Living on the West Coast? Why Not Visit Seattle? Oh because it's 1000 miles away? Whatever.

Weekend of Oct. 4, 2009

Seattle

(oh hey! pictures!)

We're only three weeks into our jobs in CA and Hogan and I are already like "let's take a vacation day." As if the entire thing weren't vacation enough as it is. But whatever, we took Friday off to fly up to Seattle to visit the one and only James-motherfucking-Harris. Seattle isn't a game, but if it were, we would have won. James picked us up at the airport Thursday night and took us back to his apartment, which is AWESOME and at an amazing location. Right by the Space Needle with a great roofdeck view of the city.

Not a bad view

James had work the next morning, so Hogan and I putzed around the Space Needle area for a bit. The weather was shit, as it is wont to be in Seattle, so we didn't mind too much. We opted not to go up the Space Needle though, since we wouldn't see all that much anyway. We trekked over to a hill for a great view of the city, which is when the skies decided to open up and dump on us. We were soaked. And we had to walk to over to Pike Place. So that was fun. But hey, it's Seattle. I had a rain jacket. Hogan decided not to bring one for some reason... But eventually, with enough complaining and cursing of the heavens, we made it to Pike Place for some chowder in exact seats that Tom hanks and Rob Reiner (gross) sat at in Sleepless in Seattle! If anyone cares about that fact, let me know, because I haven't even seen it, nor do I intend to!
We then hopped on the somewhat newly constructed light rail out to where James works. Oh, did I mention he works in the coolest place ever building space rockets? Yeah. The only thing that could make that visit more enjoyable would be riding Segways. OH WAIT, WE DID THAT. James, start working on getting me a job.
At this point the weather went from "shit-tastic" to "NICEST WEATHER IMAGINABLE." I don't understand the climate of the pacific northwest, but then again, neither do the meteorologists.

This is what Seattle looks like with nice weather. Try to remember it, for you will never witness it again.

So at this point it is about 6pm on a Friday, and we do what any group of 23 year old gentlemen would logically do: pound beers and oysters. LIKE A BOSS. We started out at a few good seafood places by the Puget Sound, where I was dared to eat a spoonful of horseradish. Challenge Accepted.

Painful? Yes. Worth it? Doubtful.

Then we went to a few other bars, where insanity ensued. I'm pretty sure the night ended with Hogan faking a limp in a liquor store as we bought 40's, and on the way out he stole an umbrella. I also think we may have been kicked out of a dance club? Questionable. But definitely a great night.

Oh we went to a classy establishment too

The next morning we nursed our hangovers by watching internet videos and Futurama literally all day. Like, the entire day. Then we went to a microbrewery for dinner and some tasty concoctions. I wouldn't call it a rally, because it is like 6pm the next day, but we DESTROYED some seafood that night. It was also Hogan's birthday, so we raged as hard as our hungover digestive systems allowed us to. Which, incidentally, is a fair amount.

Birthday shot

Wait, are you telling me that there is more to do in Seattle than just eat seafood and drink all the beers? Interesting concept...
But yes, we actually got up and took a tour of the Underground! About a hundred years ago the city of Seattle burned to the ground, and instead of being pissed off, most of the residents were like "good riddance." So they built a new city on top of the old one, made the roads less steep (it might be more accurate to describe them as "slightly more horizontal than vertical"), slapped some plumbing in there, and called it a day. So the "old" city is still under there. It was interesting and informative and I... learned something. We also had some of that famous Seattle Coffee. Well, I only had a sip on account of the fact that coffee tastes like a bag of vomit being filtered through a septic tank.

"No thank you. Would you mind taking it back and swapping it with something that isn't made with the contents of an old lady's colon?"

Classy. So anyway. I think we watched some more lolcats or something until our flight that afternoon. Pretty great weekend. It was good to see James, and Seattle was awesome. Had another great time on our epic road trip, but this was my first time visiting, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.