Rails All Around the USA:
Summer, 2005

Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula, and Tacoma

June 12 - 23, 2005

Laurence Krieg

Seattle

Sunday 12 June

The Empire Builder arrived at King St. Station 10:15, 5 minutes ahead of schedule.

Walked from the station to Ian's building, about 35 minutes heavy drag up hill and down.

Snack at Caffe Ladro on the ground floor, where Ian met me after returning from church.

Made french toast for lunch. Relaxed afternoon; we both napped a bit.

Supper: hot dogs & baked beans.

Walk after supper to Pike Place Market (closed), and the waterfront at Pier 57; saw a seal in the near distance. Back by the Harbor Steps.

Met Ian's homeless acquaintance Bryan, a fellow Vietnam vet who seemed very nice; Ian has conversed with him and learned that he is on the mend from substance abuse. He seems healthy and alert.

Monday 13 June

Ian went off to work about 8:20; I came back and had cappuccino and a scone at Caffe Ladro while checking my email. Spent much of the morning on-line in the apartment using Ian's computer, planning things to do.

Lunch at Kell's Irish restaurant in Post Alley. Free WiFi was available and appreciated. Very pub-like atmosphere, but with a nice sidewalk area surrounded by geraniums. I decided to come back another day.

Walked up to the south end of the monorail, which I rode up to the Seattle Center while shooting some video. It was sunny and pleasant, so I walked around the gardens at the Center a bit and took pictures. Shortly after, I took the monorail back downtown and walked again to the waterfront, this time to ride the waterfront streetcar. I enjoyed the late afternoon at Myrtle Edwards park.

Streetcar to Union Station, then took the bus through the Metro Tunnel to Pine Street. Ian got home, and we waited a bit for Laura and the nieces and nephews, who came about 8. They took us to the Bamboo Garden, a vegan restaurant at 3rd and Roy, just north of Seattle Center. Everyone agreed the puffs were delicious. I did some mapping with Margy, who was planning to drive to Irvine CA with Emily. Em will be interning at a company that makes race car crank shafts for the majority of Indy-style race cars.

Tuesday 14 June

More email and planning in the morning. Took the 545 express bus to Redmond, and a shuttle to Microsoft Building 36, on main campus, where I met Qing Li, interning with MS and working on data visualization in Visio.

After a cafeteria lunch and conversation, I walked around the Microsoft campus.

Took the 545 bus back to the University District and got acquainted with UW. Spend some time in the Odegard Undergrad Library, working on photos, but was unable to get online.

Back to Capitol Hill area, online at the Auriface Cafe. I had identified the Auriface several weeks before as a good WiFi possibility not far from Ian's apartment, but it turns out to allow smoking inside and has a decidedly "gay" aura.

Made meatloaf for Ian. Good after-dinner conversation with him. I was exhausted and went to sleep, but he went to friend and fellow-intern Steve's apt until 2 AM.

Wednesday 15 June

Planning work in the morning. Walked to Post Alley and had lunch at Kell's Pub again: Falt, with pea soup. A falt is a pasty or crêpe made of potato pancake stuffed with cooked meat (in this case sausage), veggies, and a little cheese. This one was a bit dry (more cheese would help) and slightly burned at the edges. The burn tasted good, but added to the dryness. Chocolate mousse for desert.

Took a trolleybus down to King St. Station and changed my Amtrak ticket to go to Tacoma so I can spend the evening and night with Margy and Joe, and get on the Starlight in Tacoma. Transit tunnel back to the apartment, where I tried to take a nap. Upset by emai. Walked to the grocery store are back (about 1 hour round trip).

Unable to do much productive work in the late afternoon; depressed and upset. Made pork chops with lemon and ketchup for dinner with Ian and Steve; cleaned up the apartment a bit.

The boys arrived home from Amazon about 7, and enjoyed dinner. Good conversation. Steve is at Carnegie-Mellon, and hails from Anchorage AK. We had to chase him out at 11:30 so we could all get some sleep.

Thursday 16 June

Had bottled frappucino for breakfast; tried to get my computer to connect to Ian's Comcast hookup, totally without luck. Did laundry for both of us. Decided to have lunch at a Thai restaurant advertising free WiFi, and planned the bus trip.

Ended up eating at an Indian restaurant in the Ballard district (without WiFi) because I was too hungry and my connecting bus seemed to take forever. Then took the 44 trolleybus to UW, and am now in the library again.

Sureshot Cafe ("Friends don't let friends drink corporate coffee") - clearly a student hangout, mainly noisy undergrads, it seems. But no smoking inside, so a definite improvement over the Auriface.

My next goal was Golden Gardens Park, which looked from the map to be fairly large and have a good view of Puget Sound. I took the 44 trolleybus back west to the other end of its line and got off, but found myself in a rather empty, residential neighborhood. As I walked out toward the park, I noticed an agitated-looking gentleman looking anxiously down the street; soon, I heard sirens and a fire engine was eagerly waved over and welcomed by the gentleman. Apparently someone in his apartment needed emergency attention.

Continuing my walk out to the gardens, the road got darker and lonelier, so I turned back. I had a long wait for another bus, and while waiting observed a little drama. An elderly homeless woman was engaged in conversation by a younger woman who seemed to be trying to encourage her with kindness. When the bus finally arrived, though, the homeless one tried to prevent the young one from getting on the bus by holding firmly to her arm, and shouting, "You're under arrest!". The young woman appealed to the rest of us for help, and I managed to separate the two, allowing the young woman to board the bus. The older woman claimed to be a police officer, and I asked to see her identification; she replied that she was a top-security Seattle police officer, and didn't need identification. At this, I got on the bus and sat down, but the woman was holding tightly onto the bus, telling the driver, "YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO HOLD THIS BUS!" He very kindly said, "Please let go...please let go." Finally, he let the bus roll slowly forward, forcing her to let go, and then said, "Thank you - that's a good girl!"

Ian and I had a quiet evening; I went early to bed.

Friday 17 June

Breakfast + email (connection problems!) at Caffe Ladro

Walk to Freeway Park - lots of photos.

Worked in "The Canyon"

Lunch: Kell's, corned beef sandwich with lentil soup. This lentil soup is made with tomatoes, various other veggies, and a fair amount of black pepper. The corned beef (with its lettuce, tomato, onions, and cheese) is between two long, slender slices of whole-wheat soda bread. Quite a challenge to eat!

After nap, worked on photos for this site.

Ian came home at 6:15; picked up rental car. The terms of the rental allowed only him to drive, which was fine with me- I didn't mind being chauffeured around some of the loveliest scenery in the world. We drove to the Bremerton ferry and took it across. Ate Macdonald's burgers on board. Staying now at the Holiday Inn Express in Poulsbo. Free (and fast!) WiFi. I didn't go to bed until 2 AM, trying to get my picture and journal site up.

The Olympic Peninsula

Saturday 18 June

I slept late,and Ian slept even later. Got going about 10:30, and drove up to Hurricane Ridge in the clouds. We had lunch there and went for a very foggy walk. Since it showed no signs of clearing up, we drove down and took back roads to the Elwha River valley.

I was interested in the Elwha River dams because of an article in Smithsonian 2-3 years ago. We visited the upper dam, then went further in, back toward Olympic Hot Springs. The road shown on my map was closed about halfway up, and there was a wilderness-style "parking lot" with lots of cars parked and a Ranger policing it. No idea what everyone was there for.

We drove back down and continued to the lower dam, where we walked around a bit. By then it was getting late, so we went back to Port Angeles and found another motel with free WiFi. This one wasn't as good as the Poulsbo Holiday Inn, and the only room available had but one queen-size bed for the two of us.

For supper we feasted at a Chinese restaurant, after which we staggered out for a walk. At the Port Angeles harbor we found a "pirate" festival in full swing, complete with a large two-masted sloop at anchor well out in the harbor, and a small two-masted square-rigger Washington, brightly painted and lovingly cared for. The crew seemed to include a golden lab.

After a golden sunset we walked back to the motel much the better for the walk. However, neither of us slept well in the shared bed, and Ian's stomach was upset, possibly from the fortune cookies at the restaurant. I suspected they had almond extract, but didn't mention it to him.

Sunday 19 June

Up by 8:30 in spite of the poor night, and snarfed Pop Tarts in the room for breakfast. We were feeling a bit out of sorts and crabby as a result of the poor night. But in contrast to Saturday, the sun was bright and the sky sparkling. Driving west to Lake Crescent, we found a turnout by the road that offered a large, flat rock for us to sit overlooking the lake. There we read poems from The Celtic Way of Prayer, sang, and prayed. We both came away refreshed and much more at peace with the world and one another as a result of our worship time. And Lake Crescent is certainly one of the loveliest spots you could find anywhere.

Continuing west and south through the lush Olympic mountains, we came to Forks in time for lunch at a Subway plus gas station. From there it wasn't long before we were able to penetrate the east side of Olympic National Park to visit the Hoh rain forest. I've wanted to visit Hoh for a long time, and always expected to do it in pouring rain. But the sun shone bravely and made this very Treebeard-like old forest seem quite friendly and beautiful.

Our next stop was the Pacific Ocean. Much to my delight, the sun was still bright and the ocean sparkling blue. I tried to find the beach access I stopped at with Laura in 1991, and may have done so. My memory (and photos) of that visit are foggy. In fact, the photos show beautiful fog-scenes with wind-writhen trees above the crashing surf. The surf was gentle by contrast today, and I made sure Ian put his finger in the Pacific Ocean while I recorded the momentous event with my camera. I stuck my finger in too, of course.

After climbing to the car at the top of the cliff, we settled in for the long drive around the south end of the Olympics. It was a lovely but unremarkable drive, except for passing through the charming little town of Humptulips - one of my favorite town names - and getting on to US 12 at its extreme western end in Aberdeen, Washington. This is special for us, of course, because US 12 runs just a few blocks from our house in Michigan, and its eastern end in just 30 miles away in Detroit.

Back in the Seattle area

Our goal was the home of Eugene and Myla Montgomery, in Federal Way (yes, another strange name!) in the south Seattle area. Eugene was my sleeping car attendant on my first Amtrak summer, and he introduced me to his Keep Our Schools Safe (KOSS) charity project. I agreed to have one of my classes do a Web site for KOSS, which you can check for further details at http://www.montgomerykoss.org. Then his wife Myla asked if I could have a class do a site for her charitable project, Terry Home, a small assisted living facility for traumatically brain injured young adults. We just finished that site April: http://terryhomeinc.org, and I had decided to return in person the photos she had sent.

So Eugene and Myla treated us to grilled salmon and other delights in their lovely home overlooking Puget Sound. We had stimulating conversation, and as a bonus, we caught the cliff-hanger finale of the San Antonio Spurs beating the Detroit Pistons by an eyelash in pro basketball championships.

By 11:30, when we got back to Seattle, we were tired and totally ready for bed. But we still had to face the fact that the rental car needed to be filled up with gas, and the parking permit Ian had been given needed to be validated somehow in order to be used. While I collapsed in bed, he went and took care of all the details, thanks to the rental agreement that made him the only driver, and didn't get home until after 1 AM. I think he stopped by his office to make sure is server was working for the demonstration his manager needed to do early that morning.

Monday 20 June

Ian had to start the day early, unfortunately, to return the car to the rental place by 8. I started relatively early too, with plans to take the express bus back to Federal Way by about 9:30. That worked out quite well, since that bus starts from the Transit Center a block from the apartment. It left only one minute late and made good time: through the tunnel under downtown, along the busway south of the center, to Interstate 5, where traffic was flowing along at a fine rate.

Eugene and Myla met me at the park-and-ride, and drove me to Terry Home. There I met the staff and most of the residents. Everybody was friendly, the staff were all genuinely cheerful, as were most of the residents. They ranged from some who had difficulty speaking, to one who was our working at a job somewhere nearby. The house itself is in fairly good shape, but signs of its heavy use for the last nine years are everywhere. They recently re-did the kitchen floor, and have a list of several other re-do items. One of their headaches now is the "bio-swale," a fenced-in ditch about 8 feet wide, 20 feet long, and 6 feet deep beside their driveway. They were required to put it in (and it cost $12,000) to provide drainage filtration in compensation for the parking lot they put in. It's overgrown with tall grass and weeds, and impossible to tackle with a lawnmower. Eugene plans to borrow a heavy-duty weed-whacker and do battle with it when he gets back from his next trip to Chicago.

The Montgomerys insisted on driving me back to Seattle, and on taking me to see what they called the "drive-by shooting". I was unenthusiastic at first, but they explained that it was the best view over the city of Seattle, and so many people drove by to shoot pictures that it had earned its name. It really lived up to its reputation, since it was a fine day: Mt. Rainier crowning the high rise buildings and the Space Needle. Its real name is Kerry Park. We went from there to Pike Place Market and my favorite restaurant, Kell's. Parking there was a real challenge, but once parked we enjoyed our meal. I got the yummy sausage roll, which came with pea soup and gravy.

After walking home to 801 Pine, I had something at Ladro's and checked my email. The rest of the afternoon, I think I stayed around the apartment and worked, except for a trip to the grocery store. I made "taco" salad for supper, but it came out rather different since I forgot the taco seasoning, and with Ian as prime eater, there was no cheese. I splurged and got a small thing of sour cream for myself, though.

After supper, I took Ian to Freeway Park for a walk. He had never been there before, even though it's so close to 801 Pine.

Tuesday 21 June

Today I went to the Seattle Public Library, to check out its unique architecture, and see if it had free WiFi. On the way, I bought a "scratch-and-sniff" visitor pass so I could take the bus around. The library turned out to be as interesting as rumor made it, with lots of areas for different purposes. The main stacks are four stories high, with spiral walkways making it possible to traverse them all without climbing steps. And yes, they do have free WiFi, though Jimmied didn't list them. I would have gone there earlier and more often, had I known. However, about half the people using the library appear to be homeless.

I had planned to take the bus to Redmond directly from University Station, but I had to dash back to the apartment for something I'd forgotten. I got to the bus just in time, and got out to Redmond in about 15 minutes.

The purpose of the trip to Redmond was to have lunch with Qing Li and Keywon Chong, both of whom I met at recent CHI (Computer-Human Interaction) conferences. Qing is from Beijing; she's working on her PhD at Virginia Tech and doing a summer internship at Microsoft. Keywon is from Seoul and works full-time at Microsoft, after earning her MS from Carnegie-Mellon. Both are very friendly and interesting people, though Qing is a bit more introverted than Keywon. They seemed interested, so I showed them pictures of the trip around the Olympic Peninsula. Keywon insisted on driving me the 5 blocks to the bus station, though the shuttle would have been faster and just as convenient. I really felt warmly welcomed.

Ian's friend Steve had recommended going to Gasworks Park, so I decided to make that trip this afternoon. Unfortunately, I got on the wrong bus (24 instead of 26 - or was it the other way around?) and didn't realize it until 20 minutes after I got off the bus in a totally wrong part of town. It took some time to figure out which part of town I was actually in, by which time it was sprinkling rain, and I decided just to get back to the apartment as soon as I could. People in Seattle are all quite friendly, and there was a young lady - probably doing her time as a waitress - who helped me find the right transfer. In fact, she introduced me to the Fremont Troll, a wonderful sculpture under a bridge. The troll's head is about 15 feet high, and he's just grabbed a car and scrunched it up. Now, he's looking at the rest of us with one baleful eye. I was glad I had my camera. The plaque explained that the troll was a community project to foster cooperative spirit in the neighborhood. Later, Ian and I agreed that Ypsilanti really needs a troll. I think the perfect place would be under the Cross Street bridge, where there are pedestrian bridges between the parks.

By the time I got back to the apartment, it was almost time to start supper - chicken with near-eastern grains. After supper, Ian and I read to each other from the book about Captain Cook - including his unfortunate death on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Wednesday 22 June

My last day in Seattle, and I'm sorry to leave. I've been very happy here. Ian and I have had lots of good conversation, including such topics as real love, free will, predestination, and of course programming.

Ian took me to Amazon and showed me around. Not much exciting to see - just cubicles and meeting rooms. His office is in the Union Station 2 building, and there are other Amazon people working in Union Station 1 next door, and the Pacific Medical Building (Pac Med), originally built as a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital. Apparently the VA moved into newer quarters fairly recently, as there are still quite a few medical offices around it. The building has been somewhat redecorated inside since its hospital days, but has an unfinished look. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has decided to build company spirit by having everybody work on desks made from doors. Seems that when Amazon was first started, everybody worked in a warehouse, packing books while sitting on the floor. The big step up came when Jeff had someone make a table by putting legs on a door, thus starting a company tradition. The current staff all work on door-desks are very heavy, massive objects, and according to inside information cost more than standard office furniture. But what's that when you consider the morale of the staff? The result in the Pac Med building is what I would term "neo-warehouse grunge". It was only 9:30, so not many of the staff were actually at work yet (apparently Seattle programmers consider themselves to be in a time zone somewhere out in the Pacific) but those we saw were totally absorbed in their screens and headphones.

After taking a fond leave of Ian, I spent the rest of the morning in the library. I did a farewell lunch at Kell's, and took a bus to the train station.

Tacoma

In Tacoma, 45 minutes after the train left Seattle, I went to my favorite Starbucks and used their T-Mobile (not-free) wireless to check my bank account and arrange the payments for the coming year's University of Michigan expenses. By the time that little chore was taken care of, it was about 4:30, so I called the Morris condo to see if anyone was home yet. Sure enough, Joe Morris was there with his girlfriend Georganna. He helped me in and we spent a pleasant few minutes before the two of them left to have dinner at Georganna's family's house.

Margy was in class until 9, and Joe was exploring a community far they would be working, so I was in peace with Ginger and Sid, the Wright's friendly dogs, to catch up on my journal. I sat on the glassed-in deck overlooking St. Helen's Street and Tacoma Harbor.

After her class, Margy came and drove me to Pasta Rock, where Joe Wright and Margy's long-time buddy Sarah joined us. We had a great time eating pizza, drinking beer, and talking. By the time we got home, I was quite ready for bed, and fell into it with a will.

[See Rail Journal 2 for details of the next day, until my arrival in Oakland.]