Seattle, we hardly knew you!

We broke fast at the aforementioned Biscuit Bitch. Adam felt that they were trying too hard to be edgy. I felt that Adam should shut is fucking face until the biscuits and gravy arrived, and then re-open his face and fill it with biscuits and gravy. He can go stand next to that.

We only had made any concrete plans for the evening. We signed up to take a couple tours. First the underground tour, and then the haunted Seattle ghost tour. I was excited about the first, and ambivalent towards the second.

But in the mean time, we were going to hit up the Boring Tour. Boring Tour, I know right? With a name like that I was sold immediately! Neo-hipster feed on irony!

Our path took us past the King Street Station, our portal out of Seattle and onward to the southlands, and to the International District. On the way there, I got yelled at by a homeless man who wanted to know what I was looking at. As I felt I did not wish to get stabbed by someone who was unhinged enough to yell at a random passerby, I decided I wasn't looking at anything. He too felt that this was a good choice.

My companions wanted to visit Uwajimaya in the International District. That's right, we flew thousands of miles and walked across a city to visit a supermarket. All be it, one with a rather expansive selection of goods from all over South East Asia, but still a super market. I made the best of it by taking pictures of any of the products that caught my interest. Dragon Ball Z themed beverage drinks? Damn scootin!

I listen to the Dan Carlin Hardcore History podcast. It's rather dark and brutal, most of the time, but he often offers a rather cool hypothetical: if you could get 4K HD footage of any time and place, what would you choose? For me, Yukon Gold Rush era Seattle(and Portland) are high on my list. I'd like to travel back to then and there and poke around a bit, for maybe a week or two. And hope not to get stabbed/shot/Shanghai'ed in the mean time.

That period and place fascinates me. I grew up in Alaska, so there is a connection with my past. This made me rather interested to explore the Gold Rush museum. I don't think that the content and presentation was intended for our age group. Who cares dagnabbit! History and Seattle and Alaska! Woooooh! There's gold in them there hills! ETC.

We wandered about the Pioneer area afterwards, as we waited for the Boring Tour to start. Noting several choice spots to visit. There was a glass-works, and the totem poles, and we happened to be there just in time for the unveiling of a monument dedicated to firefighters. The Utilikilt store(I did not get one, they cost about what my grocery budget is for a month).

Sara works in a library, so we made sure to hit up the main public library building. Which is well worth checking out. The architecture alone would have been enough to leave a hefty impression as by itself it is a work of art. But one that is full of books. Books and art. I'm fucking in baby, lead the way!

Adam, go stand next to that!

I won't bother describing the museum. A simple google search will provide a slew of photographs. I will say that I wish out town had the like, and we spent some time wandering around, all the way to the very top, at which there is a walkway that allows you to look down upon the vast open area, five or more stories below. The lizard portion of my brain did not appreciate me saying “nah brah, it'll be totally cool!” Fortunately, the lizard portion of my brain did not have access to the “evacuate waste” functions.

I stepped away from the edge.

This may not be a surprise, but the Boring tour was kind of a disappointment. I mean, the epiphany blind-sided me, but I'm dumb.

The information that they presented was interesting. The project was hella-cool(cutting a tunnel beneath a vibrant city? Bad ass nerditry that!) No, for some reason I had concocted the hope that they would actually let us see the machine in action. Instead we got so see models, and then were lead outside to see the entrance. Balls!

For lunch we were back at Pike Place for some Mediterranean street food. As life is about choices, and regret, we had to turn down the tantalizing German cuisine. Though I suspect that those words are seldom strung together into a single phrase. Walking on past was difficult, and something I still kick myself for as I look back through my photo album.

As we killed time before the underground tour, we found ourselves back on the shoreline. Our GPS came back with an interesting hit called “Ye Olde Curiosity Shop”. And I was intrigued. Because that has to be the most touristy tourist location that ever touristed! And so it was! The shop turned out to be something between a freak show and a souvenir stand, one that had been in business for more than a century. While I suspect that only a portion of their collection was on display, it still only ranked as the second most creepy place I'd visit that night. Even with the shrunken heads.

The underground tour. This was it. Our guide was a pretty blond who was a 4^th generation Seattle dweller. One can't really call her a native, for obvious reasons, but she has roots in the community. And it showed.

Seattle is built on mud-flats and sawdust. Literally. And after an early apocalyptic fire destroyed the first incarnation of the city, the lords of the city developed a master plan that required street level to be increased by about ten or so feet. This would involve a process of tearing down and washing away the many hills that surrounded the city, and re-using the earth to created raised road-ways. But alas, this would have taken years, and the business community didn't wish to wait. Enter the underground. The built two front entrances in the buildings as they erected them. One on what was then the ground floor, and another on the first story. And as the roads were raised, the ground floor would eventually become a sort of basement that was covered over by the side-walks. And over the years they have been used for just about every purpose imagined, both legal and otherwise. Cool place.

I hadn't realized this about myself, but it seems that I have a type. Looking back, she would be Cute, with curly hair, and have a thing for history. I had fallen for that type before. I couldn't discern our muse's marital status, due to the the bevy of rings that decorated her fingers, but I have to conclude that such a gem wouldn't be left unclaimed for very long. Onwards.

We sat down at a place called the Bookstore Bar. I felt out of place. But I often feel out of place around people. Sara met up with a friend and we had drinks and dinner as we waited for the ghost tour to start. The Bookstore bar was poorly named as the only books on display seemed to be props. Bah upon it all!

No matter, by then I was completely zonked. 3 days of waking up early and touristing and the jet lag was finally catching up with me. I cut out on the ghost tour and walked back to the hotel room, ate my second cinnamon bun thing from the Russian bakery and crashed. Tomorrow would bring a change in scenery.