Seattle Surprises

I didn’t know what to expect when I stepped off the plane on Thursday night last week at the Seattle Tacoma airport.  I was just happy I was linking up with my son, Richie, his partner, Ryan, and Ry’s mom, Lisa.  This was to be our 3^rd Annual Mother/Son Road Trip.

In the back of my mind, I thought cold, damp, rainy, and frankly, a little “meh.” Happily, it was clear, mild, and - surprise - sunny and anything but meh.

On the first day, we took a coffee crawl and Ed, our fabulous host, taught us that Starbucks originated in Seattle in 1971 at the Pike Place Market and was named for the first mate, Starbuck, in the novel Moby Dick.  As we progressed to four other coffee shops, we wondered aloud why there were so many in Seattle. Ed speculated about the weather, the laidback culture, the walkable nature of the city, reasonable rents, etc.  Who knows exactly why, but in terms of density, Seattle has 4x as many coffee shops as New York City. 

Our next stop was the “soul of Seattle,” Pike Place Market.  The vibrant flowers beckoned us in and the honeycrisp apple samples brought us to our knees.  The market was alive with energy and we learned that fish really do fly as fishmongers throw them to get wrapped after purchase.  It’s an amazing blend of talent – stand up comedians, singers, performance artists… all while expertly gutting and filleting fish.  

We put nearby Freemont on our agenda for its quirky factor. Unfortunately we went at night and missed the troll under the bridge, but were able to come face to face with the Lenin statue.  An American teaching in Slovakia found the seven ton bronze sculpture lying face down after the Revolution in 1989 and felt compelled to honor its historic and artistic importance.  He mortgaged his home to purchase it and bring it to the US. People seem to love that art itself triumphed over ideology.

The hills were another surprise. Seattle felt a little San Franciscoesque and is actually surrounded by 200 feet of shoreline. A 35-minute ferry to Bainbridge was a must to squeeze into our two-day adventure.  We didn’t know what was more breath taking – the snowcapped Olympic Mountains or the charming harbor as we approached the island.

Although I always thought of grunge rock originating in Seattle, it’s also home base to many businesses including Boeing, Cinnabon, Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom’s and UPS. Not too grungy.  A stunning 36% of Seattleites get to work by foot, bike, or public transportation, including ferry.  And clean and green is always a nice surprise.

The best part of the trip, though? My utter gratitude to be with these people and share in the beauty of our planet.  Here’s to next March and Road Trip #4.

Have a good day, Hon!

Every city has its kitschy charms.  I’d say one of Baltimore’s is how it channels its inner “hon.”  Rather than try to escape its blue collar, waitress, dockworker, beehive hairstyle image, it embraces it in a warm hug and calls it “hon.” The culture of the 1950’s to the 1970’s Baltimore is captured in John Water’s movies, especially Pink Flamingos, where native Waters parodies everything Baltimore.

In 2010, a local businesswoman in Baltimore trademarked the word “hon” for promotional purposes.  Such was an outpouring of outrage, that she relinquished the trademark a year later.  No one can lay claim to the spirit or heart of something. And that’s the very essence of “hon.”