Seattle – Sep 2017

Alright my dear readers, we’ve reached the last part of this Washington series. Those of you following along will know that so far I’d been to Ellensburg (staying with Maddie and Cassie), Spokane (solo) and Moses Lake (staying with Haleigh). That left just one place to visit: Seattle.

Seattle is undoubtedly Washington State’s best known city and, of the four places I visited, the one I’d expect you to be most familiar with. Consequently when I made plans to visit Maddie, Cassie and Haleigh this was also the city I was most excited to visit. I’d heard a lot of good things about Seattle and the four of us were off to enjoy the weekend there together.

First things first though, we kicked off our Friday morning pretty early waking up in Ellensburg. We’d agreed to make an early start so we could get going as soon as possible. As I explained in my Ellensburg post, Ellensburg sits on the East side of the mountains, Seattle sits on the West which is a couple of hours away.

I spoke about how impressive the view was when we drove to Ellensburg on day one of this trip but with the smoke, the haze and the air quality I couldn’t appreciate just how pretty Washington was. Don’t get me wrong, I was still in complete awe and had my face glued to the window but that’s partly because I don’t see mountains very often and it just blew me away.

It was only on the journey back to the West side of the state (and mountains) that I really got to appreciate the views and just how beautiful Washington really is. Blue skies, fresh air, mountain views and greenery everywhere – it’s a perfect drive and as scenic a journey as I’ve been on. After a while we began our approach in to Seattle.

We kicked off our time in Seattle with a visit to the affectionately named ‘MoPop’ museum (Museum of pop culture) which I really enjoyed. It’s spread over a few floors and has exhibits on various different things. At the time there were sections dedicated to the Seattle Seahawks, David Bowie, Star Trek, video games and much more. It was interesting and definitely a place you should visit on any trip to Seattle. You could feasibly spend hours there as some of the exhibits (such as the video games room) were interactive too. I even got treated to a live show from the unlikely trio of Animal, Miss Piggy and Elmo – played by the three girls.

Afterwards we went and grabbed some pizza for lunch in a cool little make-your-own pizza type place. It seemed to be a chain in Washington as I saw a few of them dotted about but I can’t remember the name of the company off the top of my head, it was good though. Maddie had a quick photoshoot planned with some friends so we made a little time for that before heading over to our hotel for the next couple of nights. We checked in, chilled out and then made some evening plans.

We were staying in the Tacoma area, just outside of Seattle, so it made sense to make plans nearer to Tacoma rather than drive in to Seattle. We met up with some of Cassie’s family and a couple of friends at some little fast food / diner type place to grab some dinner. Moving onwards we headed over to Dorky’s which was a fun little arcade / bar. It was somewhat similar to ‘Barcadia’ in Dallas and made me wish we had more of these places in the UK.

Dorky’s was a little more arcade-game focused than the bar vibe of Barcadia but it was a fun place to hang out, play some games and enjoy a couple of beers – no pickleback shots on this occasion haha.

I played a few classics and also discovered a couple of games I’d never played before. Attention then turned towards Mario Kart. I’d been in Washington a few days now but still not actually spent that much time with Haleigh yet and even less so just the two of us so this was a good/terrible bonding activity.

I say terrible because it’s definitely one of those games where friendships/relationships just go completely out of the window. Was this potential romance going to crash and burn at the hands of Mario Kart? Maybe but a risk worth taking! We both took our seats in preparation of our imminent battle. It’s here where some people seem to take pity on their opponent – “if you like her you should let her win..” – those people are weak!

I had no intention of letting Haleigh win! I was here to crush her! As it was, that didn’t materialise at all. Haleigh comfortably won the first race and then the rematch. Hoping to restore a little pride we agreed on one last race, I’d obviously lost any best of three but if I could end on a high, I’d go away feeling somewhat content. With the finish line in sight I was happy to have at least won one race and BAM!

Sabotage! Something caused me to crash and made me stumble over the finish line, split seconds behind Haleigh who’d somehow pipped ahead of me in the final moment and snatched victory away from me. Unbelievable! We called it quits after that, probably for the best on my part!

Shortly after we all made a move and decided to go and play some late night mini-golf elsewhere. It was a fun way to end our night, plus we managed to squeeze in before they closed the bar so a few of us ended up sharing a jug of beer between us.

I don’t think we really tracked our scores whilst playing but me and Haleigh went round together and were pretty much on par with eachother, I think she might have (again) just pipped me on the final hole as my putting skills seemed to desert me but as we weren’t tracking we’ll call this one a tie – unlike the brutal Mario Kart thrashing!

All in all, it had been a first fun day in the Seattle area. We popped through the McDonald’s drive through on the way back to our hotel and quickly crashed in to bed ahead of day two in Seattle.

Day two, Saturday, was pretty much all about the baseball! We were off to see the Seattle Mariners and I was set to experience my first live game of baseball.

I’d actually caught a bit of baseball earlier in the trip as they were showing the Mariners game on a TV in a bar I’d gone to get some food at in Spokane. My limited knowledge of baseball was that it was essentially the American equivalent to the game we call Rounders, a game fundamentally aimed at children and simplistically put is little more than “hit and run”.

I’d hoped watching a little might have enlightened me on more of the complexities of the sport but I was left unconvinced – it was pretty much a game of Rounders that you might see in any park or school field in England (during the summer months obviously). As a professional sport it’s not something I’d say has too much appeal over here, although with that said they have started hosting MLB games in London so maybe I’m harshly judging it.

Despite my overall scepticism I was quite excited to experience it live as its one of those iconic American pieces of culture that you see so often in movies and TV shows. Baseball is undoubtedly one of the great staples of the USA and I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. I was also a little curious about how the matchday experience would compare to one of our own staples of the UK – my beloved football.

On our approach to the stadium we drove past some preacher raving about the sins of homosexuality among other things. I instantly wanted to make that comparison to the football back home because even as backwards as football can be, I think he’d have been run out of Tottenham if he’d tried preaching something similar on a matchday down at the Lane – particularly at the old stadium.

Swiftly moving on from the idiot disgracing himself we parked up and were soon making our way in to the stadium where we received a pop figure of ‘King Felix’ – the Mariners legendary player Felix Hernandez. It was a nice little souvenir to take home with me from my first baseball game.

We’d arrived pretty early and it’s a little surprising to see that difference in culture. Football very much has a ‘turn up five minutes before kickoff’ type culture about it whereas baseball was a bit more family friendly and about making it a day out as much as anything. There was plenty of pre-match entertainment, places to eat or drink and likewise photo spots that were a bit of an initiation process for me and confirmed my place as a baseball fan.

We took some photos to commemorate the occasion and then made our way to our seats and watched the atmosphere slowly build. I cemented my visit by grabbing a hot-dog which for me was just that little piece of the culture you often hear about in the movies or tv shows. You’ve got to have a hotdog (or popcorn or pretzels or..) at the baseball right? I washed it down with a beer which was a welcome improvement over the football. I can drink a beer in my seat? Such a novelty!

It’s a noticeable absence from English football due to outdated and quite frankly ridiculous laws that prohibit English football fans ever enjoying themselves.

Oops, let me get back on track before I go off on a tangent. Kickoff was almost upon us, I was ready to go which ultimately caught me a little blind-sided as suddenly everyone stood up around me. What’s happen.. oh, of course – this is America, time for the national anthem!

Any game, any event, any occasion is a good excuse for a bit of American patriotism and despite being well aware of that I still find myself unprepared for it. I don’t think anywhere quite does patriotism like the USA and whilst I’m sure it doesn’t faze Americans, if you don’t come from somewhere like that it is an obvious cultural difference. It somewhat surprises me they don’t have the national anthem blaring out in the airport upon arrival to the country.

It’s easy to make fun of of course but it’s also a little endearing and heart-warming. It’s a complete contrast to the English philosophy of “England’s shit but it’s our shithole..” – I do think there is still patriotism here but it’s a little less in your face and with a bit more self-depreciating humour I suppose. Unless it’s a major sporting event you don’t really see the country get swept up in English fever.

Out of respect I stood alongside everyone else and as the anthem played I did ponder if I actually knew more words of this than our own (sorry Queenie), you hear it so often in so many settings that it’s hard not to be familiar with the US national anthem.

After our daily dose of American patriotism we were ready to go! Baseball has a unique tradition in which there is a ceremonial first pitch – it has no bearing on the game but is a nice little touch I think and involves a celebrity or randomer of some sort to throw the first ball. From there on it’s left to the professionals.

There’s a lot to admire about baseball as a whole. As a live experience I think it’s a great day out. It’s fun, there’s a community spirit to it, you can enjoy a game with your friends, family, loved ones or whoever but from a competitive viewpoint I’ll be honest and say I found baseball incredibly frustrating at times.

I had it in my head that baseball was a relatively high-scoring game, partly due to the fact that America generally doesn’t like a draw (tie). There are sports which are determined by a winner of course but they’re not fond of the concept and they like a winner. I don’t think American culture really appreciates a good 0-0 or the “good point away from home” mentality which is a bit more common in popular British sports such as football.

Additionally it’s a “hit and run” sport so I was expecting that to be a predominant feature within the game and instead it felt a little more like the equivalent of a really bad penalty shootout with the thrower (kicker) repeatedly missing the target. I found the inconsistency infuriating when ultimately if you’re a pitcher it must be all you train on.

I obviously found myself willing the Mariners to victory but by the start of the sixth inning (of 9) I was just willing them to score anything as the scoreboard still read Mariners: 0

The Mariners did offer some hope in the 6th innings as they finally scored! Hurrah! However the 7th, 8th and 9th were then a mismatch and it ended up being a comfortable away victory for the Cleveland Indians. I think the game ended 11-4.

Despite the lack of any real competitive edge to the game I was won over. I don’t think it’s a sport that I could ever enjoy watching on TV but as a live experience and a “day out” it does deliver. I haven’t yet been back to the baseball but it’s certainly something I’ll hope to do in 2020.

After a fun day of baseball we headed in to central Seattle and visited the famous Pike Place market. It’s definitely a tourist trap but it’s a part of Seattle I’m quite fond of. We checked out a few stores and then I had my first sushi experience, where better to enjoy it than right by the coast? I couldn’t tell you what I ate, Maddie offered me a piece of something she’d ordered. I don’t know what I was expecting but the initial taste took me by surprise, however after the initial shock I quite liked it (whatever ‘it’ was). It was another ‘first’ on this trip but I haven’t had sushi since so can’t pretend to say it’s something I feel is lacking from my life.

After a little time wandering through pike place we wandered over to Seattle’s famous ‘gum wall’ nearby – a wall covered in chewing gum. It sounds horrific but it was something I was actually quite keen to see on my first visit to Seattle so I was actually rather disappointed they’d seemingly scraped the majority of the gum off ahead of my visit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely disgusting but I was of the opinion that if I’m going to see it I wanted to see it at its most disgusting haha.

Sadly all that was left was a ‘cute’ little heart shape on the wall so we grabbed a couple of photos to take home with me. Fortunately I’ve been back since (Feb 2018) and was ‘pleased’ to see it covered in gum once again, although I suppose slightly horrified too as to how quickly it had filled up in the space of 4 and a half months.

We grabbed some food and then made our way back to the hotel before planning out the rest of our evening. As it was I think both myself and Haleigh just completely crashed and scuppered any evening plans. In Haleigh’s defence she’d just gone through a week of school as a new first year teacher, I’m not really sure what my excuse was but we ended up getting an early night instead.

The next day was our last together. We’d talked about doing a boat ride which we all thought was a good idea so made our first stop of the day this boating place in Seattle. I’d obviously misunderstood in the planning stages of this idea because I’d wrongly assumed that we were taking a little cruise or ferry along the water. What actually materialised was a little wooden boat with paddle in hand – “oh.. that sort of boat..”

We booked up a time slot and then made our way over to the ‘Space Needle’ – a huge tower overlooking the city and looks a bit like a UFO up in the sky. We didn’t go up but had a little look around and met up with one of the girls friends called Haley, not to be confused with Haleigh. I say not to be confused, it inevitably did cause confusion haha.

“Haleigh?”
“Yes?”
“No sorry, I meant Haley..”
“Oh..”

Anyway, the five of us wandered around the Space Needle and popped in to the Seattle centre which was a good spot to pick up some lunch as it’s home to a number of different fast-food type places, somewhat similar to a food court I guess. After a little time we wandered back to take our boat ride.

I think the boat sat around 12-15 ish people, I can’t quite remember but consequently meant we were paddling alongside strangers. I was seemingly sandwiched with one young kid in front of me and one kid behind me which didn’t work out too well for me. Their timing wasn’t quite in sync which wasn’t unexpected but I also ended up getting fairly wet in the process. Overall though it was a fun little excursion, nice to be out on the water and inevitably scenic because, well if you hadn’t realised by now that’s just Washington all over. Despite my initial scepticism it had been a fun idea and a good way to round off our time together.

Sadly being a Sunday the girls wanted to drive back to Ellensburg / Moses Lake so they dropped me off at my new hotel, I figured it would be more convenient being close to the airport now that I’d be without a car. We said our goodbyes which was sad, it had been a nice first trip to Washington and was somewhere I knew I’d be back to next year for the big wedding in August 2018. As it was I got back there prior to that but you’ll have to wait for that story.

For now it was time to go our separate ways. I could have probably popped back in to downtown Seattle on Sunday evening but instead I just chilled out at the hotel. On Monday I flew home and reflected on a lovely trip. It had gone every bit as well as I’d hoped, I got to visit four wonderful places and meet a bunch of wonderful people (and four-legged friends) along the way.

I was sad to be going home already but on the other hand I was also quite excited. There’d definitely been a feeling of romance whilst in Washington but I knew that a month later I’d be traveling once again at the expense of Haleigh’s biggest love rival.

For those of you now invested in mine and Haleigh’s relationship and currently feeling a little protective, fear not! My trip to Washington had me feeling confident about our future and I’ve since offered assurances that there is room for Haleigh alongside this other lifelong love of mine: Tottenham Hotspur of course.

I was said to say goodbye to Washington but three weeks later my beloved Spurs would be playing in Madrid! That trip is next up on the blog!

Stay tuned!

Jason