Seattle
On a clear, sunny day, Seattle is easily one of the most beautiful cities to live in. During my three-day stay there, luckily I just got one rainy, cloudy day.
My drive from Montana, through the flat plains of eastern Washington and later through the snow capped Cascade Mountains, was amazing. It was one of those in-the-zone days, when driving seems so easy. I reached Seattle in the evening and crashed at my friend, Ram’s place, which is close to the Green Lake. Ram is one of my best friends from undergrad, probably the most reliable person I know and my favorite roadtrip buddy (we have covered several national parks in CA by road). Ram moved to Seattle from LA recently and like me, was equally curious and interested in exploring the city.
That evening, Ram and I went for dinner at a Mexican place in the Freemont area, close to a giant Lenin statue. The next day was a typical Seattle rainy day. It was a Friday. In fact, it was also a Fuqua Friday. I drove over to Bellevue in the rain and met some of my favorite Fuqua people – Elynn and Robin, Leandro and Sabrina, over some Sichuan food.
The remaining two days in Seattle were quite relaxing. I got enough sleep and got over my Midwest blues. I did some touristy stuff around Seattle (Pikes Place, Space Needle, Alki Beach, Seattle Underground etc.). Also, saw Moonrise Kingdom, the new Wes Anderson movie – which was quirky and funny. And as always, had a great soundtrack, this time by Alexander Desplat, who also did a pretty phenomenal job in King’s Speech.
On Sunday, I met my old buddy from San Diego days, Singh and his wife. We met at Beth’s Café, which has these humongous 6 and 12 egg omelets. Beth’s Café was also featured on the show “Man Vs. Food”. I ordered a six egger filled with all sorts of goodies. The omelet was okay – very cheesy and sometimes tasty (slightly overrated though.. IMHO). While me (the Man) finished the omelet (the Food), the Food had the last laugh. I fell extremely sleepy after this brunch and wasted a good part of this nice, unusually sunny Seattle day napping.
The next Monday morning, I left for the Oregon coast. On my way, I stopped by the little town of Aberdeen, which happens to be the hometown of Nirvana band members, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. Back during the quizzing days in India, once I got a visual round question, which showed the welcome sign to a town with the words “Come As You Are” written on it. That time, I guessed Aberdeen as the correct answer and since then, I was always curious to see this actual welcome sign. So, as I was approaching Aberdeen, I actually saw the sign and pulled over abruptly by the freeway. I am very sure the cars behind me would have cursed me a few times .. haha.
As such the location of Aberdeen is not bad. It is right next to a river, close to the ocean and surrounded by mountains covered with tall, leafy trees. But, Aberdeen appeared to be a very sleepy town and everything seemed very old. It looked as if the town was never repainted in the last 20 years. The overcast conditions also gave a dull, gloomy look to it. I took a little break and stood by the banks of the Wishkah river, and wondered what could be the reason that such good yet angry music was written here. During my past roadtrips, I came across several small, sleepy towns. But perhaps the perennially grey skies were the unique ingredient behind the genesis of the dark tones of Nirvana’s music.
Luckily, the weather improved and the drive through the Oregon Coast during the next two days was quite breathtakingly beautiful.
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