Seattle, Part 1

Digital Souvenir from the Space Needle

I made it into Redmond around 6pm and met up with Max. We stopped for food at Highscore Burgers, a burger place themed around video games. After driving the whole day, a burger and a beer is just what I needed. Max and I caught up on what had happened since Olympic and settled into playing Gauntlet on one of the cabinets. Friends, good food, video games, beer...I could get used to this!

We went back to his apartment and I set up my replacement laptop. This was the first time that I was able to access a computer since my other one was stolen in San Francisco, so I had a lot to catch up on. It was already pretty late, but I had to get my itemized list of all items taken with the backpack into the insurance company so they could reimburse me. So between adding items to the list, my computer was rebooting for updates. I didn't get to bed until 2am.

The next day was spent trying to catch up on everything. I hadn't written a blog post in a while, nor had I really sorted through email or paid bills. It took all day for me to sort through everything and get some semblance of being "caught up".

That night, I met up with one of Max's friends from Michigan State who also works for Microsoft. Max, Zach, and myself went to the Malt and Vine for beers. They had a lot of import and craft beers on tap, as well as a huge bottle selection. If Max was trying to convince me to move out to Seattle (which he was), he knew exactly where to take me.

We went to pick up Cait from the airport the following day. She was out of town for work and had hardly been in Seattle since they moved out there. We went downtown to the Yardhouse to celebrate. I saw one of these in Long Beach that had one of the biggest porches I had ever seen. They had a beer selection the rivaled the Malt and Vine, but the food was also excellent. After dinner and drinks we went back to the apartment for a movie.

I was able to meet up with Milan after work on Monday. I have known Milan for about 7 years, starting with him being my mentor for a class back at Michigan Tech. He works for Microsoft as Business Manager/Chief of Staff, Bing Experiences in Bellevue. I hadn't seen him for almost 4 years, so it was good to see him again. He showed me around his office, and we went back to his apartment where we had dinner and I met his wife. We talked about Michigan Tech and Gridalogy, trying to figure out where everyone on the team was and how they were doing. He gave me some ideas on what to visit and wished me luck on my trip.

The next day I met up with Scott, one of my fellow FCGs from Ford. He had moved out to Seattle after being hired by Microsoft this summer. It was good to catch up and chat about the similarities and differences of working for Ford and Microsoft. We had lunch at the Microsoft Cafeteria, which put any other corporate cafeteria to shame. It seems like he is fitting right in and doing well!

I finally made my way into Seattle to explore the following day. The apartment is right on the 545 route into the city, so taking the bus was the obvious choice. If I were to drive my car I would not only need to pay the fee for crossing the bridge, but I would have to pay for parking. Once downtown, I could walk pretty much anywhere.

My first stop was the Space Needle. It was a rather touristy thing to go visit, but worth it all the same. It was mostly clear, and so I could see pretty far into the distance. The top is open for a full 360° view. I wasn't able to see Rainier, but I could still see most of the city.

These guys are visible from the top. Pretty cool art.

I thought about grabbing some food from the restaurant until I saw the prices. Even the trick I used on the Queen Mary of just getting soup would have been rather expensive. I decided against it and moved on.

 My next stop was the Chihuly Glass Garden. This was a really cool exhibit. I never knew you could make some of these shapes with glass, let alone make them structurally sound. I will let some of the pictures speak for themselves.

After visiting the gardens, I tried to meet up with Kali at her new job. She works really close to the Space Needle at Third and Wall Art. Unfortunately she just got really busy at work and I couldn't stop by. She suggested I make my way down to Pike Place Market instead. I set off to find the first Starbucks!

Taken from Wikipedia. Forget to get a picture for myself...

Pike Place Market is really a unique experience. From fishmongers throwing fish, to fresh produce samples, to every type of food imaginable, to people selling any trinket under the sun. I saw fresh bread, fresh fish and meat, fresh veggies, fresh peppers, and fresh spices: everything that you would need to cook a fantastic meal. There was also a knife store that had many different cooking tools. Truly a cooks dream.

I wandered around for an hour or so trying to find the Starbucks. I was unsuccessful and wandered into a Starbucks a block away, figuring that this had to be the one. It was a first store, but not THE first store. The store I visited was the first chain store. They were kind enough to give me directions to the very first store.

The first Starbucks was absolutely packed. There was barely enough room to stand, so I decided to cut my losses. I found it, that was good enough.

I had a few hours to kill, so I made my way back to the Seattle Center. The Seattle Center was the site for the World's Fair in 1962. The Space Needle was built specifically for the fair. I wandered around for a bit, looking at the different buildings. I stopped at the fountain and watched a group of dancers practice around it. I assume it was for one of the many festivals held here.

To end the day, I met up with my friend Ivor. We both played football at Saint Francis, but lost touch after we graduated. He also works for Microsoft, but in the Office division. We caught up, talked about work, talked about the area, and future projects.

Who know that I knew this many people in the Seattle Area?

Pictures of Seattle