Slight Right

Day

August 24, 2006 by Tom

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Today started with looking up medical clinics that would see Beth for an ear infection. We finally found one that we thought would work and she made an appointment. (More on this later). So we started our Seattle exploration with a trek down to Pike Place Market, a famous market full of fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits. On the way we stopped for breakfast at the Bacco Bistro and each had a Dungeness Crab Omelet with an excellent strawberry, banana, pear fruit drink. The best part about the market is one of the fish stands where the employees entertain a crowd of tourists much like ourselves by throwing the fish around and doing tricks with them while working. We then wandered around the market and checked out lots of homemade jewelry and photographs and artwork.

After that, we headed off to find Pioneer Square and actually ended up running across a lunchtime concert series that took place outside. We walked down the steps and found out that Mat Kearney was performing, a name I had heard a few times previously so we stuck around to watch and actually randomly ran into Jason, a friend of mine who recently moved out here. As the band was setting up we saw a man with huge hair and a Hawaiian shirt tucked into a green skirt stumble up to the stage area. He then proceeded to pull a plethora of colorful scarves out of his backpack which he then attached to his wrists and neck. As the music started he began to randomly flail his arms and dance not even remotely in sync with the beat of the music. He was a million times more entertaining than the concert, which wasn’t bad in itself.

After a few tunes we moved along to find Pioneer Square and wander around more tourist trap shops. Then it was finally time for Beth’s appointment at the clinic…which turned out to be a medical clinic for homeless people. It was a quality establishment that provided safety for its patients by posting helpful signs like “No drugs or firearms inside the clinic.” An hour and a half later, we left with some legal drugs for her ear infection.

Next up was the Smith Observation tower, a $6 a person rip off. Included in our sweet price was a trip up a dilapidated elevator and a balcony covered in rails like a jail cell. Score. Don’t ever do this if you visit Seattle. It was a cool view, but certainly not worth $12.

At that time it finally occurred to us that we meant to take a harbor cruise around the bay and headed to the waterfront docks to buy our tickets. We spent an hour taking a tour of the city with an informative, yet clearly speech-troubled narrator. We followed the cruise up with a visit to the Pirate store, a ride on the carousel, and a bad car racing video game.

Our harbor cruise entitled us to a discounted Seattle Aquarium ticket. To be honest, I would have been pissed if I paid full price for this aquarium. Everything was dirty and fairly run down. They had some cool exhibits, but overall it was a very small aquarium and only took about 30 minutes to go through.

We followed up the aquarium by heading back to the hotel before our dinner reservations at Rock Salt Steakhouse. A quick change and cab ride to dinner and we were finally off of our feet for the day. Our dinner was decent although we both ended up with a lot of fatty parts on our filets. After trekking back through the ghetto of Seattle and seeing Bum Town USA in a random grassy area, we headed in for the night to get some rest.

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