The Laursonian Institute

Woke up feeling much better than yesterday, which was a great surprise! Only had to take one dose of cold medicine all day, and even that I think I could have done without.

So we had our usual morning – rolled out of bed at 9:30 or 10, and headed over to the Teacup to have breakfast with my sister before beginning on our adventures du jour. When we got to the store this morning, my sister was actually across the street overseeing the demolition and digesting the morning’s events (namely: the Health Inspector visited). It was really neat to get to see the new store in a state of progress, with all the old wood beams exposed and counters ripped apart and such. It’s going to be really lovely when it’s all done, and I can’t wait to see it.

After grabbing a bagel at Noah’s and having some tea with Lisa we decided that we had to get some teriyaki en route to the south end, lest I manage to entirely avoid having teriyaki on this trip. Crisis was averted, and the three of us went to my favorite spot, Nasai on the Ave. Had delicious teriyaki and poked around for a backpack at the UW Bookstore where Lewis found a good linguistics book for cheap, and I failed to find anything. About this point we realized that it was too late to go to the Museum of Flight since it was already 3:00 and the museum starts shutting down at 4:30, and we weren’t even in Renton yet.

We actually didn’t end up having time for anything anyway, since we were supposed to be to Steen’s by five for game night. We got caught in a fair bit of traffic leaving the city past three, and our empty take light came on just as we got past Boeing field. We got off I-5 on Marginal Way there and filled up, and then took Interurban (what turns into West Valley Highway) all the way from Boeing to Kent. By the time we made it to downtown Kent it was almost four thirty, and we still had to get all the way to Federal Way. We did stop at the top of the west hill to do a loop around West Fennewick Park, where I got to tell Lewis about all the great adventures we had playing Bad Tennis and walking Eponine as a puppy and shouting dirty words from the hilltop. Ah, childhood. It was nice to see it’s actually getting fancied up over the years!

Made it to Steen’s right on time, and had a very nice night with Steen and Joel, K.I. (of KISUX fame), and her friend Amy. We had tasty spaghetti, and played Settlers of Catan. I played on a team with Lewis cause I didn’t really know what I was doing, and we won! Very exciting. Things sort of turned in there after that, and as it wasn’t particularly late yet, Lewis and I headed hotel-ward via a coffee shop downtown. Ended up trying to find a place in Fremont, and mostly discovering that Fremont is full of bars and Thai restaurants, and not so much coffee shops. But we did find a local chain, Caffe Ladro, which was open all the way till 11:00, and served us very tasty fair! Lewis had a mocha with orange zest… yum. We also had some great conversation about family and friends and life that left me feeling like I had all my loose ends tied up and maybe I’m ready to yet again bit Seattle farewell and strike out on my own in California. Though it’s nice to feel like I can always come home.

Tomorrow we have to drop off our rental car by noon, and then we’re schlepping around town with my sister. I’m hoping to talk her into a market trip, since that’s sort of the last landmark I haven’t hit since being here. But we’ll see. I’ve been pretty easy to tired out these last few days. Which reminds me: sleep!

September 10th, 2008 | Tags: coffee shop, fremont, friends, kent, seattle, tea shop, teriyaki, the ave, vacation | Category: life | Comments Off

Low key day today, since I woke up feeling rather under the weather. Hopefully this cold is winding down, because I’m really not looking forward to traveling while sick.

After getting up rather late, we went back down to Cap Hill. Yesterday while looking through The Stranger I saw a Sonic Boom ad that said a new Damien album was coming out today, so I had to go pick that up. Of course, ended up finding much more great stuff in there than I intended, but I did manage to pick up Damien, a rare Soundgarden find (yay!) and a Smashing Pumpkins album (Earphoria) I’ve been looking for for ages. I love Sonic Boom. We had lunch across the street with my sister at the Coastal Kitchen which was delicious as always, and wasn’t even crowded! It’s nice to be able to do these things on off hours, like Tuesday afternoons.

Our major event of the day was to hit up the Pacific Science Center. When I lived closer by, my mom used to buy us year passes every year, which even came with guest passes, so I could go whenever I wanted and bring whoever I wanted. It was the perfect thing for a 2nd-grade me, and I can’t even count the number of times me and Ban, or me or Little Jeff, spent the day there. Lewis and I finally made our way there (via REI to look for backpacks) and saw all the old favorites – anamatronic dinosaurs, naked mole rats, puget sound tide model, and everything in BodyWorks!

I was pleased to see they hadn’t changed any of the old silly body things since I remember them so well, but the height chart was gone, and they had changed all the buildings around so building one was mostly empty (except dinosaurs) and building three had BodyWorks but was missing the whisper dish and gravity bike. Unfortunately buildings four and five were closed to set up for a new exhibit, and I don’t know if they do the day time laser shows any more, but I didn’t see them. And sadly, it overall looked pretty forgotten and unimproved. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse, since I loved what they have to much, but it seems like “kids today” might be bored with the mid-80s-tastic technologies. Shrug!

Came back to have dinner with Lisa, and crashed out pretty good at her house. She and Lewis made some really tasty pizza, and we watched lots of TiVoed Food Network stuff. Ooh, and we also tried out her frozen Monster Cookies to see if they would perk up like fresh made ones. They were mucho tasty. Only a few days left here… tomorrow I think we’ve got to get teriyaki and hit up something like the Museum of Flight. We’ve got a game night at Steen’s in the evening, so it should be good fun. Woot!

September 9th, 2008 | Tags: damien, science center, seattle, sick, sonic boom, soundgarden, vacation | Category: life | Comments Off

Lewis at Saltwater State Park

Another fantastic day in beautiful Seattle.

Got up fairly early (9ish) compared to our late evening last night. Went out to breakfast at an excellent spot my sister suggested to us in Ballard and had tasty pancakes. Both were sort of strange types – mine flat and crepe-like, but not crepe-y, and Lewis’ thick and fluffy sourdough! Mucho bueno. We also somehow ended up with enough breakfast for four people, so we’ve got some chilling in the fridge waiting for our next quiet morning. Not tomorrow though – we’re having breakfast at my sister’s!

After packing away some pancakes we headed over to Laura Bee to see if the bag that won my heart yesterday would fit my laptop. Unfortunately not, but in the end I’m sure it’s all for the best since I didn’t really need to be spending that money right now. Though I do want pretty much one of everything she sells. Then we put a little time in at the shop with Lisa and watched the beehive of activity that is her staff in stocking mode. It’s rather intimidating!

Since we were gonna spend the night watching movies with Steeny in Federal Way, we made our way down the south end before it got too late. We had a few hours to kill, so I took Lewis to Saltwater State Park, which was a blast! We did all the great Saltwater things – we picked blackberries, walked to the big cliff, poked around the tiny bit of tidal flats, flipped over rocks, caught tiny crabs, skipped rocks and even floated sticks in the stream! I was really pleased that my little crab beach was even more crab-iful than I remembered. We even found a few that were big enough I was scared to pick them up because I thought they might pinch me hard! There was one of those crabs with the one huge pincer (and one tiny one) as well – I hadn’t seen one of those on a Washington beach before. Very neat!

Movie night was as great as always. We did a little Will Farrell themed night – Anchorman and Talladega Nights, followed by a few shorts from his Best of SNL DVD. Mostly Steeny and I just caught up on folks we know, and the usual stuff. It’s always so heartwarming to chat with my Steen! Sounds like we’ll have a few chances to hang out again before I go home, and that’s great. Might even go to the zoo or the fair! What fun! But first, another great day planned tomorrow – meeting Val in Issaquah for lunch, and maybe blueberry picking before hand. Num.

September 5th, 2008 | Tags: ballard, crabs, federal way, friends, kent, pancakes, parks, seattle, vacation | Category: life | Comments Off

Gasworks Park

It’s been a few days since I’ve gotten to update, partially owing to our train having been old school enough to have no outlets to compute at, and also our days being rather travelly-long. Today was our first full day in Seattle, and it was most excellent!

We started off hanging out with my sister for a bit and trying out new baked goods she’s thinking of carrying in the store. We also got to see her new space! I’m really excited for her to work her magic on this, and to move in and all. I think with all the plans they have in mind, it’s going to be really beautiful when they’re done, and Lisa will have something to be really proud of. I sort of wish we had come up two months later to see all the finished product! It’ll certainly be a treat for next time, at any rate.

The afternoon was our pilgrimage to Ballard, since that’s where we needed to be to pick up our car anyway. After a very calm, very easy trip to Enterprise, we headed to main street Ballard and had some times. I love going to Sonic Boom here, since they have records I’ve been looking for in California with little to no success. It’s strange how productive the local scene can be here, and how distinct from elsewhere. I always feel a little like perhaps I’m crazy when I’m looking for stuff like “the band the 764-HERO guys were in before that band” when even Amoeba records doesn’t have a section for 764-HERO. Then I can walk into Sonic Boom and they’ve not only got a proper section (and signed 764-HERO poster on the wall!) but their info card tells me the names of the other bands with the same members in them, and even those bands have sections! Needless to say I’ve made a point now of coming to Sonic Boom every time I’m in town and going through the entire rock section by hand from A to Z. I bought several lovelies I’m very excited to check out!

We also went to Cupcake Royale and got a nice selection of comestibles to share with Lisa back at the store. On our way back to LIsa’s house we passed by Gasworks, which I suddenly realized I had to show Lewis!  We spent a few minutes walking about and it was wonderful as always.

Crashed a bit after that, so we ended up ordering delicious Chinese food in at her place before Lewis and I headed off to the Built to Spill show at the Showbox! It was really awesome to be back at the Showbox since it’s probably been five or six years since I last got a chance to go – and that was to see Elliott Smith, I think. Anyway, it’s always great to show Lewis another piece of my old life and live a little bit like I’m still in my glory days. Did see a few folks I recognized at the show, not to mention meeting up with Cerise! Cerise is the best. The show totally rocked, despite the crap-tastic second opening band (the first was alright), and I had an awesome time. Yay!

Now it’s almost 2 am and time for me to go to bed. I’ve got silly movies & pizza plans with Steeny tomorrow night, and before that Lewis and I are either going to head down to the Nisqually valley for a little nature walk, or we’ll go blueberry picking in Bellevue. Seattle! So great!

September 4th, 2008 | Tags: ballard, built to spill, concert, cupcakes, seattle, sonic boom, vacation | Category: life | Comments Off