Seattle, Washington

I'm writing this while sitting by a huge picture window in the dining car of the Amtrak train on America's west coast, after a wonderful week in Seattle. I could have stayed in that amazing city for much longer; indeed I hope to visit again and enjoy more of what it has to offer. Now, as I watch the stunning scenery fly by, I'm pondering how I will summarise this leg of my trip in one blog post. Be warned, this one may be lengthy.

The primary reason for my visit was to see some Sydney friends, Dan and Ang, and their daughter Ruby. They left Australia over a year ago and we who are left behind miss them terribly. It was wonderful to be welcomed into their home for a week and get a taste of American life.

Dan and Ang

Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific North West and is a boom-bust town. Having worked its way through timber, gold and aircraft booms, it's now enjoying a renaissance as a centre of technology, with Amazon, Google and soon Facebook investing heavily in offices there. Surrounded by water (lakes and sounds) with snow-capped mountains in the distance it's also a beautiful location. It reminded me of Sydney in its proximity to the water, hilliness and the feeling of it being a 'city of villages'.

Still shocked at the decrease in temperature from Sydney's summer, I didn't spend as much time outside as I may have done during a summer visit, but here are a few of my observations and activities.

The architecture in Seattle is amazing; an eclectic mix of styles reflecting the boom-bust nature of the town and representing a range of eras. Art deco next to brutalist architecture flanked by contemporary glass buildings was not an uncommon sight downtown. I particularly loved the Seattle Central Library, an unusual glass building built 10 years ago with a typography-lover's dream interior. It's great seeing public money put into such a fantastic resource too: upstairs they had music practice rooms, reading and writing rooms and there was a wide range of public events. The children's library was also fab.

The Library

Going up the Library Escalators

Curios at Pike Place Market

Exterior fire escapes

Seattle International Film Festival posters

Space Needle at the Seattle Center

1920s architecture

A visit to the Seattle Art Museum brought me a sight I'd seen only last year at Cockatoo Island, at the Sydney Biennale! Aside from that I thoroughly enjoyed wandering round the gallery, which had an interesting range of indigenous art from around the world, inluding Australia.

Dan took a day off work and we hopped on our bikes to explore beyond the city centre, riding past Lake Union. The views were fab but our hands and feet (and ears!) became extremely cold, so we heartily welcomed a rescue from Ang at the gasworks park, where she brought us some delicious burgers and a ride home.

Seattle skyline panorama by Dan

Inside Gasworks Park

When they lived in Sydney, Dan used to brew his own beer, and I sampled many a fine pint of the results of his exploits. For his upcoming birthday, Ang wanted to surprise Dan with a customised keg fridge, and this all came to fruition while I was there. She had purchased a keg fridge and commissioned some local graffiti artists to come over and spray paint it. They spent a few hours on the back porch in the cold and here are the fruits of their labours. Dan loved it! What a great present.

I also met up with an old STC colleague, Tina, who took me to the Theo Chocolate Factory. It was fascinating to see first hand exactly how they make their chocolate and have a guided tour around the factory and kitchen, but of course my favourite part was eating plenty of samples of their delicious flavours.

Wearing our protective headgear

A visit to Seattle is not complete without a Twin Peaks pilgrimage. Dan, Ruby and I went out to the town where Twin Peaks was shot, North Bend, just east of Seattle, and had lunch in the diner there. Too full after our burger to eat cherry pie, I still enjoyed a 'damn fine cup of coffee'. We then visited Snoqualmie Falls which features in the opening credits of the show. There's also a hydro-electricity station there and some beautiful scenery.

Snoqualmie Falls

Dan and Ruby

Memorabilia in the Diner

While I was in Seattle the local team, the Seattle Seahawks, were doing very well in the league. Even without being a sportsfan it was hard to escape the buzz in the city and the overwhelming support from the fans. Many homes and businesses proudly displayed a flag with '12' emblazoned across it (which signfies that they are the '12th man' in the team, they are so dedicated) and even the local supermarket display created the Seahawks logo. The Hawks did win their game and will now be in the 'Superbowl' on 2 Feburary, which to sportsfans is kind of a big deal, apparently.

And of course I can't write about Seattle without mentioning the beer. Oh, the beer! What a brilliant city for a beer lover. Hundreds of microbreweries are located in the Pacific North West and many brew awesome beer. If only I had enough days there to sample them all. But I did a bloody good job trying. Here are some of the brews I sampled:

- Standard Brewing: Bere de Guarde (Belgian Strong Pale Ale)
- Redhook Ale Brewery: Paddy Coynes IPA (American IPA)
- Big Al Brewing: Winter Warmer (Stout)
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co: Ruthless Rye IPA (Rye Beer)
- Portland Brewing: BlackWatch Cream Porter (American Porter)
- Two Beers Brewing Co: Evolutionary IPA (American IPA)
- The Pelican Pub & Brewery: Silverspot IPA (English IPA)
- Standard Brewing: Bee's Wine Ginger Beer (Ginger Beer)
I think my favourite was the Elysian Brewing Company's Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout, a sweet stout which I would happily have instead of dessert any day.

The Ruthless Rye IPA

But I think my favourite thing of all about my week in Seattle was getting to hang out with my friends there. When you're visiting friends it's less imperative to sample the tourist hotspots and more important to catch up and relax together. The time we spent eating with each other, singing karaoke, watching many episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, baking together, enjoying Ang's home-cooked meals, putting the world to rights, playing Mansions and Monsters, spending whole days in our pyjama pants -- these are really the times I will treasure. A week felt like it passed in a flash and now I'm on my way to Portland, but I have some great memories of my time in Seattle and I aim to return (even if it's just to drink more beer). So thanks Dan and Ang for having me to stay.