Seattle, Day 3

Knowing I needed to stay in shape, I started out another day with a jog along the Elliott Bay Trail.  I was impressed with a couple of things: 1. I went running two days in a row; 2. the weather was lovely again; 3. The day before, it looked like someone had recently broken some of the glass coverings over the lights that line the trail (there was still glass on the ground, and yellow caution tape).  But by the next day, the lights were fixed and all the glass had been cleaned up!  True, they could have been broken weeks before and I would have no way of knowing, but I got the sense that whomever it is that's responsible for taking care of the parks was really on their game.

Our big activity for the day was a trip out to Bainbridge Island, for some shopping and generally relaxed living.  Seeing as how Bainbridge Island is, well, an island, the easiest way to make the trip is by ferry. It was an easy ride, probably about 30 minutes, but it was awfully cold and windy up near the bow.

 

 

Qwest and Safeco Fields

Along the way, though, I saw Hephaestus going back out to sea!  More accurately, I think it was actually anchored in the bay waiting to be reloaded.  But still, it was kind of fun to follow this one ship through the process of docking, unloading, and reloading.

When we arrived in Bainbridge, we began our shopping with a plan: up one side of the street, eat lunch, back down the other.  Our first stop was a kitchen store called The Berry Patch, then next door to a little boutique called Blinx, where I got two rings.  Mom had a ball in Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, while K and I enjoyed the paper products and home furnishings in Dana's Home Store.  E and I then ventured over to Sweet Deal, where I found the perfect shirt for her (a Porky Pig t-shirt that said "Vegetarians do it better," except that it was a little big.  I also managed to score a totally wild necklace for myself.

The huge lilies that greeted us

On the way down to Doc's for lunch

Lunch was at Doc's Marina Grill.  The menu was a mishmash of all types of food from Cajun to Greek; I opted for something with at least a mildly local flavor: lobster mac and cheese with a Spire Mountain cider.  It was a good choice.

After lunch we began our return trip to the ferry with a stop at a little store I can't remember the name of, but where I got a super-cute new hat.  Predictably, we found mom at the Eagle Harbor Book Company, and we met up with E again at Mora for some ice cream.  I had a scoop of dark chocolate and a scoop of peppermint, and it was so refreshing!

The end of our trip was a tad disappointing.  We tried to go to the Bainbridge Historical Museum, which had a small exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs called "A Portrait of Manzanar."  Unfortunately, we arrived at 3:45 and the exhibit closed at 4:00, so we just called it a day and headed for the ferry.

From the monorail, we had to walk through a park called Seattle Center in order to get to our hotel, and all week we had been looking at the flags for various events: CroatiaFest, TibetFest, TurkFest, Seattle Bites (a celebration of food), the Seattle International Film Festival.  K spoke up to make us feel better: "Well, we didn't miss every cultural event. We made Fleet Week!"

We also learned what it takes to be a hero.

I met up with  my friend M for sushi at Blue C in the U-Village.  While we were waiting for our table, we wandered across the street to shop at The Confectionary, and I nabbed some delicious sour peaches and Mariner-themed malted milk balls.  When it was time for dinner, I discovered that Blue C is a conveyor belt-style restaurant, and it was the first one like that that I had been to.  How fun!  Whenever you want something, just grab it off the belt!

For dessert, we tried to get doughnuts at Top Pot, but unfortunately they were closed.  So we opted for the next best thing: cupcakes!  (According to E, cupcakes are the most efficient vehicle for getting icing to your mouth.  And you have a good cake-to-icing ratio.)  M steered us to Cupcake Royale, where I got snacks to take home: a Kate, a Lemon Drop, a Salted Caramel, and a Coconut.

I got home to discover, however, that K and Mom also brought home dessert: sticky rice and mango!  So we ate that and saved the cupcakes for the next day.