Life: Idiotropic

• Repeatedly shocked at how much people are smiling and genuinely helpful.  It feels amazing.  We're hungry and the folks at the hotel lobby are having a thoughtful discussion about which pizza is best and who would be open.  Oh, and "here are some coupons".  Wow. 

• We stop at a gas station for a toiletry item we need.  Tiara and I find ourselves walking past not one or two, but 5 aisles of candy, gum, and mints.  That's 5 aisles front, back, and sides filled with sugary junk.  Chips took up another 2 full aisles.  Sodas lined the walls.  I'm filled with a  mixture of excitement and disgust.  On the one hand, the sheer number of choices is mind blowing (and we did feel as if it were Christmas morning as we grabbed that box of junior mints), but then, who eats this junk?  The quantity is bordering on obscene.  In contrast, my local Spanish gas station has 1/3 of one side of an aisle dedicated to gum, candy, and mints.  

• Red lights are making us all crazy.  Sitting there for seemingly ever with our eyes staring at that ridiculous signal.  I feel like a trained dog.  Horrible.  When traffic could be moving.  We kept grumbling.  "There should be a roundabout here."  "Stupid red light."  The highways aren't much better.  Even the relatively slower Spanish highways are lightening speeds ahead of these roads.  55mph???  Oh you've got to be kidding me.  I feel as if we are crawling.  At least we're crawling towards a great destination...

And there it is... the Seattle skyline
Just past Boeing field on the left, the road rises up and there dramatically in front of you is the Seattle skyline with the gargantuan sporting fields on the south side and an old brewing company just along the freeway.  It's big and beautiful with distinctive buildings - tall skyscrapers, but interesting ones.  Icons really, like the Space needle just north. You notice them.  And then you're too close to crane your neck up and really see it, but then the highway dips under the roads and some of the buildings themselves with rooftop gardens overflowing over the edges.  It's the Emerald city and it lives up to it's name.  Even from the I-5, in this stretch, it's beautifully green.


Pike's Place market isn't hard to get to.  Signs point the way and it sits just about the water anyway, so head west and you'll sort of run into it.  The crowds get thick.  Locals and tourists alike.  The cold misty weather doesn't stop life in Seattle.  People are still out in shorts and sandals.  I'm shivering in my airplane blanket still with no luggage and just the clothes I flew in, but I won't complain.  It's August and Seattle is welcoming us back with the enduring mist that is almost as iconic as the Needle itself.


We parked in a little lot just behind the market.  Even the lot was cool, painted with brightly colored whimsical murals of Seattle all around the walls near the elevators on each floor. 
The Market

I love markets. I always have.  And living in Europe for 5 years has given me a taste of many from Paris to Budapest, Valencia to Venice, and all those great local ones in the Netherlands.  They are all fabulous and fun, special treasure hunts to find something new and exotic.  It has seemed that Europe really does a market may be a bit better than the states, but I'd almost forgotten about Pike's.  Here, you can find all the fresh and fabulous, the exotic, the gourmet, the dramatic, the touristic, and the just plain strange.  It's fun and alive.  Stay on top and you'll see fish that fly, thick bunches of rosemary for just a dollar, flowers, fresh produce, jewelry, and art.  Below is artsy and ecletic.  Across the street in Post Alley, there are shops and restaurants and coffee shops.

I could have spend all day here, but the crowds were a bit thicker than I'd remembered... that pesky tourist season.  It was nice when I lived here and could just run down on a whim.  Even with the mist and people, it always feels good to be at Pike's.  And now, great to be back.

The Coffee

But... I was meeting a friend at Starbucks.  My suggestion.  'Cause I just didn't know any better.

Once upon a time when I lived in Seattle, the "very first" Starbucks was just another Starbucks. You could go in, sit, have a coffee...  It's never been big, but it wasn't a tourist attraction.  Now, the inside is standing room only and a line of Japanese tourists create a line out the door and into the street.  Huh.  Well, apparently my idea of meeting here for a leisurely cup of coffee with an old friend isn't going to happen. 

If you do brave the crowds and place your order, you can get buy the Pike's Market Special Reserve blend coffee that is only sold in this one shop.  Bold and full-flavored, it is worth the line.  Knowing that now, I should have bought more.  It's also a chance to get the Pike's market mug - the only location that has its own mug and a nice addition to the current city, state, and country mugs spilling out of my Spanish cupboards.

It's crazy that Starbucks is a tourist destination, but yes, I stood in the line, got coffee, and stocked up on Starbucks paraphernalia.  It does hold a certain "cool factor."  May be a modern version of "drinking the Koolaid" should be "sipping the Starbucks."

We did end up sitting.  You walk a block in Seattle and you'll find another amazing coffee shop.  Actually, you'll probably pass five different ones - all different, all quirky, all fantastic.  Seattlites drink coffee like Belgians drink beer.  Passing the giant inverted umbrella art we found a large Tully's on the corner and I did get my chance for a good sit and a leisurely coffee without the throngs of camera toting tourists and the girls got a snack for the road.


Seattle dances to it's own drum, has it's own vibe, it's own heartbeat.  There is life here and you can feel it.  Yes, you might own an extensive umbrella collection and a fab set of Wellies, but it's so worth it.  It attracts all sorts and that alone is pretty cool.  I remember a day on the bus years ago when a young overly pierced, tattoo-covered young man got on and sat next to a very conservative looking man in a business suit.  In some places the business man may have moved or at least scooted a bit farther towards the window.  Not here.  Here, they looked at each other and talked - amiably.  No judgement.


Hula hoop musician guy takes turns entertaining at the corner with cool bearded guy with the parrot he's raised from a hatchling.  Bird guy pretends to shoot his bird.  Parrot "plays dead."  Balloon guy sits on the next corner with a 3 foot tall balloon hat on his head, a uninflated white heart balloon dangling from his mouth and a partially blown up long balloon in his hand twisting and curving it. 

The time wasn't long enough... but I don't know if it could be.  We did get a taste.  We saw them throw fish.  Tiara salivated at the fresh herbs and berries.  The littles held the bird.  We renewed our love for this place.  It's pretty safe to say that we'll be back.