Due to the concentration of flight training this summer, I may have to keep blog updates to every two weeks. I’ll shoot for every week and see what I can get done.
The past week has been my first back in flight training, and it’s been a blast. I can’t wait to write about it next time. In this post, I’ll focus on wrapping up on post-graduation travel - last post, I talked about San Diego; this time, I’ll tell you about Seattle.
San Diego was great for Mexican food and beaches, and Balboa Park was just plain cool. Seattle, on the other hand, was a perfect proofing ground for me and my new-to-hiking companion. We stayed in Tacoma and drove to the surrounding natural areas from there, as well as spending time in the SeaTac area for shopping and food.
One of the things that struck me about Seattle was the stark contrast in atmosphere within small areas - in the downtown area, I stepped into an airy, trendy Thai cafe for an egg coffee, one block over from a street so sketchy I felt a bit uncomfortable even driving on it.
While parts of downtown Seattle are known high crime areas, many neighborhoods like Belleview were classy, with high-end shops and luxurious shopping malls. Indoor entertainment seemed to be a popular avenue - unsurprising, given Seattle’s infamous 8 months of rain.
Actually, the rain wasn’t too bad. In Michigan, a rainy day is dark thanks to a thick, constant overcast layer. Seattle’s overcast was more of a veneer, and most of the time I was there the rain fell on and off rather than constantly.
On the other hand, the very first hike we went on did indeed feature incessant rain. It was a flat trail along a river, and even in areas of higher elevation the trail would be dotted with patches of thick mud.
The second hike followed a paved path for the first part, then went the mountainside to follow the waterfalls of a river.
The third hike, and probably the most ambitious, sent us up a trail facing Mount Rainier. We came out on river and waterfall overlooks on the length of the trail, but in the end we had to turn back because there was so much unmelted snow on the path.
Back in town, we learned about Seattle’s history through touring the underground - a collectively abandoned basement underneath the street level.
The food in Seattle deserves a special note - there was a lot of variation, and we found some especially good Asian food. I was also surprised to find a Russian grocery store with a bakery full of fresh breads and desserts, all kinds of dairy, and a huge deli with ready-to-eat dishes. I got a poppy seed cake encased in a mild white stuff somewhere between marshmallow and cheesecake, and it was so good and “not too sweet” that we returned to the same store later in the trip. At Pike Place Market, we gorged ourselves on every chowder available.
In the next update, I’ll tell you about how flight training has been going, so look forward to it. (Spoiler: awesome)
Love how you work hard (i.e. hiking) and then thoroughly enjoy the food. It sounds incredibly satisfying.
Great photos and sounds like a great visit to Seattle!