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The following online journal entries are from March 2002. On February 27, 2002, I left San Francisco after three years of residence. The plan was to return to Maryland. Before returning to the East Coast, I hoped to do a little traveling. On February 28, my friend Dustin and I set out from the Bay Area for Seattle. The entries from the end of February through the first week of March are an account of those Seattle days.
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SUNDAY. 12:05 PM. I am pretty darn tired. It's no wonder people so often say that they need a vacation after their vacation. Seattle has been pretty cool though. I'm just weary after packing, moving hundreds of pounds of boxes up and down stairs, and then walking around the Emerald City. Yesterday, Carol and Christine took us on a scenic drive around Seattle. We went to Seward Park, a peninsula into Lake Washington covered by old growth forest. After hiking through ferns and mud and redwoods, the women dropped us off downtown. Dustin and I walked down to the Pike Place Market, a collection of local merchants and artists and restaurants. I really love hawkers, I've decided. The famed fish throwers were not in top form, though; they only underhand tossed fish. Dustin and I were pleasantly accosted by the pepper jelly woman who had us taste cabernet sauvignon jelly, garlic jelly, ginger jelly, horseradish jelly, and of course hot pepper jelly. Upon her recommendation, we had a grilled salmon sandwich at the Market Grill. I really liked the feel of the Market; though crowded beyond belief, it wasn't plastic and meaningless like San Francisco's Pier 39. After Pike Place Market, we walked down to Pioneer Square. I got a new watch band for my watch (which had broken the week before). We walked around the historic buildings. Then we found the #7 bus to take us back to Capitol Hill and to Carol and Christine's apartment. The Seattle transit system isn't the most developed but the buses are very nice -- green, padded seats, and free downtown. Once out of the downtown area, the bus ride is $1.25 and you pay as you exit not as you get on. It's an interesting system. Last night, Carol and Christine made meatless tacos, which were yummy. Then we decided to go out again (though Dustin was too wiped and stayed in). We started at the Rosebud again. I met some of Carol and Christine's friends. Unfortunately, I started to feel really poorly. My throat started to hurt and I was very, very tired after trekking around the park and city. So I went home early. Today's a new day. I feel okay. Still not a hundred percent. But I'm looking forward to seeing more of Seattle. Yay, more trekking.
MONDAY. 6:21 AM. It's very early Monday morning. Christine gets up super early to head to work; she teaches Spanish at a high school. Dustin and I are getting ready to pack up and head out of Seattle. Yesterday was a fun day. We woke up at a leisurely time. Carol and Christine made us breakfast. Then Dustin and I took the #7 bus downtown to the ferries. We took a ferry across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. It was very cool, very windy, and very cold. But the day was clear and you could see all the way to the Cascades. Mount Rainier loomed in the distance like a sleeping father. After Bainbridge, we headed back to the city and tried to get on the Seattle Monorail to head to the Space Needle. But when we arrived, the Monorail was down; it had a flat tire. So, we just headed home. Now, it's time to rise and shine. We're going to drive straight through back to California. It should be a twelve or thirteen hour drive. Not too too bad. More then.
11:29 PM. It's late. Dustin and I got into Fairfield, CA around ten o'clock. It was a long drive. The last couple of hours of any road trip are always excruciatingly slow for some reason. But, it stayed sunny and bright on our way south from Seattle. Though there were signs that it had snowed in the high places of Oregon. I am very tired. The weekend has been just a slew of activity plus my respiratory malady just made things slower and hoarser. I am slowly feeling better though. |
On our way through Oregon, we stopped in Eugene to see the University of Oregon at Eugene. It's a small college town and the campus is full of older buildings. The weather was unseasonably warm and students were all out and about. Everyone looked really young to me; they all looked like my 101 students. If I don't get into graduate school this year, Oregon's nonfiction writing program will be on my list for next year. Though I don't think I'd go without knowing someone there; hopefully, Dustin will apply as well. Tomorrow is going to be spent gathering up my things and getting ready for the flight out to Maryland. I need to do laundry and balance out the bags I'm going to be carrying. I originally had a big blue suitcase, my green duffle, and a huge black duffle I bought in the Mission. It was too much. When I got to Dustin's house, I decided to consolidate and to give away even more of my clothes and belongings. I packed the black duffle full of stuff. It was like carrying a body bag. Before we left for Seattle, we were going to drop it off at Goodwill. But as luck would have it, a truck rumbled up to the house next door; it was collecting donations left on the driveway. So I just asked them if they would take my black duffle of doom and they said yes. It was kismet and gave us good karma for the whole trip. Hopefully, the good luck will continue to Maryland and beyond. Now, I'm just down to my blue suitcase and green duffle -- a much lighter load. I am glad that I went up to Seattle. It was a good trip and a good visit with Carol and Christine. I am still carrying the good feeling I got from just being in the city. I like Seattle a lot. It will be a place I hope to visit often if live in for some time. Thank you to Carol and Christine for their fine hospitality and their cheer, company, and conversation. I miss you both already. Now I'm going to go to bed. More tomorrow.
TUESDAY. 11:46 PM. Today has been a pretty quiet day. Dustin is borrowing his grandfather's iBook and spent much of the day transferring data from his Mac to the laptop. We have just been hanging out at Dustin's parent's house and getting ready for our flight out of Oakland tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the flight. It's not because of a fear of flying, but an intense dislike for the travel industry, particularly air travel. For all of its hyperbole and glam and friendly skies, I find airports (like hospitals) to be places of forced politeness, frustration in spite of notions of service, and large structures and spaces devoid of much humanity. Airport terminals are inherently unfriendly. They speak only of transience. No one really truly belongs in an airport. And paradoxically, airports are also places of purgatory, of missed flights or bumped seats, of delays and inability to travel despite its hallowed purpose. I detest long lines. I detest misinformation. I detest convoluted bureaucracy. I suppose I shouldn't set myself up for the worst. But when I have to sit down and "disarm" myself, to make myself a cooperative and conscientious flyer, I really draw the line. For the first time in perhaps a decade, I will be without my wallet chain. I don't even know if this accessory falls on someone's nascent and preposterous list, but I don't want to chance it being taken away from me. Maybe it will all go so smoothly I will think I just whisked through the airport, flew in a blink across the country, and land to welcoming friends in Maryland. I'll just hold that thought and hope for the best. See you on the Right Coast.
WEDNESDAY. 8:29 AM. I'm leaving on a jet plane. I don't know when I'll be back again. Farewell to the Bay Area. |
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© 2002 Edmond Y. Chang. All original material. All rights reserved.
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