It always rains in Seattle

See, it all started early Friday night in the city's university district, home to college’s football’s only 0-11 team. We started by drinking beer from three-liter glass boots at this place called Shultzy’s not far from campus. You can imagine.



It was raining outside on our drive into the city and walk to the bar. Pouring, actually. Rain soaked through our shoes and raincoats. But we made the most of it while getting pretty sloppy.

I saw Mark Brennan on TV at Schultzy’s as we were leaving for the College Inn. Now that I think about it…Brennan's latest 15 minutes of fame was happening early in the morning on Saturday, before the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten Championship with a win over Michigan State. Good on ya all back home in PA. Outside, it had stopped raining.



Saturday was bright and shiny and a balmy 58 degrees, so we scattered and hung out around town. By Saturday evening I had made it from Wallingford to downtown, and I almost caught a good sunset at the market. (Read: sunshine).



Then a few of us got in a car and drove northwest out of Seattle, reached the Puget Sound, drove and parked the car on a boat (!), got out of the car and walked all through the boat and to the front of the boat and checked out the skyline and hills of north Seattle(!), then 15 minutes later we got back in the car and drove onto Whidbey Island(!).*

We met up with a friend, a politically-active progressive farmer, drank a beer at a hundred year old bar and watched The Raggedy Anns rip through a few tunes in a cozy room in nearby Bayview. It was damn brisk on the boat and on the island, due to wind and a vast amount of water completely circling the land...but it didn’t rain a drop.



Sunday morning the weather was so warm and sunny, we decided to eat a hearty breakfast to prepare for criss-crossing Seattle on foot. My photos of the beautiful landscapes we saw don’t do them justice – I hope Jared posts some of his, which are great.

We visited Kerry Park and Volunteer Park, poked around inside a conservancy's greenhouses, and climbed the hills to see Mount Rainier, the Cascade Mountains, the Space Needle, fab stadiums and the UW campus from some of the highest lookout points in the city. We ate a peanut butter bacon burger at The Twilight Exit and shot some very, very pathetic lazy pool at the Canterbury before calling it a night.











After three great days of weather, Seattle this morning was sunny and cool, with no breeze and people in a festive mood to welcome the annual Pike Market Holiday Tree.




We poked around the Market again on our way out of town, this time as a big happy family.





None of my photos of that damn sign came out this weekend because of the position of the sun (read: sunny all weekend). This one was at noontime. 'Dems da breaks with a camera phone.



We got back to Rockaway just in time to see another sun(←)set from the cliffs near Manzanita. Bini climbed the rocks and tinkered with exposures on his camera to get some great shots. You better hope he posts some of his. Here's one of mine.



And now we’re relaxing in our big warm house at the shore. As far as big events for this vacation, it's all over but the bird.

*Yes it was my first time on a ferry boat.