Seattle, my next home

Yesterday saw the end of our marathon train ride to Seattle. We woke up as we passed into Oregon. I went to the observation car for the sights and some coffee while Samir lapsed in and out of sleep in our caboose. I saw great views of Mt. Shasta and the countryside.




















The smokers on a 90 second smoke stop. Samir and I thought the speed smoke would be fun to witness. Rod is the man towards the end.







This is the longest covered bridge in Oregon. Samir and I spent the time in the observation car reading (I read "The Book of Tea") and talking to a British girl named Philipa. She is in the foreground of the following photo, the background of which contains a creepy Korean woman that kept taking photos of us.





Once in the station, Samir and I assembled the bikes amid interested questions from the few still in the station at 10:30. The bikes made it without a scratch. Luckily, so did we as we biked toward Allie's apartment six miles north in the dark.

We tried to bike to Westlake, where we hoped to cross Lake Union on the smaller of two bridges. We failed. It's hard to see street signs in the dark, so we rode fast and hard with all of our gear along highway 99 instead. I am glad we had so much reflective clothing and bike lights. Some of the hills proved pretty intense, and I had to shift to the low front gear once. We arrived in one piece and were welcomed by Allie and her roommate Taylor. They were amazing. They let us sleep on a pullout couch and take warm showers (my first in three days...). Allie is working for Boeing now as an engineer, and Taylor is a soon to be manger at Starbucks. Below, Taylor has the cats climbing all over her while Allie looks on.






In the morning, I woke up with Kenya the kitty cat staring at me. She was so close to my face that I could feel her breath, and all I could see was fur and two huge, inquisitive eyes. Once Allie, Taylor, Samir and I ate cereal, we headed to Pike's market downtown. It was a blast. The colors at the vegetable stalls and the variety of vendors were invigorating and exciting. I had a Russian meat pie, a mango honey stick, and saw the original starbucks store from the seventies (we Americans "have no sense of history").



I left Samir at the market with the girls while I went off to meet Camilo at REI. REI is huge in Seattle. Camilo was picking up his bike and a few more items for the trip. The Surly LHT is a nice bike, though it would be really great if REI sold it with integrated shifters and a better saddle. I also think they should comp some labor and small gear id you are nuying a lot at once. Here is Camilo on his new bike!





I went to a bar with Allie tonight after a long afternoon of looking for apartments with Camilo. On the way back from the bar we saw a car fire and got to call 911!


I am so glad that I chose UW. I saw the BioE building from the bridge today, and thought of all the good years to come. The city is beautiful.

Sweet dreams.

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Location:Fremont Ave N,Seattle,United States