Okay, I arrived on Saturday the 19th of May, and due to wholesale, full body exhaustion, I basically did not move all day Sunday.  I forced myself to stay in ALL DAY, to rest.  Can't remember the last time I was that bone tired, other than the five days running around Paris, last fall.

I did go out briefly around 3pm for a literal 5 minute walk, because I was going slightly nuts staying in all day, and ironically, that day had the least expected rain until the weekend. 

I took a shower - that was about the extent of my activities, and even that sapped my energy to the degree that I ended up lying down for about a half hour's name afterwards.  Man!

Anyway, here I am, having actually spent time visiting Seattle, today, for the first time in 11 yrs.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been with me. You can't imagine the frustration of watching the weather report on tv, and hearing the weather person crowing about how warm and sunny it was last week, and how this week it will be all showers or downpours, and that it's, oh ya, also 10 degrees cooler than normal. 

Yes, I know it's Seattle, but I certainly put this city at the tale end of my trip for a reason - thinking naively that late May would be close enough to summer, dammit, that it was worth the chance.

Sorry.  I'll shut up now, other than to say it's certainly varied here.  I walked up from Elliott Bay Books this afternoon around 4pm, and it actually wasn't even sprinkling - the whole walk, which admittedly is only about 12 minutes, it was dry, and then, not ten minutes after I got home, it absolutely crashed down teeming rain, then right afterwards, the freaking sun came out - partly sunny, anyway.  The owner of this flat left a big Seattle appropriate foldable umbrella, so I just carried that around with me all day.

*

The day began with a walk down my street East Harrison, 4 blocks to Broadway, and up one block to E Republican to the QFC where I purchased hand cream, of which I'm completely out, wheat wraps, my favorite Reach super thick waxed dental floss, which I can't get at home anymore and am forced to order from Amazon, and something else.  Can't remember. 

I hopped on the bus - $2.25 cash - have to mention here that this is the fare for 'off peak' hours.  'Peak' hours it's $2.50, which seems surprisingly expensive, especially where San Fran transit was 2 bucks, all day, trains and buses.  Anyway, I was headed downtown to Westlake, as it is the starting point of the Monorail, which zips you in a George Jetson kinda way to the Space Needle, and also the location where I could pick up an "Orca" card, which stands for "One Regional Card for All", man.  Ie a public transit pass, which costs $5.00 for the pass itself, then you put money on it.  Odd, to have to pay for a plastic pass?  Oh well.  The woman asked me how much I wanted, and I said, a ten-fare, please, and she said at what level?  $2.25? $2.50?  $3.00?  How does anyone decide this, I wonder?  I said just give me the 'peak' travel one, times ten, so that I'm not stuck arguing with/paying some random bus driver because my pass isn't sufficient.  She also gave me some transit maps, which is cool.

I then wandered a bit around the Westlake center, which is a large mall, and in it's basement is the light rail.  A security guard pointed me to the Monorail elevator - yes, a special elevator to the third floor, see, as it's up in the air, see - and when I arrived, there it was.




The Monorail was built back in 1962 - it's the 50th anniversary of the whole World's Fair which is the reason the Space Needle exists, the whole Seattle Center, actually.  It's so quaint to think that there ever was such a thing as a "World's Fair", no?  I wonder why no one has these anymore.  Can't blame the internets - I don't think these things have been around since the, what, early 70's, at the latest?

*
Here are my photos, from my ride today:

I mean, seriously?  That is some WAY Jetsons shit.

Do you see wet droplets on the window?  That's a thing called rain.

*

It's a very brief trip from Westlake/downtown - in fact, the one and only reason the Monorail exists is to carry you to it's one stop:  the Space Needle.  Okay, there isn't just the Space Needle where it stops - the Seattle Center is a 74 acre campus containing museums, fountains, Key Arena (where I saw Pearl Jam and REM play when I was last here), the Seattle International Film Festival cinema, this thing called the Experience Music Project which is sort of like a rock n roll museum ("Experience" coming from Jimi Hendrix, who was from Seattle).  There are also a lot of festivals that occur on these grounds, as well as fireworks, off the Space Needle itself, on 4th of July.  Interestingly, these grounds were the location of a public gathering that occurred, I think a day or two after Curt Kobain killed himself - where Courtney Love got on a microphone and sobbed and read from parts of his suicide note.  I remember seeing films of her going around talking to crying kids, and shit. 

*

So, the Space Needle.  I love this building to pieces.  I'd heard of it my whole life, of course, but not until I visited Seattle the first time in I think ... 2000?  Can't remember, and saw it in person did I fall in love with it due to it's crazy uber-mod, mid century Jetsonian fabtastic-ness.  It's just so painfully, hopelessly, and wonderfully dated - the greatest irony being that the exhibit it was built for was one of those "world of tomorrow" things ie moving sidewalks, flying backpacks, video phone watches, instant food made of space aged ingredients you would get out of a home vending machine, etc.  And to think the poor place which was so inspired by and hopeful about the future and modern-ity must have been laughably obsolete and super dated by what, 1972?  Ten years after it was built. 

Anyway, I love it.  The top roof dome thing was even painted aqua at one point - possibly wehen it opened.  At present, it's painted "Galaxy Orange". 

On a cloudy, rainy Monday, I didn't actually plan to go up into it, having done it twice before, both at night and during the day.  Then at the last second, I thought, what the hell, I'm here, why not?  I went and stood behind the maybe only 5 people who were waiting for tickets - another reason to go - it would be virtually empty - and stopped dead when I saw the ticket price - $19.00???  Sorry.  Nope. That is just nuts, imo. 

So what I ended up doing is taking the Monorail to the Space Needle, in order strictly to go to, and spend a near-fortunate at, the wallet soaking, ever-entrancing Space Needle gift shop.  The last time I was there, I spent so much they gave me a free hat.  This time, no free hat, even though I spent more today than the last time - $158.91!   Thing is, this place combines my two weaknesses: mid century kitchy retro, and cute, cute, cute.   I mean, just their fricking robot collection ... 

Somehow I refrained from buying two out of three of those. 

That tray, though!   Damn.

*

Anyway, I must have spent 90 minutes in that place - just the gift shop! - and maybe 15 minutes after I arrived, it got packed, which really sucked.  Loads of kids, loads and loads of annoying fucking parents.  So I got the fuck out of there, and with my large load of goodies, decided to head home rather than try to look around downtown.

I walked to Denny way and caught bus 8 up to 12th and I think E Thomas, which is like 2 blocks south of my little abode.

I then hung out for a bit, and decided to walk to Elliott Bay Books, since the map said it was only .8 miles, and it was really cool.  This neighborhood is lovely - lots of mission-y style homes.

And I made it there pretty quick on the mostly rain-free walk.  Elliott Bay Books opened in 1973 and has an eye popping 150,000 volumes - all new, it turns out - no more used, which stinks, but the thing about this place is the density of what they have.  Each section has so damned MANY titles - so much depth - it's just pretty genuinely jaw dropping.  I visited only two sections in the massive store - and decided to hold off exhausting myself in the rest of the place as it would take hours and my feet won't let me right now.  So, I wanna visit it increments, and return here maybe twice more.

Afterwards I walked home - why walk 4 blocks to the bus stop when the store is a total of 8 easily walkable ones?