Seattle Timeout

It was very nice to see everyone and spend time visiting.  Thanks to all who offered encouragement to keep the blog going.  I know it's been awhile but there hasn't been much blog worthy to share although I do have some catching up to do now.  Here it goes.

Flying west into the sunset.

Before I left on this journey I had previous work obligation scheduled for December in Seattle.  The obligation changed and while Seattle in December may not be the best time to visit I went anyway.  I had set aside the time and had expected the trip as a chance to check in.  As I have not burned the bridges to my old employment I was able to pick up some work.  It was almost as if I hadn't been gone.  I've done my 10,000 cases so the skills just seem to happen.

Through the generosity of friends I was able to house sit, bed hop and borrow spare cars and avoid staying in a hotel or renting a car.  All very much appreciated.  Thanks.

When I left in May it was hard for me to access how I felt about the city.  I was busy selling stuff and my house and preparing to go.  It wasn't so much that I was getting away from Seattle as I was going on a journey.  So going back for a visit this time all I had to do was be an observer.  No decisions. No hurry.  The RV was parked in North Carolina.  My observations are not meant to be judgmental but reflections of how I felt.

At times there was a "Zombie effect".  In the original "Dawn of the Dead" movie the Zombies returned to a shopping mall and walked around as that is what they did before.  Getting up and going through some old routines I felt a little like the Zombies going through the motions.

Golden Gardens on a winter day.  One of my favorite places to sit.

Morning in Seattle at 7am.

Same morning in Seattle at 11am.

Visiting during the Holiday's was nice.  Holiday parties.  Everything decorated with lights including the Space needle.

Space Needle from Seattle Center.

"Seattle people are closed in."  I'd heard this description before but noticed it more this trip.  Many places I've visited people (strangers!) would just say Hi as you walk by.  Perhaps it's a volume issue with so many people in the Seattle area (3 million?) and necessary for survival but it's nice being places you can talk to someone on the street. I looked up the data and from 1990 to 2010 the population increased by 20%.  One afternoon I took a walking tour around downtown.  I tried to make eye contact with people and the only ones that saw me were the street people and vendors at the market trying to sell stuff.  When I moved in 1989 from New York City I thought Seattle was a "small town".  After seeing 14,000 miles of the country, Seattle has become a "big city".

Walked the market.

For the two weeks of my visit I didn't see the sun.  I realize it's December in Seattle and they had 80 plus days without rain this summer but I'm not sure it makes up for it anymore?  Here is the same day's forecast in three places.  Just saying...

Waterfall at REI.

I took the picture below one morning.  One of the things I noticed during my time back was often you could not tell where the sky started.  Everything was one color: Grey.  Not being able to see the sky made everything feel crowed.  Like being in a room with a very low ceiling.

Fisherman's Memorial at Ballard Docks. (This is not a black and white photo.)

I did go by and see my old house.  The house looked untouched.  The garage was gone, the yard torn up, trees missing and the foundation in for the new structures in.  I knew when I sold it to a developer what was going to happen:  Two unit tall skinny in the back yard.  It wasn't  hard to see as it was what I expected.  I made the decision to sell and my feeling is still it was a right choice.  The home it was became just a house.  Even though it's changed my memories of it remain.  I got to live out my "This Old House" dream.  Now it's "This Old Winnebago".

What my old back yard looks like now.

LaMay Car Museum.  1923 Lincoln Touring car.  First car to go over both Tacoma Narrows Bridges.

Weyerhaeuser Bonsai Garden.  Strange to see the smallest trees next to the towering cedars.

Things that changed in Seattle since I left:
Legalized Marihuana.
Legalized Gay Marriage.
You can buy alcohol everywhere.
Plastic bags are illegal and paper ones cost 5 cents.
There is a big wheel on the waterfront.

Things that didn't change:
Lots of traffic and really bad drivers.
Rain.
Rain.
Rain.
Traffic.
37 million Starbucks.

When I got back from my trip I picked up a book I have been reading during my trip, "Travels With Charley" by John Steinbeck.  The first paragraph of where I had left off summed up my feelings.

"I find it difficult to write about my native place, northern California (insert any place, Seattle).  It should be the easiest, because I knew that strip angled against the Pacific better then any place in the world.  But I find it not one thing but many - one printed over another until the whole thing blurs.  What it is is warped with memory of what it was and that with what happened there to me, the whole bundle wracked until objectiveness is nigh impossible."

Conclusion:  I'm not ready to go back to work or buy in.  The Journey Continues.