Seattle

Well, I traveled to Seattle this last weekend (Oct. 4,5 and 6). I went with Katie Swanson aka Kazaam. We left Saturday heading into the west.
The interesting thing about this trip was that the weekend we left was also production weekend (at the Sentinel the college paper I work for). This was an issue as the pages I'm responsible for don't get done on their own. I overcame this obstacle by working all week before leaving. So all my shit was done by Saturday at 2 a.m.
Katie/Kazaam met me at my house at 1 p.m. We drove to Moses Lake in separate cars because her G-Ma lives there and Swanson was going to stay with her after we returned from the city.
Driving to Moses Lake I was just reminded of how much I hate driving. Biking is so much nicer. (I won't deny the convenience of being able to drive 300 hundred miles in a day, however, I prefer biking still)
Kazaam and I had a very nice drive to Seattle. We laughed and talked about camp non-stop. Camp people will understand this, non campies will think that we're insane.
While stuck in traffic outside of Seattle we blasted country music and stared at people. We were obviously from out of town and obviously obnoxious.
Soooo...
That night we went to Tom's house. Had a great time with a bunch of camp folks. Again we just talked about camp.
The next day I split from the rest of the group and went to hang out with Hannah Reid a good high school friend of mine. My mode of transportation was a bike, which I brought in the back of my mom's subaru. It's a fixie, which means two things, one being you can't stop pedaling and two being there are no hand brakes or brakes period. The only way to slow down, short of hitting something, is to resist the forward momentum of the back wheel by pedaling backward.
Soo...
I was pretty nervous when I began biking on Sunday morning. Seattle has some big hills. It also has a lot of traffic. Well I did fine, and thanks to that experience I feel 200 percent more confident in little old North Idaho.
I hung out with Hannah for probably five hours on Sunday. We went to an excellent Indian food restaurant where we talked about her experiences in India and my upcoming experiences there. After eating there we went to Pikes' Place Market, where I bought the biggest avocado I've ever seen. It it huge and I will definitely post a photo of it. I guess it's a water based avocado not your regular old oil based avocado. I also learned that there are over 70 types of avocados. (I might have misheard that, it's between 70 and 700 I would look it up but I'm lazy so...) Anyways we went back to Hannah's dorm and tried to make a mango smoothie (we bought a mango as well). That did not work out because we couldn't find a blender. So we just ate mango. Hannah's roommate then appeared. She is hilarious and in my opinion her and Hannah are a good match.
Hung out there for a little bit longer than returned to UW to have dinner with my camp friends at this mexican place. I ate a lot that day but I also biked a lot so I felt faily balanced between my consumption/movement.
Then went to a friends house and watched Ironman. A ridiculous movie that makes me mad every time I see it.
I noticed that people are very afraid of being out alone in Seattle. No doubt it's a warranted fear and I'm probably ridiculously naive but I still feel like it's a big waste not to go out and see things. I guess it's all about where your edge is.
I only got really lost once. I was riding from Capital Hill to UW and it was dark out (probably like 8 p.m.). Anyways I ended up way the hell not where I wanted to be. I was kind of by the bay I think and UW isn't by the bay. So I ended up asking this guy where I was. He was helpful but all-buisness. I think he thought I was a complete idiot for a. biking at night and b. not having any idea where I was.
Anyways made it back all ok. Had a great ride back with Kazaam. I love Seattle U and maybe someday I will go there. But probalby not any time soon.
Oh and if everything works out I will be oing back to Seattle with Libby Redline, which would be awesome. But we'll see. I'm missing a lot of class.
On Saturday I'm going to Washington D.C. to visit my sister and meet my nephew. I'm going with my father. Very excited for that.
So I don't know if I really learned anything from the Seattle trip that will carry over to my India/European travels. I did learn a lot about city bike riding and late night Seattle navigation, both of which I'm glad too know. Unfortunately I won't be able to take my bike to India.