Not a single sighting of Sherman Alexie

So, going to spend a week in the Northwest, specifically on Weippe, ID. In order to get there from New York, though, Mariel and I had to fly first into Seattle, then to Spokane in Washington to spend the night. It snowed a little last night, and the air feels cold as hell (15F as I type), and the snow is coming. I'm going to have to drive, which y'all know I love (not), and I'm starting to freak out about it.

So, in order to relax a little, and since I've been up for HOURS, I went to the hotel's gym for a bit of a walk. I walked 2.40 miles in 48 minutes. After a quick shower, I decided to keep it simple and headed for the hotel's restaurant.

View from my table:

I loved the mist moving over the water the best. Also, I saw someone running past. Crazy ass runners.

The good thing about "working out" before breakfast, though, is that it (mostly) keeps me from trying to eat my weight in sugary carbs at breakfast time. I wanted something hardier than instant oatmeal, though, because I don't see me stopping often while driving to Weippe for lunch and what not. I decided for "Jo's Breakfast Bowl."

It had skillet potatoes, light jack cheese, light cheddar cheese, spinach, grilled mushroom slices, onion, with scrambled egg whites and fresh pico de gallo salsa. Topped that with whole grain buttered toast. Alright, so the thing wasn't super healthy or anything, but it's infinitely better than pancakes, or a bagel with cream cheese. The hardest part really was not to eat it all; I was already full halfway through it, since I tried to put my fork down between bites, and I had had a cup of warm water with lemon before eating. It was so hard to not eat it all even though I felt full! I kept trying to trick myself by saying that if I ate more it would be longer time between meals, but was able to leave behind a full slice of toast and about 30 percent of the meal. However involved the thing is, I can see me cooking this for breakfast.

In any case, now to pack and get ready for Weippe!

Still Sleepless

In our second and last day in Seattle, after work we hit sightseeing mode pretty quickly. The day however, began with some spiced apple cider from B&O espresso bar. I kid you not when I say there are a lot of coffee places in Seattle. Most of them are called espresso this or the other though.

After work I wanted a "light" lunch, but something fun nonetheless, and so we stopped by Roxy's Diner (the East Coast at the West Coast!) and had a grilled cheese sandwich with fries.

Roxy's was also great because they offer quickie same sex marriages

Then, we went off to search for the troll under the bridge in Fremont. We walked in circles around the neighborhood since google maps only pointed to a random area we couldn't figure out because apparently neither one of us can read a map. Eventually we found a sign, and that led to another sign and then another and then, there it was! It was not what I expected. This thing was huge!

Apparently the community got together and came up with the idea as to what to have in that space under the bridge, so it wouldn't become your run of the mill under the bridge space. Pretty cool idea.

After we escaped with our lives, we rushed to make it to Pike Place market, and I tell you that was tough. You miss one turn, you end up 5 miles from where you want to be before you can turn back! But it was a good overview of Seattle.

At Pike Place, we got to see many goodies. We unfortunately did not get to see the fish being thrown around. But there were beautiful sights, including the very first Starbucks.

And Left Bank Books.

After all of that, my co-worker went to meet up with a friend, and I detoured into Wildrose.

The place was in a sense your run of the mill pub, but with performance space, plenty of space for people to interact, tables, and the bar where I sat.

I made some friends for a bit, which was nice, before they recommended I have the baked Mac and Cheese. Even though all the dairy was going to kill me, I caved in. It was spiral pasta in a creamy cheese sauce, topped with bread crumbs and fresh tomatoes.

It was freaking perfect, served with delicious big chunks of toasted bread. I suffered gladly. I also had me some rose prick pale beer, which is Alaskan.

All in all, Seattle was a very chill place to visit: the people were very nice and smiled at us frequently as we walked, there was tons of coffee to bring your mood up for when it's down when it rains, and the food was quite tasty. If not for the rain, I would include Seattle in my "list of places I'd like to move to," and I'm sure mi Cariño is glad about that because I don't think it would make her list at all.

Sleepless in Seattle

In Seattle for a couple of days. Had a perfect lunch at La Cocina, a Mexican restaurant in Clinton Hill (or "The Hill if you're a local), which is a nice area, very hip. I had the Cocina Burrito with vegetarian meat crumbles without guacamole.

Shit was the bomb. 'Nuff Said.