloaded" at The Rose Theater which was cool (the movie and the theater); maybe not up to the original, but cool, all the same. Before the show, two local high school kids took to the stage in front of the screen and did a Matrix-style fight, complete with a long black robe on the Neo character and slow motion effects. It was surprising and great. When's the last time you saw a stage show before a movie at a Hoyt's?




    Port Townsend is famous for it's wonderfully preserved Victorian architecture--here are two examples downtown; there were dozens of houses in the style as well.








How many towns in America would still look like this were it not for the well-meaning but ultimately disastrous urban renewal projects of the fifties and sixties?  An old friend of mine once called urban renewal "the Federal Bulldozer".








    We spent a fair amount of time in the "Cyber Bean Cafe", a friendly internet coffee house (Moses was the always pleasant matre d' technology) with a fantastically fast connection. Buy a latte or smoothie and get ten free minutes. I uploaded the Oregon update in about a minute vs. the usual 15 minutes with a regular dial -up connection.

    Here, Ben is helping Molly set up her own Yahoo! account; look out world, here she comes.







Ben checking his e-mail; notice he got the latte.


Finally, we spent a day in Olympic National Park, about 50 miles west of Port Townsend. Unfortunately, it was snowing most of the day and we missed some spectacular views.




    We spent some time in the visitors center, however, and drove to Hurricane Ridge for lunch. On the way into the lodge, we saw this encouraging sign (a first for me).







And Molly modeled a ranger hat; I'm not sure of the definition, but the word insouciance suggests itself for this expression.


Our last look at the Pacific before heading east, toward home. Next week, the unheralded beauty of the Cascades and a wild west town in central Washington. See you there.