For two days I slept terribly, partly because I think I had taken too many B-Vitamins and partly because the window in our hotel room didn't actually have a curtain. And having some weird dude shouting "F*** YOU!" at 6 am on Day Two didn't help any. I tried to sleep on the floor, the bed, upside down, it didn't matter. Insomnia was my constant companion for the first two nights we were there, but I have had insomnia off and on most of my life so I could deal. I was on vacation so no way was I gonna whine about it.... Well, I whined a little.
Day Two was spent hanging out at the Aquarium and wandering around the waterfront.
We had great lunch at this place I forget the name of now--Cafe 56 or something like that. My husband got some very rich and filling seafood cakes while I got these really awesome scallop and brisket sliders. They also had some great peach sangria.
We headed to what Seattleites refer to as the "U" District--AKA the college district--after that because that was where the venue was for the show we were going to see. As we got out of our cab and started walking around, my husband noticed a guy who was nonchalantly hanging out around the corner from the venue. Turned out to be the lead singer of the band--my husband's FAVORITE band, mind you. A brief conversation and a picture later, hubs was flying high and we were looking for a place to light until the show.
We went into the first place we saw, which was an Irish pub called Finn MacCool's. How could you go wrong with a name like that? Especially when the sign out front had a Scottsman in full regalia with a bagpipe? We had to give it a shot. Hubs is Scotts-Irish, after all.
Best coconut shrimp--EVER. Hubs got some Irish nachos, which were a little icky after the first half, and he kept trying to steal my shrimp, but I was guarding them like a mother lion protecting her cubs. I let him have a couple, but mainly I flaunted how good they were by making "mmm" and "omg" sounds while I was stuffing my face.
So, thumbs up for that place, and we headed over to the venue after we had finished, where we continued to be impressed by the amazingly cheap prices for liquor. I guess that's what happens when you live in a 24-hr casino town and are used to going to shows in San Francisco--both places price gouge like none other.
After a great performance from the band Gogol Bordello--great gypsy rock for anyone who is interested--we headed back to Finn MacCool's for karaoke, but it was overrun with frat boys and their girls so we only sang one song, got our nom on with some mediocre gyros across the street, and went back to the hotel, where I continued to not sleep.
Day Three had me ironically on only 3 hours of sleep.
I was meeting a friend of mine today who I hadn't seen since high school and the first part of my first year of college. I wasn't really nervous, per se, but you never know how things like that are gonna go. When you haven't seen someone after ten years, most of the time the only thing you have to talk about is your past. Considering I had only been in patchy theatre workshops with her over the years and was basically only her Facebook friend now, I was wondering. But she had actually made the effort to see me, which no one ever does, so I was also hopeful.
Hubs and I got on a ferry to the island of Bainbridge to see what we could see, but what we saw was absolutely nothing but giant houses, so we turned around and went right back. Which was fine, since we had to meet my friend anyway--after hiking up like six years of stairs.
So, I met my friend who I hadn't seen in a decade wheezing, and sweating, and maybe saying some mild curse words, because I cannot breathe in air that has moisture in it. I. Am. From. The. Desert. On a side note, my face was also hating me, as my skin goes into lockdown freakout mode when in humid or moist climates and decides to melt off any makeup I have and generally make me look like a transient drug addict.
Luckily, my friend recognized me and wasn't like, "Who is that crazy wild-haired beast lumbering towards me?" We all hugged, introduced, and headed off to the famous Pike's Market and Pike's Market Chowder place, where I was overwhelmed by how many choices of chowder I had. I ended up settling for the old faithful clam because I am picky about my clam chowder and I was curious. I give it about a 9, honestly. The only place I may have had better was San Francisco, but then again, I am very partial to my city by the bay.
After lunch, we wandered the market, which was stuffed to bursting with people on all 6 levels. That's right--6 levels of shops, fun things, fresh fish, and the most amazing produce I have ever seen in my life. Like, ever. There was even a creeptastic guy who looked like a hardened criminal walking by with a live snake coiled around his neck!
...Yeah, my friend had a very violent and adverse reaction to that one.
Speaking of my friend, we were all getting along really well and it wasn't awkward at all. Probably the most casual I have ever felt with a person I used to know other than my husband, who I had also grown up with and lost contact with for ten years. Apparently, I like to see how things go after decades of time have passed. Seems to be a thing with me.
At any rate, we got horribly lost and finally ended up at Pike's Brewery where good beer and conversation commenced. We finally had to go due to the fact we were seeing Gogol Bordello again, but my friend told us #1. where she would be later if we wanted to meet up and #2. the name of a cab driver who was a friend of hers--Dom "the Stache" who was flat rate and could be helpful to us.
So, as we headed to the show, hubs texted this Dom character, excited because he loves "The Fast and the Furious" movies and anyone named Dom was cool in his book, and we hit up a place called Kai's Bistro for dinner.
........
0_o
That's pretty much the way that went down.
We got three appetizers: calamari (which was so fried I couldn't tell where the bread ended and the squid began) thai chili shrimp (which was actually just shrimp with like 18 tons of tomato sauce and googobs of garlic on top of it) and marinated mushrooms (which were actually pretty ok.) Hubs also ordered a Manhattan, which came complete with dead flies bobbing around in it. When approaching the bartender about this, she merely dumped it, didn't bat an eye, and said "K, I'll make another one."
DO NOT GO HERE. LIKE, EVER!
I don't even want to think about what we ate. Not to mention, at the show, we were both burping up that gross shrimp crap and my husband had his intestines reject all food about 3/4 of the way through the second encore--they played 4 by the way. Amazing. And we also got to meet two other members of the band.
However, aside from the terribleness of our dinner, Dom "the Stache" had texted back, and a personal cab driver was born. We headed over to where my friend was at and spent the next few hours shooting the breeze in a very mellow and chill Hillside Bar on Capitol Hill. We got caught in a freak thunderstorm on the way home, and ended up seeking refuge under a tree for about 45 minutes while our cab driver dealt with a difficult fare, but we didn't care. We love the rain, and it was beautiful and invigorating. I have always found there to be something magical about the rain.
But despite the difficulties, Dom pulled through and got us home.
That night, I slept like the dead...
No comments:
Post a Comment