Sleepless in Seattle

On Sunday we were aiming to go to Portland for the night but we struggled to find accommodation so after toying with the idea of getting a train from Tacoma we decided to drive all the way to Seattle. I drove and it was a killer five and a half to six hours, and finding our gaff, the Sixth Avenue Inn in downtown Seattle was a nightmare. We got loads of beers in the rooms and at around 11pm we decided to go to the hotel bar, it was locked and the porter sent us 2 blocks down the road to the Hurricane Cafe (best advice I may have ever had). It had old school shooting video games and a nice bar, Harry 'the barracuda' Savage starts talking to some girls at the bar, and the bartender came and told Penny and I that 'your mate has been hijacked by some strippers' needless to say we joined him shortly after. We had a few drinks and came to discover that one was a stripper (Sandra aka Mason, gorgeous), one was a lesbian, and the other we believe was transgender (can't remember names). Needless to say I sharked out Savage and got talking to Sandra and after a while invited them back to our room, we had more beers, Penny winged and chatted to their lesbian, the transgender passed out on my bed, Savage in his and I, ahem, had some fun chatting with Sandra :-). They all left at about 6.30am (sleepless in Seattle) and I was riding a high all day.

The Crime Scene

On Monday we slept very late and then went to the EMP (Experience music project) where we saw the Avatar interactive exhibition, the Jimi Hendrix: an evolution in sound, which was really cool. We then saw a Nirvana exhibition, the roots and branches exhibit, guitar gallery and battle star galactica exhibit. These were really cool and mostly interactive and I strongly recommend this place to any visitors. After these exhibits we went to the sound lab at the EMP and watched spoilt Americans let there kids dick around with the machines and not let people who give a shit on them. I eventually got on a guitar, and sucked....I just wanted a go on the goddam drums, is that so hard you goddam tourists.

We went down the boardwalk and then chilled at the room till sunset and went up the Space needle for Penny and Savage to take some artsy snaps at 520ft.

After this we went to the room for some beers with the idea of going out (Sandra wanted to meet up) but totally had to bail because I was soo tired from the previous night.

On Tuesday we decided we stay another night so rechecked in ($75 online, $160 if I'd done it in reception, WTF?). We walked over to Pikes Place Market and enjoyed an array of stalls from food to clothes and trinkets, I especially liked the fish mongers with King Salmon that were at least half the size of me.

We saw the originally Starbucks and I tried to buy a coffee but there is only one thing I hate more than the corporate machine its queueing so we didn't bother.

We then found a nice restaurant overlooking the Puget Sound called the Athenian Inn, which we later found out was in the film Sleepless in Seattle. I got the taste of the Northwest, dungeness crab cakes, Penn Cove Clams and grilled Salmon, in short it was superb. Over lunch we discussed the current riots in the UK, and Penny, who claimed to be an anarchist in Uni said 'I'd be out there with my camera taking pictures of the rioters, trying to get them sent down', looks like Penny has become a full blown socialist civilian (but still a Tory hater). In the evening after this we met two old colleagues of mine Chris and Dexter at the Redwood bar and regaled days of old over some cheap beer.

Later we met Sandra again at the Hurricane Cafe and stayed till close, again. Savage and Penny returned to the room while Sandra and I explored Seattle at night. We went for a walk down the boardwalk where it was windy but not overly cold and got to know each other better. After a while we returned to the room, watched a film and then talked until the sun came up for a second time. At ridiculous o'clock I kissed her goodbye at the taxi and attempted to get some sleep before check out.

After an hours sleep I grabbed a quick shower and we went for lunch at the Hurricane Cafe, the home of our debauchery and Penny drove us back while I slept (almost the whole way) which very unusual for me. We returned to Eugene and after a panicky Penny ran a red light we stopped off at Callies for the evening. We watched new Sons of Guns and One Man Army before crashing out.