Overloaded Hoagies
I get a taxi to the bus station in Vancouver as it is too hard to work out how to get there any other way. I’m catching the bus to Seattle, about 4.5 hours away, but in typical travel day fashion, I have to collect my ticket earlier, so I spend quite a bit of time lurking and waiting. In Seattle, Sharen and Kurt are at the bus station to pick me up. Sharen is another friend from my time in Japan, who I haven’t seen for many years. Sharen and Kurt live 30 miles outside Seattle in a beautiful wooden house that looks like a modern version of a log cabin. hey have two Dobermans and two cats, so it’s a full house, set on acres of forested land.
We stop by Snoqualmie Falls, which is a waterfall around the same height as Niagara Falls, but not so wide, then head for an early dinner at the diner that was featured on the 80’s cult TV show Twin Peaks. I have a prawn hoagie – basically a prawn sandwich with lettuce and tomato. It doesn’t sound that inspiring, but when it arrives, I discover the sandwich is open and thousands of breaded prawns spill out to cover the entire plate. It is a massive serving and there’s no way I can get through all of it. Sharen and Kurt’s burgers are also massive.
From Salmon Ladders to Trolls
As I’ll be in central Seattle later on, we decide to explore the outlying sites that are harder to get to without a car. Breakfast is another huge affair. I order a tomato, bacon and cheese skillet, which is a layer of potatoes, heaped with eggs scrambled with a multitude of toppings, served in an iron skillet with a side of sourdough toast. I almost make it through half of the serving. To work it off, we walk the three miles around Green Lake near central Seattle before moving on to the suburbs.
Our first stop is Ballard, which the Lonely Planet describes as having the feel of a Scandinavian fishing village. This is not true. I can’t see anything Scandinavian about it. It is quite pretty though, as we watch some sailboats go through the locks into Lake Union. We also see the Fish Ladder, designed to assist salmon to get past the locks so they can spawn. The larger salmon instinctively swim upstream against the current, so a current is produced by the wheel, and a series of steps that the salmon jump through.
Somewhat more interesting is the trendy district of Fremont, which has dubbed itself ‘centre of the universe’ and has interesting public artwork. There is a statue called ‘Waiting for the Interurban’, which is a group of people waiting for a train that never comes (the real train service was cancelled many years ago). The mayor at the time opposed the statue, so the artist made the face of the dog into a human face – that of the mayor. Lessons in life – never cross an artist. There is also a statue of Lenin shipped from Slovakia, that the local taco store has seconded in a guerilla marketing tactic by adding a taco in his hand. On another corner, a rocket sticks out of the roof of a building. My favourite is the Fremont Troll, who lives under one end of the bridge. The giant troll is emerging from the dirt and crushing a VW beetle.
We stop in at the Arboretum to see the Japanese garden, which is quite lovely. Sharen and Kurt have a koi (carp) pond at their place, and are keen to see the koi at the garden. They congregate when they think there’s a possibility of food. We buy feed and entertain ourselves watching the koi, two turtles and a duck battle it out.
Our final stop is for an early dinner, at a diner called Triple X, named after an old brand of root beer, which I am fast developing a taste for. There are items from the 50s and 60s all over the store – on every surface and hanging from the ceiling. This diner has been around for quite a while. We order root beer floats, which come in a huge mug with two scoops of soft-serve ice cream. I try to find a small meal, ordering a Chili Dog, which when it comes out, is a foot-long hot dog on a bed of fries, coated in chili and jalapenos. Again I can’t get through all of it.
Back at the house, we take the dogs for a walk through the property, which backs on to a national park. It’s like walking through the bush back in Australia, with beautiful views of the valley along the way.
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