Seattle

Yesterday we left Portland and traveled to Olympia and Seattle.  We stopped in Oly for just half an hour.  We tried to go to a huge farmers market, but it was closed.  Instead we visited Dancing Goat Coffee.

Then in Seattle we met my friend M who I have known for years through the mail.  She is a poet, and we met her girlfriend too.  They are very nice.  We went to Volunteer Park and walked up some flights of stairs to the top of this water tower that has great views.  It was fun.  And we looked at a dahlia garden.  We wanted to go to the Asian art museum, but it's closed Mondays, and the conservatory too.

We went to this strange store called Archie McFee's that has all kinds of strange stuff in it, like neon orange emergency hats, little plastic animals, retainer cases, toy zombie babies, etc.  Ming bought me eight postcards and a little cocktail fork.  I was charmed by the little fork.

Then we went to Indian food and M pulled out a hundred dollar bill and treated us.  It was so sweet.  The food was absolutely delicious.  We got spinach naan, which we had never had before.  It was so good.  And I got malai kofta, and Ming got something I didn't like much: tofu jafrizi.  I think it's bland.

Then we went to Fremont and saw this underbridge troll.  I was expecting something colorful and cute. Instead it was creepy and concrete and huge.  I liked it but did not feel the need to climb on it.  Then we went to the locks.  The locks were great, and we got to see some boats in them.  It's like an elevator for boats.

But what was really cool was the fish ladder.  You get to see the fish through these windows.  The fish are beautiful.  A ranger person was there briefly and said they were 16 pound salmon.  There were four different kinds of salmon.  The fish ladder helps the fish get back to the place they were born so they can mate so the life cycle can continue.  The original fish ladders were built long ago and improved upon in the '70s.

Today we cross the border into Canada, which I am nervous about.  Hopefully it will be a non-event.  Tonight we'll sleep in a suburb of Vancouver.  Tomorrow we'll see a new Icarus friend and visit a botanic garden, probably, and have an NDE conference call.  We are couchsurfing.  It's my first time couchsurfing with a stranger.

I need to go hop in the shower now and get the day started and see more of Seattle before we have to leave town at 2.  Bye for now, world!