Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Day 70
I woke up refreshed and went for another epic run - this time about 55 minutes. I managed to run the whole way around Lake Union and felt really strong. After 2 1/2 months, the form is coming around and I am finally starting to see some results from all of my training.
We packed up and went to do some laundry. There was a place just across from Louisa's called Washing Town. We put the clothes on and walked over to Louisa's for a bite and a coffee.
When the laundry was finished, we drove north a couple of miles to Ballard and had a sniff around. We ate lunch in a place called Palermos and then we went across the street to a cafe called Verite to meet a friend of mine who is currently staying in Seattle. We chilled, had loads of chats and I downed my 5th shot of espresso for the day.
The afternoon was great but we had to pay the price when we left - rush hour traffic in Seattle. We crawled down 5S only covering about 12 or 15 miles in the first hour. The plan was to go to Portland but we decided to find somewhere before then to rest for the night.
We found an Econo Lodge in a place called Kelso, which is, well, it's a dump. It was founded in 1884 by some Scottish dude and named after Kelso, Scotland. It used to be called Little Chicago because of an unusually large amount of taverns and whorehouses. But over the years all the excitement seems to have diluted. In 1980, when Mount St Helen's erupted, Kelso had a perfect view. It seems that some of the local shops have been built on volcanic ash. Now the only thing I think it really has going for it is that it known as the smelt capital of the world. That's a pretty far cry from taverns and whorehouses.
We dropped the things off and then went to Applebees for a bite. It was in a shopping center that also had a bowling alley, so we went for a game just for the craic. The place (called Triangle Bowl) was everything you would expect from a bowling alley in the middle of nowhere in Washington - cheap games (only $3.40 each), lots of high school kids along with a few hardcore nerds (playing alone) and cheesy, hair-metal music playing from the stereo.
In a hard fought three game battle for a dollar, Paulo took the first game with ease. I was terrible and after only a few frames thought that I wouldn't be able to move my arm for a week. I also couldn't find a ball that I was happy with. But I came back in the second game and won it, bowling a strike and two spares on the way. The third game was really close until about the 6th frame when Paulo pulled away, sealed the victory and won the all coveted dollar.
During the showdown, we learned that Barry Bonds had hit his 756th home run and set the all time home run record. I think most of you know how I feel about this. I have already said that Hank Aaron is the one and only, true home run king. I won't accept that Bonds has surpassed him in a totally honest fashion and I won't ever refer to him as the 'home run king'. Unfortunately, I think the record will stand and Bonds will probably not be found guilty of any wrong doing or punished. I guess the conciliation is that Gay-Rod (the player that I want to hate but can't help respecting) should pass Bonds in a few more years.
We headed back to the room and eased in to some tele - our favourites: Seinfeld and Family Guy.
We packed up and went to do some laundry. There was a place just across from Louisa's called Washing Town. We put the clothes on and walked over to Louisa's for a bite and a coffee.
When the laundry was finished, we drove north a couple of miles to Ballard and had a sniff around. We ate lunch in a place called Palermos and then we went across the street to a cafe called Verite to meet a friend of mine who is currently staying in Seattle. We chilled, had loads of chats and I downed my 5th shot of espresso for the day.
The afternoon was great but we had to pay the price when we left - rush hour traffic in Seattle. We crawled down 5S only covering about 12 or 15 miles in the first hour. The plan was to go to Portland but we decided to find somewhere before then to rest for the night.
We found an Econo Lodge in a place called Kelso, which is, well, it's a dump. It was founded in 1884 by some Scottish dude and named after Kelso, Scotland. It used to be called Little Chicago because of an unusually large amount of taverns and whorehouses. But over the years all the excitement seems to have diluted. In 1980, when Mount St Helen's erupted, Kelso had a perfect view. It seems that some of the local shops have been built on volcanic ash. Now the only thing I think it really has going for it is that it known as the smelt capital of the world. That's a pretty far cry from taverns and whorehouses.
We dropped the things off and then went to Applebees for a bite. It was in a shopping center that also had a bowling alley, so we went for a game just for the craic. The place (called Triangle Bowl) was everything you would expect from a bowling alley in the middle of nowhere in Washington - cheap games (only $3.40 each), lots of high school kids along with a few hardcore nerds (playing alone) and cheesy, hair-metal music playing from the stereo.
In a hard fought three game battle for a dollar, Paulo took the first game with ease. I was terrible and after only a few frames thought that I wouldn't be able to move my arm for a week. I also couldn't find a ball that I was happy with. But I came back in the second game and won it, bowling a strike and two spares on the way. The third game was really close until about the 6th frame when Paulo pulled away, sealed the victory and won the all coveted dollar.
During the showdown, we learned that Barry Bonds had hit his 756th home run and set the all time home run record. I think most of you know how I feel about this. I have already said that Hank Aaron is the one and only, true home run king. I won't accept that Bonds has surpassed him in a totally honest fashion and I won't ever refer to him as the 'home run king'. Unfortunately, I think the record will stand and Bonds will probably not be found guilty of any wrong doing or punished. I guess the conciliation is that Gay-Rod (the player that I want to hate but can't help respecting) should pass Bonds in a few more years.
We headed back to the room and eased in to some tele - our favourites: Seinfeld and Family Guy.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Day 69
This morning I woke up paying for the excesses of the night before. I was incredibly tired and very hungry. Paulo was even worse. We meandered down a few blocks to Louisa's Cafe for a sambo. I couldn't even face a coffee because my stomach was so delicate.
After struggling through lunch, we went back to the Inn where I arranged to stay an additional night. Neither of us were going to be able to face packing, moving and trying to find another place to stay. Paulo caught a few more Zs while I got stuck into ripping my new bundle of CDs.
A few hours passed and we decided that it was time to venture out into the world and look for some more food. We drove into town (the long way) and down to Pike Street where I convinced Paulo (and his stomach) to let me take a few snaps.
Usually when I navigate and Paulo drives we do pretty well. Except for when the place we are trying to find doesn't exist. We drove up Pine Street looking for a Mexican place that I had read about called Bitchin' Burritos. Unfortunately, it had closed down since the guide was published and is now all boarded up. Plan B involved driving back in to the center of town and looking for something. Anything. We parked and found Fox Sports Grill which was grand because we both wanted to see the Sox - Angels game. But the Sox lost and the service in the place was brutal (kinda like Fox Network).
We had nachos to start that were great but I was disappointed with my salad. I also wasn't mad about my Alaskan brew. Still looking for that quality IPA over here...
The night called for some more chilling and tele. Predator was on but had way too many commercials to properly follow the film. A few channels later Eddie Murphy's Raw was on. Except that it had even more commercials and all of the f*cks were bleeped out. What is the f*cking point!? You can't watch that film censored. It's just not funny. And it doesn't make any sense because you can't hear 75% of what he is saying! Frustrated and tired we turned off the tele and fell asleep.
After struggling through lunch, we went back to the Inn where I arranged to stay an additional night. Neither of us were going to be able to face packing, moving and trying to find another place to stay. Paulo caught a few more Zs while I got stuck into ripping my new bundle of CDs.
A few hours passed and we decided that it was time to venture out into the world and look for some more food. We drove into town (the long way) and down to Pike Street where I convinced Paulo (and his stomach) to let me take a few snaps.
Usually when I navigate and Paulo drives we do pretty well. Except for when the place we are trying to find doesn't exist. We drove up Pine Street looking for a Mexican place that I had read about called Bitchin' Burritos. Unfortunately, it had closed down since the guide was published and is now all boarded up. Plan B involved driving back in to the center of town and looking for something. Anything. We parked and found Fox Sports Grill which was grand because we both wanted to see the Sox - Angels game. But the Sox lost and the service in the place was brutal (kinda like Fox Network).
We had nachos to start that were great but I was disappointed with my salad. I also wasn't mad about my Alaskan brew. Still looking for that quality IPA over here...
The night called for some more chilling and tele. Predator was on but had way too many commercials to properly follow the film. A few channels later Eddie Murphy's Raw was on. Except that it had even more commercials and all of the f*cks were bleeped out. What is the f*cking point!? You can't watch that film censored. It's just not funny. And it doesn't make any sense because you can't hear 75% of what he is saying! Frustrated and tired we turned off the tele and fell asleep.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Day 68
Today started with a 55 minute run - I went north and ran around the top part of East Lake but I got a bit lost trying to get back to the motel and tacked on a couple of extra minutes in the process.
For breakfast we decided to stay local and walked down the street, intending to go to Louisa's Cafe for breakie, but they were already closed! Instead we ventured in to 14 Carrot Cafe a few doors down and had a very nice breakie indeed. The staff were all lovely as well.
Our plan for the day was to do a bit of exploring. Specifically, to explore Fremont Street with the hope of finding Sonic Boom - the local establishment where one may buy and / or sell compact discs and LP records. We went back to the room, gathered our things and went for the Tom. It took a bit of chopping and changing but we managed to make it to Fremont Street and wouldn't you know it dropped us off right in front of Sonic Boom!
More browsing, more choosing, more listening and more buying. I picked up some quality dance stuff and a T-shirt while Paulo managed to dig up a few 'gems' as usual.
I wanted to walk up Fremont Street to have a look and find a watering hole but we got a bit distracted.
First, we saw another shop that we had read about called Jive Time.
We had a wee look and Paulo started pumping his fist in the air, saying 'I don't believe it!' He apparently found some obscure super-hard-to-find CD by a band that nobody ever heard of except for him. And he bought it for two dollars. A bargain is a bargain.
By now, the afternoon was getting on and we were getting no where. When Paulo was buying his fourth copy of only six CD, he started chatting to the dude in the shop who told him that there was another, cooler Jive Time across the street.
Next thing you know we are in the basement of this building in one of the coolest thrift shops that I have ever seen. And in the corner was a section of LPs and CDs with rock bottom prices. It would be the perfect place to start a vinyl collection. Everything was priced at about two or three dollars and there was a lot of quality there.
It would have been great to take a few pics of all the stuff in the shop but the guy working there kept following me around and I didn't get the chance to take the camera out. Next to the cash register was an old phonograph from God knows what year that the staff were using to play a really scratchy, beat up copy of 'Houses Of The Holy'. We stayed for the entire first side.
Despite the lack of movement, all the browsing and buying had made us really thirsty and a bit pecky. Luckily for us Triangle Cafe was right across the street from Jive Time. And they were showing the Cubs game on TV. Do I need to say anymore? I'm pretty sure you can surmise what we did for the next while. We stayed for a bite, watched the game and had a few 'prescriptions'.
During the course of the night, people came and went, karaoke started and there was some really, really bad music played.
We hung for a bit but when we couldn't take anymore we jumped in a Joer and went back to the motel for our appointment with some Zs.
For breakfast we decided to stay local and walked down the street, intending to go to Louisa's Cafe for breakie, but they were already closed! Instead we ventured in to 14 Carrot Cafe a few doors down and had a very nice breakie indeed. The staff were all lovely as well.
Our plan for the day was to do a bit of exploring. Specifically, to explore Fremont Street with the hope of finding Sonic Boom - the local establishment where one may buy and / or sell compact discs and LP records. We went back to the room, gathered our things and went for the Tom. It took a bit of chopping and changing but we managed to make it to Fremont Street and wouldn't you know it dropped us off right in front of Sonic Boom!
More browsing, more choosing, more listening and more buying. I picked up some quality dance stuff and a T-shirt while Paulo managed to dig up a few 'gems' as usual.
I wanted to walk up Fremont Street to have a look and find a watering hole but we got a bit distracted.
First, we saw another shop that we had read about called Jive Time.
We had a wee look and Paulo started pumping his fist in the air, saying 'I don't believe it!' He apparently found some obscure super-hard-to-find CD by a band that nobody ever heard of except for him. And he bought it for two dollars. A bargain is a bargain.
By now, the afternoon was getting on and we were getting no where. When Paulo was buying his fourth copy of only six CD, he started chatting to the dude in the shop who told him that there was another, cooler Jive Time across the street.
Next thing you know we are in the basement of this building in one of the coolest thrift shops that I have ever seen. And in the corner was a section of LPs and CDs with rock bottom prices. It would be the perfect place to start a vinyl collection. Everything was priced at about two or three dollars and there was a lot of quality there.
It would have been great to take a few pics of all the stuff in the shop but the guy working there kept following me around and I didn't get the chance to take the camera out. Next to the cash register was an old phonograph from God knows what year that the staff were using to play a really scratchy, beat up copy of 'Houses Of The Holy'. We stayed for the entire first side.
Despite the lack of movement, all the browsing and buying had made us really thirsty and a bit pecky. Luckily for us Triangle Cafe was right across the street from Jive Time. And they were showing the Cubs game on TV. Do I need to say anymore? I'm pretty sure you can surmise what we did for the next while. We stayed for a bite, watched the game and had a few 'prescriptions'.
During the course of the night, people came and went, karaoke started and there was some really, really bad music played.
We hung for a bit but when we couldn't take anymore we jumped in a Joer and went back to the motel for our appointment with some Zs.
