SF to Vancouver Adventure Part 4

This adventure is grander than I remember.  But the pictures don't lie I guess.


Tuesday 7/1/14 - Portland/Seattle
Today I woke up on Ryan's small couch and like the good friend that I am, I drove him to work.  He then gave me a tour of the Nike campus: kind of a symbiotic relationship.  It is gorgeous and has tons of great fields and facilities.  Then he went off to work or train or workout or whatever he does there, and I started on my way to Seattle.
I drove directly to Von Trapps, a German beerhall that Cronin took us to last year.  It was showing the USA World Cup game, so I met Cronin there with some of his resident friends.  The food was so good.  The game was not.  Oh well, let's go Germany.
We then went to a park/beach right on Lake Washington.  The water felt great and it had INCREDIBLE views of Rainier.  There was even a little dock with a high dive board.  Imagine jumping off a high dive with Mt. Rainier as your backdrop.  Now die because your life just peaked.

Just the view while swimming.  HOW DO YOU ADJUST TO THAT???

The adventure continued as we went to a delicious burrito place in Belmont neighborhod.  I stuffed myself with what might have been a five pound burrito (living in the Mission District in San Francisco now, this is a pretty common occurrence.  But at the time that was so magical.)  Then Cronin, his resident friends, and I went over to Gasworks Park and met up with James.  We chilled in the park for a bit with some beer; it was great hanging out with these two.  And I love that park.  Someone had the fantastic idea to turn an old gasworks facility into a beautiful park.  And it has a great view of downtown Seattle from across Lake Union.

Dat Skyline

Just a couple of champs champing it up

Gasworks!  YOU ARE ART NOW.

James, Cronin, and I then went to a dive bar with "zoo" in the name (so you know it's good) and had a few beers whist reminiscing until it was time to head home.  Such a great laid back day.  I love Seattle.


Wednesday 7/2/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today I got up early with Cronin and his roommate Becky.  While they went off to work, I drove the two-ish hours to North Cascades National Park.  A beautiful park in the North of Washington, near Canada.  I spent most of my day driving to various viewpoints to see sweeping vistas of these magnificent mountains.  Especially Diablo and Washington Gap overlooks.  I could stay at these two all day.  And the weather is great, so driving through the park is just a really pretty, fun time.
The river running along the main highway (where I stuck to most of the day) is home to three hydroelectric dams that help power Seattle.  These dams offer some pretty great views as well, especially since you can drive or walk over two of them.  So freaking pretty.  It's just really cool to see a work of engineering art in the midst of a gorgeous mountain range.  Hard to beat.  I basically just found myself snacking or eating lunch by the river most of the day just taking in the sights.  What a lazy bum.  Tomorrow is my day to venture forth and do some intense hikes up into the mountains.  There's still a fair amount of snow, but I should be all set with my microspikes.

I had to photoshop this to look uglier so it wouldn't completely blow your mind

SO FREAKING FUNCTIONAL

Nature makes electricity for us sometimes

It's July and that's snow over there

"Oh I didn't see you there, you caught me hanging out by this hydroelectric dam and mountain"

I started getting annoyed by all the "normal" timer pictures

Also there were random mountain goats

And some birds.  Whatever.

For now I'm just hanging out at Diablo overlook, trying to see i the sunset will be decent.
It was ok... the mountains were so close that the Sun just went behind them and didn't really go through enough atmosphere to make the really crazy colors that I'm used to at this point.  But it was still a nice night, cooking up some dinner back at camp.  I'm heading back up to Diablo overlook later at night to see how the stars look up there.
Yeah I didn't do that.  I was tired and the sky looked overcast.


Thursday 7/3/14 - Northern Cascades National Park
Today was nuts.  I hiked 18 miles today amidst some of the grandest mountains I've ever seen.  I ended my day super exhausted, but happy about that accomplishment.
I started early, driving about an hour over to Cascade Pass trail.  This requires you to leave the park and come in on a gravely, dirt road.  Thanks, that's always a fun and not-nauseating ride.  I started the hike up to Cascade Pass at about 8am, originally intending to hike up to Boston Glacier.  But the entire morning I was fogged in.  I couldn't see anything, even after the path turned to snow and I had to pop on my microspikes.  Oh well.  At least I made it to Cascade Pass... I think?  The trail kind of disappeared in the snow, and then got dangerously steep, which is where I think the trail continued to the glaciers.  Risking my life for fog wasn't worth it, so I turned around.  The views cleared a bit on my way down though, so you know, that's fun for whoever got to see that later in the day.

Wow, such a great view from up here!

That's pretty cool... it'd be nice if I could see this stuff when I was higher up maybe.  No?  Ok don't worry about it.

I then immediately drove to the town of Diablo to hike Sourdough trail, which I was advised against by a park ranger.  She didn't realize I have my microspikes though, and that I'm a complete baller.  Snow can't hold me back.  The trail description was "steep and strenuous."  No.  Fucking.  Joke.  Definitely one of the steepest trails I've hiked before.  I made fast time at first though, running up these steep switchbacks; I was motivated by the fact that I started hiking at 2pm and wanted to finish the 10.5 mile round trip hike before sunset.  It was definitely strenuous too - a lot of parts weren't maintained (I think it's too early in the season possibly), so I was climbing over a lot of downed trees.
And then I got to where the snow started.  Kind of scary, because the trail just disappeared beneath the snow.  But I saw a pair of boot tracks, so I followed wherever that guy went.  There was supposed to be some sort of fire lookout at the end of the trail, but nope, I never found that.  Instead, I followed my mystery guide's tracks around through a snowy meadow and up a steep, STEEP incline to the top of a mountain.  I was worried on multiple occasions that I would slip, which would have resulted in me sliding down the entire fucking slope to the bottom of the mountain.  But I had faith in these random footprints.
I passed treeline to see some breathtaking views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the lake waaaaay down below (I think this mountain was an elevation gain of 5000 ft).  At the snowy top of the mountain is was 360 degree view surrounded by amazeballs mountains.  Surrounded.  It was beautiful and incredible.  So glad the fog had cleared.  Words can't describe the feeling of romping on top of a mountain completely surrounded by the Cascades.  Absolutely astounding.

Get out of here

So yeah just mountains in every direction

I "like" this stuff apparently

So now I have to go down there again

Meh, it's ok I guess

The trip down was certainly quicker, but not without its dangers (namely, getting lost and/or falling and breaking a leg).  With the Sun setting, I admit that a few scenarious that would end in me dying popped up in my head.  Since I was on the trail alone (I literally didn't see another person the entire hike), it wouldn't take much.  A broken leg, a random slip, or just getting lost in the snowy, trail-less area would certainly be it for me.  I shook those fears off.  Sliding down the snow was quick, nothing would stop me until I hit a tree at mach speed.  I pondered this when I noticed the Sun creating a perfect rainbow circle in the sky, thanks to the thin mist of cloud above me.  I couldn't take a picture of it, so I will have to remember it as a truly unique and awesome sight.
The remainder of the hike down, past the snow sections, were very tiring (it was a long way up).  My dogs were barking beyond any level dogs had previously barked in all history.  So glad to take my soaking wet boots off.
I combined my dinner with my new campsite neighbors, which is great, because i'm down to half a bag of raisins and a can of beans.  Plus it's good to have someone to talk to.  Back to Seattle tomorrow.
One last note about the North Cascades in general - there is no reception for radio stations in most places.  Literally no stations.  I can press the "seek" button and it will scan through the entire frequency range and keep looping until I stop it.  I hadn't seen that before.


Friday 7/4/14 - Seattle
I got up early and started my way toward what I assumed was Seattle.  I didn't have reception for most of the drive, so i was driving blind (in terms of directions, not vision.  That would be a horrible way to drive).  But hey I made it, so everyone wins.  I met up with James in Capitol Hill at a bar to watch a couple World Cup games.
I met some of his friends, and at this point had enough beers in me to decide to join them as they took a ferry over to Bainbridge to watch fireworks.

Sweet views from the ferry

More of those same exact sweet views but actually different views

Just a couple of champions riding a boat

EVERY FREAKING TIME with this thing!

Now we're on the other side of the Sound because TECHNOLOGY

Drinks were had, fireworks happened, the view of Seattle was insane - it was just a blast.  We had to make the last ferry over, but had enough time to hop into the Sound for a swim.  I also got slightly lost on my way back to Cronin's.  But nothing crazy, just hitchhiking for an hour and hopping into an Uber car that was not at all meant for me.  It was a grand day overall.


Caturday 7/5/14 - Vancouver
And today was the day that I took a hungover drive up to Vancouver, British Columbia with Cronin.  It is only a 2.5 hour drive... depending on how long the wait at the Canadian border is... so it's actually way way longer.
But hey we made it... to Canada!  Our hotel, however, was in the absolute worst part of Vancouver.  Shoddy buildings and completely insane people.  A LOT of homelessness.  So yeah we were experiencing some trepidation as we started exploring the city.  But by the time we reached the Gaslight district the city looked pretty nice.
Our first task was to immediately find some food because we were starving.  So we ate a ton of Japanese food and then had a drink at the brewpub down by the harbor (Canada spells it "harbour" though).  Whistler beer.  The port area was beautiful.  We walked around for a good long while and went to the Vancouver Lookout, grabbing a beverage while checking out some cool views of the city as the restaurant revolved 360 degrees.

Cronin's gonna Crone

And then some Olympic torch thingy thing

That's something too!

Pretty good setting for a Bloody Mary

And then there's this spheroid that is possibly vaguely museum related

We walked around a ton more - we seriously walked so much today holy crap.  And then went back over to the Gaslight district for a drink and some doner kebab.  We didn't stay out too late, but had a good time with a drink here and there.  So we called it early after a long day of walking around the city.  This city reminds me of a cross between Chicago and Seattle - lots of skyscrapers made of glass in a pretty setting.


Sunday 7/6/14 - Vancouver/Seattle
Today was raining when we got up.  It's weird; the only  times I've been in the rain on this trip were one night in Yosemite and in Canada.  But it was a short day in Vancouver.  We woke up, had the shitty continental breakfast, and drove North to Stanley Park.

Vancouver in the rain - it's like regular Vancouver but with rain.

Totem Poles!

We really didn't have much impetus to walk around in the rain.  But we did end up seeing crazy totem poles and a lighthouse.  So that's good.  Anyway, after that we drove back to freedom aka the US.  And back in Seattle it was sunny and we had some delicious salmon!
Unfortunately now is the time that I have to pack.  And it is going to take some doing.  And that rental car reeks.  This redeye back to Boston is going to be tough.


Fantastic west coast road trip!  I guess it's time to start planning the next one.

March 2k13: it happened

Boston sauntered into March with the expectation that Winter would peacefully transform into Spring, as it is wont to do every year.  Jokes on us, because instead of a calm transition into outdoor funtimes, I was obliged to deal with multiple snow storms and temperatures that never went above 55 degrees.  THANKS SO MUCH, IT'S BEEN GREAT.

However, this March has still managed to be eventful despite the horrible weather.  It included a trip to Blue Hills Brewery (followed by a night at the Harpoon Beerhall, which has yet to end in a sober night), a St. Patty's Day shindig complete with 20 lbs of corned beef and 20 lbs of potatoes, and the return of old highschool LAN parties in the form of online Age of Empires II.  Awesome.

In addition to this, we had the annual Boston St. Patty's Day Parade, complete with the traditional pre-parade Power Hour.  It was somehow a struggle.  But it's ok, because after a long T ride on a very full train, we saw the parade for about 30 seconds before needing to go to the bathroom and heading to a party in Southie.

Who needs elbow room when everyone on the T is un-sober?

After the parade, I then went to meet Sarah.  I managed to take the T three stops in the wrong direction before realizing my error, but who doesn't do that?  I then made a Bee-line to a Brazilian BBQ place and got a to-go plate of "all the steak you have."  After giving me an insane amount of meat, I then repeated myself until he gave me all of the steak they had available.  So that was a $30 plate of only meat.  But I wasn't done there.  We then went to Stop n Shop, where I procured 4 lobsters, because why the fuck not?

March for me culminated in an excellent Dodgeball Haus reunion trip to Seattle.  Lord Michael 9/3 Cronin moved out there for his pre-med residency (that's what I'm calling it now), and 6 of us helped destroy his new apartment with our extreme raditude.

Kyle and I arrived Wednesday night to the shock and awe of an amazing view of the city from Cronin's rooftop.  It was magical and there weren't even Unicorns or anything.  The next morning, while Cronin was at work "helping" "children" at "hospitals," Kyle and I pumped our bodies full of delicious food (and I tried Seattle coffee, which still has that barf-like taste just like coffee from anywhere else) and then walked around Lake Union.  We met up with Nate and then proceeded to travel across Fremont, going into costume stores and breweries before meeting up with Cronin at Von Trapp's German beerhall.  James joined as well for a night of merryness that did not lack in ALL THE SAUSAGE and liter-sized beer mugs.

Friday was another working day for Cronin, but with the arrival of Matt, we were all set to take a Ferry over to Bainbridge Island.  We filled our faces with some fine breakfast (this trip was more than just eating even though it doesn't seem that way) and strolled along the waterfront/neighborhoods/wherever the sign told us to go.  It was ok, but the best part was the view of the city on our return Ferry trip.  So awesome.

This is normal

 Kyle and I then visited James at his place of business, which was awesome because they just had rocket parts strewn about.  The night ended in a series of Ramen/Bar establishments and it was a great series.  And Jordan arrived!  Just one more to go.

Saturday was gorgeous.  We got some noms, went to Pike Place, got disgusted at the gum wall: pretty much a fairly touristy morning.  We then collected Arlen, our final companion, at the train station and took the monorail (MONORAIL) over to the Space Needle.  After two previous visits, the weather was finally nice enough for me to pay the troll toll up to the top.  And holy crap, it was worth it.  The views of the mountains and the Sound and the city were amazing.

Seattle, in all it's glory

No but really

 SO NICE OUT.

I forgot how packed this day was.  After the Space Needle and the fountain, we wound up at the REI flagship store, which is like Jurassic Park with a climbing wall.  Our fatigue called for a dude's night in with pizza and about 14 episodes of Archer.  Just like old times.

The whole Seattle gang perfectly blocking the view of the city from Cronin's roof (thanks for letting me steal your pictures BTW Kyle)

Sunday morning included a great trip to the EMP Music Museum.  This horrific barf-pile of an architectural structure housed some pretty great stuff, including some great Nirvana/Hendirx exhibits, a Sci-Fi exhibit, and a great piece on Horror movies.  There was also a little bit on the Evolution of Videogames, which Jordan and I ate up with a spoon.  We were also able to do a surprise studio recording of Wonderwall and Wild Horses.  Unfortunately, this was the downswing of the weekend, because Matt, Nate, and Kyle had flights to catch that evening.  Jordan, Arlen, and I walked around the hills of Seattle before grabbing some steak and having a nice BBQ on Cronin's roof.

Monday turned out to be perfect weather, AND Cronin didn't have to work, so we were able to hike a nearby mountain (Mt. Tiger)!  The Cascades are so friggn close to the city.  So easy to go out and hike.  And we got back in time to check out some of the beaches in Ballard (beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains) and we got some great seafood right on the water.  Definitely a good bookend to the trip.

The very next weekend was Easter, so Sarah and I saddled up for a drive down to Philly for a relaxing weekend at home.  And when I say relaxing, I obviously mean we ran a 5k in the morning followed by smashing all of the fencing around our yard down with an ax.  My Mom took us to Longwood Gardens for a crazy brunch and a lot of walking around flowers.  Sarah really enjoyed the flowers.  I really enjoyed the Longwood Cat, who is still in the same place as he was two years ago and still looks like he might be dead but actually isn't.  To sum up the weekend, it was great food and a good chance to see the gentlemen of Malvern: Geoff, Colin, and Gary.

The ride back to Boston, however, was atrocious.  Eight hours of driving in traffic.  But then it was ok, because we watched the Walking Dead season Finale and Game of Thrones season Premier and they were everything I could every hope for.

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.

Epic Roadtrip Journal: 6/21/11 Seattle

Unfortunately, we had some standard overcast skies, which I am now used to, so we slept in until 7:30ish. The morning was fairly uneventful: packed up the tent FOR THE LAST TIME, enjoyed the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean from our campsite, watched an awesome dog romp around on the beach, went down and splashed around in the Pacific Ocean for the last time in the foreseeable future: normal stuff.
We drove around to the south side of Olympic, watching the scenic views of Lake Quinault and eventually driving into the Quinault Rain Forest. There was a bagel incident in which I ended up scraping up most of my leg. Don't ask.

Last chance to do really stupid things while hiking - I'm going to take full advantage of this opportunity

We did our last hike after driving around on some unpaved roads deep into the forest. Since we didn't really get the opportunity to, we used our 4-wheel-drive capabilities on these roads, even though we didn't need to. Did I mention this car is a beast?
Hiking in the rain forest is really interesting. There are huge ferns all alongside the path, making you feel like there definitely should be dinosaurs running around. There are a ton of frogs, one of which Scott "accidentally" kicked while hiking. We made it to a small lake, really pretty. The weather finally got it's shit together to provide a nice sunny sky. And the mountains off in the distance were fucking epic. I swear, I screamed from excitement no less than 20 times on this trip.
It was a decently long drive from the south side of the park to Seattle. Driving through Olympia, we decided to stop for lunch at a traditional Olympic (can that please be the actual word?) food: chinese food. SEE WHAT I DID THERE? I hadn't had chinese since we started the trip (HOLY FUCK) and I had an extreme hankering for some fake-asiatic cuisine. Delish. And the year of the Tiger description was spot-on. Basically: aggressively awesome. Yep. I grabbed a handful of the "take one" dum-dums and we hit the road like a goddamn hurricane.
On the drive, we FINALLY got an unobstructed view of Mt. Rainier.

I was on that? What? INSANE.

Holy shit, that thing is INTENSE. All the surrounding mountains are less than half it's height. It is so huge and so distinct that I absolutely lost my shit. I was so amped about finally seeing that big beautiful bastard (I think we ALL were) that we turned off the highway to try to get a good viewing spot. We kind of did? We also used this opportunity to fill up gas for the last time and scrape some of the larger bugs off the front of the car, including 3 cat-sized bees. Gross.
BAM! Seattle is awesome. We made it to the hotel around 4pm, unpacked the car, showered, organized our shit, fixed any ACL issues (mostly Nadkarns), basically just settled the fuck down before raging around a new city. We also trucked through our free thing of lavender spray that came with our Portland hotel. There isn't enough lavender spray in the Universe to cover up the smell of campfire smoke and B.O. unfortunately.
Joe met up with us and then we began the Great Seattle Adventure of 2011. He had a week-long conference the same time we went there, which is awesome, so we hung out all night. First place we hit was right around the corner from our hotel: Pike's Place. I love that place. We saw some fish throwing, the cafe where Sleepless in Seattle happened, where I sat in Rob Reiner's seat when Hogan and I went two years prior (I've never seen that movie, so I really don't give much of a shit). We then enjoyed some amazing weather and got our shit together to book dinner reservations at one of the seafood places on the Puget Sound.
We used our time to go hit up the Space Needle.

Nailed it

I hadn't seen it in such good weather before, and I had NEVER seen the nearby fountain turned on. It was apparently the nicest day of the year so far in Seattle, so every single citizen was outside, some of which were in bathing suits running through the fountain sprays. It looked hilarious and super-refreshing, so Joe and I joined in. Definitely a good move. I love that freaking fountain. It spritzes with musical accompaniment (oh dear lord that is WAY too graphic...). If we didn't have to go have a delicious seafood dinner, I would have stayed longer for sure. Then we rode the monorail to dinner!

Joe is great at taking pictures that look like album covers

We got down to our dinner place in time, but discovered that it wouldn't have the same sunset view as some of the others, so we said "fuck that." I don't know if you know this about me, but I enjoy a good sunset. We ended up going to Fisherman's Restaurant. They were worried we wouldn't be ok with a ten minute wait. I don't know what it is about the west coast, but they think a 15-20 minute wait is super long. This happened in Portland too. "Yes, I can wait the time it takes me to de-board a plane in order to eat a fantastic meal. It's no problem."
As we were led to our table, I got pre-pumped just looking at what an awesome sunset view we were about to see. But then I noticed that the only free table was literally the closest table to the water, right in front for sunset: literally the best table possible. Holy shit, the view of the setting Sun, the Olympic mountains (where we were this morning!), the Puget Sound, the Seattle skyline: I went from 6 to midnight. So ridiculously epic. I had yet another mini freakout session of the extreme awesomeness of the situation.

How do they expect me to eat a delicious dinner when this this view is already overloading my senses?

We ordered an incredible dinner: some bottles of wine (including two free appetizers and a free incorrect order!). Then Scott and I shared a romantic (spew) feast of seafood: clam chowder, clams and mussels, rabbit food, and 3 types of crab. The King Crab legs were fairly pointy and sharp, but they were all delicious. Especially the Dungeness Crab. Fucking great. Then I had a nice Seattle beer and, oh wait, more appetizers? The meal ended up costing like $65 per person, but hold the phone, GREATEST SUNSET OF RECORDED HISTORY WAS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE.

You have got to be shitting me

Delicious food, great drinks, amazing friends, the fucking SUN setting over the Olympic mountains, creating insane colors that don't even EXIST, all over the fucking sky. FUCK. Best. Meal. Ever. (calm down bro) It was definitely my "rose" of the entire trip. My favorite part was the end, when Joe was playing around with my camera as we ate. He took about a trillion pictures of Alex eating. It was a hilarious montage I shan't soon forget. Then I swiped a wine glass and we GTFO'd. (classic)
The night did not end there. NO SIR. We went back to the hotel to change into warmer clothes (pfffttt) and finish our bottles of beer (yay!). Then we headed to a microbrewery for some more local beer. It was last call (really? midnight?), so we grabbed some drinks as fast as we could. I started singing along with a Foreigner song that was playing ("I want to know what love is..."), and was accompanied by a slightly crazed looking dude with an epic beard named Vladamir. This dude was bomb. We started talking to him - he was a Mormon trying to get ex-communicated, enjoyed beer, and was all-around badass. He gave us some good bar recommendations and some chocolate covered strawberries. Seriously. He worked at a place that made them and uses them to get free beer. FUCKING AWESOME.

Yeah I dug right in

Everyone in Seattle is friggn insanely nice, but Vlad was just baller.
We left and headed past the gum-wall: literally half a block of walls covered in old, chewed up, disgusting gum. It was awesome. Vlad told us that it is the third dirtiest location in the world after the Blarney Stone and Mecca. Kind of cool though.

Gross

We snagged a beer at the bar Vlad suggested, and then opted to actually seek out the bar he went to - the Blarney Stone (Vlad freaked the fuck out when Colleen led him to the gum-wall/bar name connection). We had a few PBRs (so disgustingly hipster), said our goodbyes to Vlad (including a group hug), and then said our goodbyes to Joe as we headed back to the hotel to drunkenly flop into bed for the night. Great fucking day.