Well, I wasn’t sleepless. I got a really good night sleep! Third hotel in 3 nights and this one wasn’t on par with the others in terms of niceness. But it’s all good. It was no Super 8 in Craig, Colorado that’s for sure!
I left my hotel in Spokane around 10:30 and headed to a highly recommended diner, Frank’s Diner in downtown Spokane. It was awesome. I haven’t had a nice breakfast like that in awhile. Full from food, I went across the street to fill up my gas tank. I then realized I had forgot to replenish my ice in my coolers in the past couple days and… I’m pretty sure all the food I had in there is a total loss, including the new pack of lunch meat I had just bought a few days ago. I don’t think I’m going to risk testing the food and having a bad rest of my trip as a result. One thing I’ve learned on this trip is that it hasn’t been worth saving a few dollars over silly stuff.
Anyway I headed west and crossed through the beautiful Cascades mountains. It was a nice break from the super straight and super flat I-90 that goes through eastern Washington. I got to Seattle around 4:30 and headed straight for the Space Needle. It’s the iconic Seattle tourist attraction. I parked and headed up and got a seat for dinner at the rotating restaurant. What a view! The weather was spectacular and you could see for miles.
I was probably the only one flying solo in that restaurant. It was pretty fancy despite being casual attire. Oh, and rediculously overpriced. But, when it comes to once in a lifetime experiences, how can you put a price tag on it? I had some really good seafood in the sky, and finally this dessert called the Lunar Orbiter. It’s simply a rediculously overpriced ice cream sundae, BUT it comes in a special bowl with a piece of dry ice in the bottom that they fill with a little water to create a really cool smoking effect. I had EVERYONE on my side of the restaurant looking at me when they brought that to my table because smoke was pouring everywhere. It was awesome. Worth the price, definitely!
After that I walked around downtown Seattle for hours. Checked out the Market, the water front (Alaskan Way), the downtown skyscrapers, the bar district, and almost walked all the way to the baseball stadium where the Baltimore Orioles played a few days ago. It’s a really nice city with a lot of culture. The area is absolutely beautiful. I haven’t uploaded pics yet but I will in a couple of days.
Seattle so far is my favorite city I’ve come across after Madison Wisconsin. Spokane was great but it gets real quiet at night. Seattle was very lively late into the evening on the downtown streets with people drinking, walking, and having fun. It’s fairly clean but not nearly much as Spokane was. The view of the Puget Sound was beautiful.
After touring for probably 4 hours after dinner and walking a number of miles I found a hotel that was more than I wanted, but it’s there. I had some free breakfast this morning and plan to try to hit up Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens today. I think it’s going to be tough. I was gonna try to camp last night but I was at dinner too late and really wanted to spend more time in downtown Seattle. I wanted to take a ferry somewhere, but time is not on my side anymore.
Speaking of time, crunch time will be hitting very soon. I got word a friend of mine in Boston is flying to San Francision on the 11th and he wants to meet up, and so do I. So, I now have a new deadline to make. It will be made. I figure I should start heading east on the 12th, or the 13th at the latest. I want to be home on the 19th so I can take care of everything before going back to work. And even then I wont be seeing much as it’ll all be long driving days at that point. Not a problem since that’s the way I planned it.
Well I need to get rolling. Originally I was thinking I might be in Portland tonight, but I have a feeling that was optimistic. I possibly will end up camping near Mt. St. Helens and get to Portland early in the day tomorrow. I’ll have to judge times on the way to these places.
Well, time to stop typing and start driving! I will definitely make it back to Seattle again!