Coeur d'Alene & Seattle

Welcome to Idaho
see all photos »

From Glacier we headed west once again on I-90 towards the Pacific, but considering we got a late jump on the highway decided not to haul all the way to Seattle that night.  I broke out the trusty atlas and looked for a decent sized middle point, determining that Coeur d'Alene Idaho was a suitable spot to lay over for the night.  An added perk is that according to the rule that you haven't really visited a state until you've spent the night (or is it had a meal there?) we could honestly say we did Idaho.

We made it!
see all photos »

Surprisingly, Coeur d'Alene was a very pleasant town despite having a name neither of us could pronounce until we heard it on the radio.  A college town with a lively downtown strip, lots of bars and restaurants and an alarming number of scantily clad women (which Julia noticed before I did).  The stop was not terribly noteworthy:  we set up the tent at a local campground, got some dinner downtown, looked unsuccessfully for a wireless connection, and packed it in.  The lake area that the town surrounds is lovely though, and if you are ever driving across the country on 90 and looking for a decent place to stop for the night, you could do much much worse.

How cool is it that Kristy lives on a houseboat?

Welcome to Washington
see all photos »

The next morning we got up early and hit the road, pulling into Seattle in the early afternoon.  It is surprising just how great it felt to not only hit the first major city in almost two weeks, but to get to the end of I-90.  We had made it to the Pacific!  (Sort of, I guess it was a bay or sound, but close enough).   An interesting thing about the drive into Seattle is that a few miles before hitting the urban center we were in the middle of a National Forest.  After crossing a floating bridge (I'm not really sure how that works) you're right in the heart of downtown.

EMP
see all photos »

We were staying with the Mandells (family friends of Julia's) in Bellevue, an eastern suburb of Seattle, and had dinner plans with them for the evening, but had some time to wander so we set out for Discovery Park to unwind.  We hiked to the beach and just strolled around after dipping our feet in the water (very cold) to prove that we had finally made it far enough west that we ran out of U.S.  After that we headed to the Mandells', who are a wonderfully sweet couple with an incredibly comfortable house, complete with Japanese garden in the back (absolutely lovely).  After showering and dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, we called it a day.  Once again, I am amazed at the incredible hospitality of people who were essentially strangers to me at the start of the trip.

Kristy and her houseboat
see all photos »

The next morning we set out for the city after breakfast and some delicious smoothies left for us by Stan.  We were planning on meeting up with Kristy (a friend from high school) that evening so wanted to explore downtown during the day.

First stop was "The Library", which J and Mike required us to visit.  Okay, a library is a library in a certain sense, but this one has to be the most efficient, comfortable, and modern one I have ever visited.  The building is, I imagine, an engineering feat, composed mostly from steel and triangular glass as far as I can tell (Koolhaas was the architect if interested).  I'm guessing Microsoft had some financial influence too, based on Bill Gates living a few miles away and the fact that the building houses the Microsoft auditorium (and the entire 400,000 sq. ft. library is wirelessly connected).  None of this is probably interesting to read, but the library is very cool and demands a visit if in Seattle.

The semi-functioning head
see all photos »

From there we wandered through Pike's Place market (home of the flying fish) and meandered over to the EMP (Experience Music Project), a music (and science fiction) museum housed in a Frank Gehry building.  The music exhibit, which features mostly the history of the Seattle sound (from the infamous Louie, Louie battle to grunge to Jimi Hendrix) was very interesting, but we couldn't get on much of the hands-on devices due to a large number of camp kids in the museum that day.  The sci-fi exhibit was interesting, but a bit lackluster in my opinion.

Inside the houseboat
see all photos »

It was raining when we left (of course) so we ate our bagged lunch under a bus stop shelter and headed to Elliot Bay bookstore, where we spent a few hours browsing (Julia's note:  and I found my friend/classmate's first publication in an NY literary mag called Esopus -- go Stuart!).  Another good spot to stop in Seattle.  We had just missed a slot for the underground tour of the city, which came highly recommended, so we headed for Kristy's houseboat.

So I didn't realize how excited I was to see the houseboat until we actually saw it. I mean, it's a houseboat -- how cool is it that Kristy lives on a houseboat? In spite of the semi-working bathroom, it's totally effing cool! (Kristy usually does her ablutions at the real bathroom on the dock.) Added bonus: the houseboat that Tom Hanks lives in in Sleepless in Seattle is a few down from Kristy's (although they had to float it out far into to lake to get the shots of it that they did).

Library interior
see all photos »

We sat on the back of Kristy's boat and drank wine until it was time for dinner. She caught us up on life in Seattle -- two sailing teams, teaching women's studies at UW and finishing her dissertation on fair-trade chocolate within the year. She explained to us that in Seattle everybody wears their "gear" all the time and fleece is the official uniform of the city. (I can't say that that's really a turnoff for me...) Kristy took us to one of her favorite restaurants for dinner: Szechuan Noodle Bowl! There we had a delightful feast of noodles, dumplings & green-onion pancakes for a mere thirty dollars for four of us. I dig. We also got to admire the stunning photos of fake ponies on the beach that inexplicably decorate the Noodle Bowl's walls (sorry there are no photos -- you'll have to visit Kristy to experience them firsthand). Kristy is very sad that they are not for sale. This, however, may be for the best since there is not a lot of wall space in The Houseboat.

Sleepless in Seattle house (on the end of the dock)
see all photos »

After Noodle Bowl, we headed up to the University District for ice cream. There are many, many bubble tea establishments on University Avenue. I cannot explain way. Bubble tea is gross. Obviously. However, ice cream is not and while enjoying our Mix-N-Match (an independent Coldstone Creamery basically), we browsed the fliers in the store and I learned that Willie Nelson, the Old 97's, The Drive By Truckers and Amos Lee are playing Willie Nelson's annual 4th of July picnic in George, Washington (no I am not making that last part up). I am sad that I will not be able to attend this. Very, very sad.

The Library
see all photos »

After ice cream, we headed to the Fremont Bridge Troll, which is actually very scary at night. I just did some Wikipedia research and learned that the troll is a piece of public art that was commissioned by the Fremont Arts Council. Also, I learned that a scene in 10 Things I Hate About You was shot there. And the paintball scene was shot in Gasworks Park (which you can see from Kristy's houseboat). Anyway, 10 Things I Hate About You is cool and so is Seattle.

The next morning we had brunch at the 5 Spot, which was excellent, in part because there was a painting of Magnum P.I. on the wall that I would have bought if I had the money for that sort of thing (the place is Hawaiian-themed). Then we drove back to Kristy's to meet up and head over the Theo Chocolate Factory, where Kristy gives tours. We got a free & private one! There's a lot of interesting technical details about chocolate and how it's grown, harvested and converted into delicious states, but Kristy can tell you all that when you tour Theo Chocolate Factory. We learned a lot about chocolate, it's safe to say, but not what I already knew: chocolate is awesome. This season's confections are raspberry, which hasn't been finished, and basil, which we did and which was completely scrumptious despite what you might think. Anyway, it was really cool and it made me think that a good way to make a living is working in a chocolate factory.

The 5 Spot
see all photos »

Leaving after all that wonderfulness was very sad, but we will be back and you have to obey the rule of the road -- keep it movin'.