My 72 Hours in Seattle Part III

So my third day in Seattle is a Friday. It happened to be Friday the 11th of September. I wake up early, didn't sleep well again. I dunno what the problem is, I have a comfortable bed but I'm a bit anxious I guess. Anxious about what, I don't know.

Anyway, I'm flipping the channels of the TeeVee, come across MSNBC and note that they're playing the events of 9-11-2001 as it happened. Now I'm on the west coast so it's just about 6 in the morning and the footage was right before the second plane hit the South tower of the World Trade Center of lower Manhattan.

Back in 2001 I was still snoozing when the events happened. I was listening to Howard Stern (on tape delay) when they first reported the events. I thought I wonder if it's on the news. I turn to the TV and see what looks like Lower Manhattan but from the 50's and 60's because it doesn't look like what I know to be lower Manhattan. It was in smoke but it didn't look right. Buildings were missing. I turned the channel and found out why. It was then when I realized the catastrophe that occurred. The rest is history.

So this was the first time I'm seeing the events in real time, without the maudlin music and the political rhetoric, right and left. I hate to say it, but I was riveted. It brings those emotions back from that day.

I finally dragged myself from my room and tried to set up my day. Now after my free breakfast I was trying to figure out how to spend my day because my feet now had four large blisters, two on each feet. I decided to do touristy things.

I took the bus down to the International District and Uwajimaya. Uwajimaya is this great Japanese market that sells everything from groceries to fresh fish to manga and religious totems. Awesome. I had lunch there, tempura chicken with some sweet sauce that was quite tasty. I was a little disappointed they didn't have the Japanese toy selection they had the last time I was there. Well, the train again I took to the former Bon Marche, now known as Macy's Seattle.












I used to love shopping there when I lived there but the reason I really wanted to shop there was because I only packed four shirts with me. I thought I packed more but...anyway, I didn't find anything good there so on my merry way I went to Pike Place Market. I bought some apples and peaches, wishing I had a kitchen to cook some of the fresh vegetables and even fresher Salmon that was there. Instead, I went to the excellent comic store known as Golden Age comics. Didn't buy anything but shoulda bought the Peter Bagge book they were selling there. Oh well.













I had time to kill before I was to go out that Friday night. I wanted to rest my feet so I took a bus ride up to the Varsity theater to see the movie "The Hurt Locker" The movie was excellent but the popcorn was only good.


I went back to the hotel to rest, drank some more Fat Tire and watched even more 9-11 events before I went back, once again to Ozzie's. This time the crowd was decent but not too crowded for a Friday. I was talking to some people there including a nice looking Seattle woman who I found fascinating. She definitely seemed more worldly than her young age would suggest. We talked for awhile but every once in a while she would take off for a few minutes. After the second time she left I was thinking about heading back to the hotel when I ran into her again on my way out.

I went outside with her while she smoked. We hung out til after closing when Blueberry showed up wanting to do some graffiti in the alley next door. Blueberry again revealed what a character she was. The woman I met was fascinated with Blueberry's antics. Blueberry's lack of inhibitions with her antics and my mild drunkenness took me back to my SVA days in the late 80's. I can't believe I can still experience this after all these years but it had been a long time.

After Blueberry went her merry way, I escorted my new friend back to where she crashed for the night and I went back to my hotel.

I felt so guilty. I didn't say goodbye to Star. That may have explained why once again I didn't get any sleep. Or maybe it was because I was now heading to Portland and I was not going to get to know my new friend any better. My, I love the women in Seattle. I like the accents and the attitude. Also, they tend to be smart, I like that.

And thus my short stay in Seattle ends. Portland, here I come!