Whimsy in Seattle

I met Blythe (codename usage will commence now) back in elementary school. She lived in Colorado for a year and a bit, and we had grand times together. We belted out musical numbers (Fiddler on the Roof was a favorite). We stained the fence in her backyard, along with ourselves, which led to a long time spent scrubbing our skin with turpentine. We had a "glamour day" when we dressed up in our fanciest clothes and took photos. We generally just had a lot of fun.

Then she moved to Taiwan.

Skip ahead 12 years. Thanks to facebook and a mutual certainty that we would still like each other, I find myself in the Seattle airport, hugging someone who is most definitely not in elementary school any more. We didn't really stay in touch over all those years, so we had the fun of getting to know each other all over again - and it was just wonderful!

I am not the type of person who has oodles of friends - I have a smaller number of people who I really adore, and I like it that way. I am lucky enough to have the most wonderful individuals in my life, and they have set the bar very high, so I rarely add anyone to my list of close friends. Blythe, however, has found a permanent home on that list. We got along swimmingly - in fact, we have so much in common that we began exclaiming loudly over any differences we happened upon. It was the most marvelous thing, we had the kind of engrossing conversations that you stay up late and lose sleep for, and not just about what we had missed in each others lives, but the kind of conversation you have with people you've known for years, the people who already know all about your life but you still find things to talk about anyways.

Now, let me regale you with tales of our exploits in Seattle (of which there were many), and pictures to prove it.

First of all, I was awoken my first morning by the delicious smell of coffee wafting into my room. That isn't the kind of thing I experience every day, so it was all the more delightful. Then, I got to drink this delicious coffee while we chatted over breakfast. This may seem like a little thing - and I suppose it is. But don't underestimate the amount of enjoyment I (and Blythe) get from little things, because then this story won't be any fun at all.

Our first stop was the Pike Place Market. I was enthralled with the idea of an indoor farmers market, and was walking around with my camera glued to my hand. We visited Rachel the piggy bank, a very accommodating and cold brass hog on whom we sat.

We got macaroons at a bakery filled with the most heavenly scents I could conjure, cheese curds at a shop down the street, and a cup of coffee at the original Starbucks. I very quickly realized the need to pay attention to how much coffee I was drinking, otherwise I would probably drown in the stuff. Ridiculous though this may be, something about being in Seattle made coffee more enjoyable. Perhaps it was the rain.

Then we went to the gum wall. I had never heard of this place before, never even imagined that such a place existed. But it does, and I have now contributed a wad of green, minty gum to the riot of spit-coated color. I will consider it to be my Seattle right-of-passage.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that serves sushi on a conveyor belt! If I need to explain why this is exciting, perhaps this is not the blog for you.

The next day was even BETTER, if that's at all possible.
We began with more chatting and coffee. Let me reiterate just how lovely this is. Then we went to see the Fremont Troll, a huge troll statue under a bridge that is simultaneously imposing and strangely friendly. I had a lovely time patting his hair and looking up his nose.

Then we went to a delightful toy store called Archie McPhee's, where we spent a long time taking silly pictures and playing with finger puppets while simultaneously deciding how we would decorate our pizzas at lunch.

Yes, you read that right. We created scenes with plastic toys on our pizzas. It was fantastic.

Blythe had a parmesan pathway where a garden gnome was lovingly pushing a pram with rubber chickens and walking his pet skunk.

My pizza featured dinosaurs passed out under palm trees, windsurfing, playing badminton and wearing tophats, all while avoiding the sea monster trying to eat them all.

We also drank out of silly straws shaped like spectacles.
This was pretty much the most fun I've ever had playing with my food.




Dinner that night was even more exciting than the sushi conveyor belt. How is this possible? One might ask. Well, let me tell you. The most exciting dinner of all is when it consists entirely of dessert. Apple crisp and bread pudding, pretty much two of the most delicious things ever created.

We did many other wonderful things, including smelling lilacs, ascending the space needle, eating delicious tiny egg rolls and pad thai, going to an INSECT ZOO (yeah, that was pretty exciting for me), and generally enjoying our life filled with whimsy.

In conclusion: Seattle rocked my socks off.