Ahhhhhhh - There's nothing like a trip down Mexico way in the sled-dog days of winter in Alaska.
Well, not quite Mexico, but Texas (close enough when you live on the other side of Canada.) Texas is half the size of Alaska, but apparently, on rare occasions, has just as much snow! I was expecting some weather in the 50's, a nice respite from winter - instead, a foot plus of snow when I was there on business last week! An all-time record day by all accounts.
Basically, it costs over $600 to get to the Lower 48 from Alaska. But once you get down there, it's like cab fare from state to state. More on that later. But, on this trip, since I was already coming back through Seattle, on a Friday no less, I figured it would be a good call to just stay a few days on the way back. My buddy Jeff from Denver met me down there. I had never been to Seattle.
Of course, Seattle is ground zero for Starbucks - here is the original store:
I'm not much of a coffee drinker. When I do have coffee, it's black coffee, and I can get that for a little less than five or six dollars or whatever. Jeff had the hookup at the dual towers of the Westin hotel, and I of course insisted we upgrade to the Deluxe City View rooms. You could upgrade to higher floors with a city or water view - water view is great, but I have a spectacular water/mountain view at work every day. City view is the way to go for a change of pace. Very nice room. And Seattle is BIG.
OK - that was on purpose - I just kind of liked it. And now, with the lights off....
Seattle is a much bigger city than I anticipated, but a great town. Downtown it's a walking city with lots of bars & restaurants and things to do.
I don't know if it's always so busy, but being President's Day weekend and Valentines Day, and maybe with people coming through on their way to the Vancouver Olympics, there were people EVERYWHERE. To me it actually had the bustle of New York, but with more of a San Francisco feel. It is the west coast after all.
Thankfully, it rained quite a bit while we were there. It's not a true Seattle experience without rain!!! No one is phased by it - everyone expects it, and rain gear abounds. I like the Seattle brochures which boast less rain in Seattle than Miami. Ummm, sure, except in Miami it's like ripping off bandaid, and in Seattle it's like Chinese water torture! I don't think I could take that long-term.
Speaking of San Francisco, there was one morning of really cool fog while we were there (self-reflection by accident on this one, but I still really like this view)
As it turns out, there ARE sunny days in Seattle! I think on a nice day a boat tour would be great, but our full days there were not so clear. So there was not enough time to do that on our last day, but a sunny day is a great day to hit the Space Needle.
Look at those blue skies! Wow. It was really warm on this day too - jacket weather in the 50's, sooooo refreshing for a winter-worn Alaskan. When the sun was out, it was so intense, I had to strip down to the t-shirt. We had fantastic views from the top of the Space Needle, panoramic blue skies, with Mt. Rainer in the distance.
That's a big mountain - well, not as big as some, but still big. When I flew down to STL last fall, we flew so close it felt more like a flightseeing tour than commercial flight. When you can see such a thing, it's pretty inspirational.
Overall, Seattle gets a big thumbs up from me. And that's saying something, because I have occasionally railed against Seattle as some sort of colonizing power reminiscent of the Redcoats circa 1775 - after all, Alaska Airlines, once in ALASKA, is now based in SEATTLE! As is my health insurer, and right on down the line. I suppose I still have a love-hate relationship with it, but it has its charms. I'm not quite to the point of dumping coffee beans in Puget Sound.
