Just days after my return from Norway a friend from South Dakota came to visit me in Seattle. My role as traveler was switched to role as traveler's guide. I don't claim to be a Seattle expert; my knowledge is mediocre at best. Multiple visits to Seattle over the years and now having Washington residency at least puts me slightly above the average tourist. For guiding someone who was in Seattle for the first time, my limited knowledge was sufficient. We only had five glorious day. Go.
My friend, Jenna, arrived in Seattle a little after midnight on Saturday morning. As late as it was for me and even later for Jenna (CST being two hours ahead of PST), I started off her Pacific Northwest experience with a Pop! (Goes the weasel). It's a bit of a tradition for me to go to Jack in the Box and order a Breakfast Jack whenever out and about after midnight. Also, since there aren't any Jack in the Boxes in South Dakota/Minnesota I thought it would be something for Jenna to experience. Whether it was a good experience or bad experience for her, I can't really say; but I enjoyed my disgustingly delicious, greasy, breakfast sandwich whole-clogged-heartedly.
Originally, we intended to go to Mt. Rainier that first day but the thought of waking up early to drive there did not appeal to us. So we enjoyed a lazy morning and then took the light rail into Seattle. What better way to spend your first day in the Seattle area than actually in the city of Seattle? We hit all the main sites: Pikes Place Market, the Waterfront, Pioneer Square, and the Space Needle. Instead of going up into the Space Needle -- which is rather expensive -- we went for the cheaper and, in my opinion, much more impressive option of going up to the Sky View Observatory on the 73rd floor of Columbia Center. It's even higher than the Space Needle and offers just as good of views of the city, sound, and surrounding mountains. Unfortunately it was rather hazy that day so the extra height didn't make much difference. Other highlights include but are not limited to Top Pot Donuts, Pacific Place, Seattle Center Fountain, and making fun of people crazy or stupid enough to try driving through Pike Place on a Saturday. After our exciting day in Seattle we spent the evening playing a few casual, competitive rounds of mini-golf in Tukwila and then had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Kent before returning to my sister's house, which she was kind enough to let us use as our base of operations.
We got up bright and early the next day to make the two hour drive to Paradise, Mt. Rainier. It was a good thing we didn't go on Saturday because Sunday ended up being a much better day for it. The day was almost perfectly clear, warm but not too warm. Rather than describe our hike up to Panorama Point in excruciating detail, I'll just use pictures... a lot of pictures. Click on them if you want to view the full-size versions.
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| Marmot! |
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| Baby Marmot! |
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| Marmot on a steamroller!!! |
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| Panorama Point |
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| Buzz off you photobomber! |
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| The clouds start rolling in as we descend |
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| Ghost mountain |
Exhausted from our three-hour hike, we were happy to simply drive back to my sister's house and enjoy a chill evening eating Red Robin and watching House Bunny.
On Monday we went up to stay at my mother's house for a few days. Unable to just sit around for an entire afternoon, we all went to Deception pass to do a little hiking and take in the views. Well, we probably could have just sat around all afternoon, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for somebody to make a decision about what they wanted to do, Jenna! I make fun of her for it but it's all in good fun and I'm almost as indecisive as she is when I'm not acting as guide. I like to think of it as easy-going rather than indecisive but it's all a matter of perspective. You can say it doesn't matter what we do, you'll be happy with anything -- and maybe that's true -- but that isn't very helpful to the person trying to plan activities. Sure, we as guides can plan certain must-see's or must-do's as a baseline but beyond that I think it's nice to mold the traveler's trip around their interests. Not so easy when all you can get out of them is, "I don't care," or "It's up to you." So if there's one thing you learn from this blog post it's this: when traveling, BE DECISIVE, both for your own sake and, if you have one, your guide's sake... please.
Tuesday I showed Jenna my school and took her around to some of my favourite places in Bellingham. It was a very nice day and all the walking we did was good conditioning for Wednesday when I led Jenna on a death march to Oyster Dome. Hiking and other outdoorsy activities are such a big part of my school's, Bellingham's, and the Pacific Northwest's identity that a trip to Washington wouldn't be complete without at least one harrowing hike. Okay, it really wasn't that bad. We managed to make the 6.5-mile round trip in just over four hours. And that includes about half an hour at the top for lunch and admiring the scenery.
As a reward for completing the hike and not complaining too much, we went paddle boarding on Lake Whatcom. Yay! More physical activity! It wasn't the warmest of days but it was still a lot of fun. I'd never paddle boarded before, either, so even as adventure guide I got to experience some new things. It was a wonderful way to spend Jenna's last full day in Washington before having to take her back to the airport Thursday afternoon.
The five days went by way too quickly. In a time when social media and empty statuses dominate interpersonal communication, those five days were a refreshing reminder of what it's like to be face-to-face with the person behind all those late-night rants, those amusing tweets, the occasional Snapchat. As we all go our separate ways after high school, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay in close contact. Those five days of showing Jenna around Seattle, catching up on new developments, reminiscing about old ones, and making new memories meant more to me than Facebook's entire net worth. Traveling to see a high school friend -- even if it's not the sole purpose of a trip -- is a huge sacrifice, especially for poor college students and especially if that friend lives halfway across the country or further. So when somebody makes the effort to visit you, not only does it show true friendship and caring, but it leaves everyone involved with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I encourage everyone reading this to reach out to an old friend who you haven't seen in a long time but wish you would have stayed in better contact with. Through Facebook, email, phone, traditional post, or any other method you can think of. Who knows? Maybe a trip will come out of it and at the very least maybe a conversation and a smile.
I'm so so glad Jenna came to visit me and I look forward to many more visits to and from her and many other friends, both old and new. After all, that's part of what traveling is all about: meeting new people or old friends, creating closer bonds with them, fostering a world of understanding, peace, and warm and fuzzy feelings.
Satellites can only bring us so far. Don't let all the copper wire get in the way of your traveling and maintaining the friendships that truly matter to you.
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This blog post got a little longer than I intended and a little more schmaltzy. I hope, though, that the idealistic, sometimes overly sentimental parts do not detract or distract. They're meant to add interest to my posts.
Unless another friend comes to visit me or there's an unplanned trip in my near future, there will very likely not be another of these posts for quite some time. I'm still working on a "The Many Styles of Packing (working title)" post but once that's finished there will be very little to talk about on this blog until my next big trip. I hope to get back into posting regularly on my other blog but with a very busy school year approaching that's beginning to look more like a fool's hope. At any rate, I'll try to keep things updated. Stay tuned. -NLD
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