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jazzfishFlew nonstop to Seattle out of Dulles. I'm not a fan of Dulles; the funky shuttlebus ferry thing between the main building and the terminals might have been endearing the first time but now it's just another delay. On the other hand, their TSA goons didn't make me throw out my deodorant. (I experimented with not checking a bag this time, since I was only out for a few days. That worked out surprisingly well.) The nonstopness of the flight I'm not entirely sold on. Airports are still enough of a novelty that I don't mind having an hour or so layover in an unfamiliar one, and leg-stretching opportunities are always good.
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nixve as her flight was getting in, and we headed for home, down the massive corkscrew parking-garage exit ramps and out. Had a tasty dinner at a vegetarian Chinese place with some friends of hers. Then we retired to their place to make brownies, be barked at by a small hyperactive dog, and play Puerto Rico.
The next morning we got up and did some last-minute (for me; I suppose other people would think of it as "early") Xmas shopping and used-bookstore browsing at the Pike Place Market. In the rain. During the Seattle Marathon, so the buses weren't being so much with the "reliable." At around three o'clock we came down a hallway and stopped short. "It's snowing." "So it is." "They told me it never snows in Seattle!"
But snowing it was, big fat silent wet flakes that drifted around aimlessly and melted as soon as they hit the pavement. This seemed slightly ridiculous, especially in light of the fact that I hadn't seen a need to lay in any different footwear.
We grabbed piroshkis from the piroshki place, and a giant pumpkin cookie, and retreated to a coffee-and-art-shop. There we ate in relative warmth and waited out the snow for a bit. It turned back to rain as we were getting ready to leave, but the temperature was still dropping. So we decided to say our farewells to the Market and hit the two other shops we'd been planning on.
As we walked back to the bus stop the snow returned. This time it was beginning to stick to the dirt. I began to get slightly alarmed, and also cold. Thankfully the bus /did/ eventually show up.
Did I mention that Seattle's a dangerous place for bibliophiles? The only things I bought were books, and those for other people, but I could have blown through another $50 without even thinking hard.
Coming out of the last bookstore we had a choice: stand and wait for a possibly nonexistent bus, or walk home through the night and the snow. We walked. I'm quite glad we did: it's been far too long since I've walked anywhere through a snowfall. I'd forgotten how the flakes swirl in the cone of a streetlight, and how much fun it can be to try and catch them on your tongue. And I don't think I've ever seen their shadows rush to meet them as they fall. We passed a guy who'd just hurled a well-formed snowball at a brick building. He grinned and said "This is /great/ snow!" I can't argue. I was wet and cold and smiling the whole way.
Home, to dinner (mmm bison) and tea and quiet talks. And then I got up far too early on Monday to catch a flight back to DC. Talked for a bit with the woman sitting next to me, who was reading _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell_ while I was engrossed in _Fragile Things_. (She recommended the book _Night Watch_ and expressed her distaste for the movie.) Changed planes in Denver this time, so I was able to get an overpriced lunch. The flight from Denver to Dulles was one of the huge airplanes that I only ever fly on from Denver to Dulles, the kind with a centre aisle of seats. I was, of course, crammed into the centre seat in the centre aisle, so no watching out the window for me this time.
Then arrival, and the ritual ransoming of my car from the parking guardians, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Seattle feels utterly different from DC. Perhaps it's only that I've spent no time in DC as anything other than a tourist or occasional visitor. In Seattle I'm living there, if only for a few days.
Met
nixve as her flight was getting in, and we headed for home, down the massive corkscrew parking-garage exit ramps and out. Had a tasty dinner at a vegetarian Chinese place with some friends of hers. Then we retired to their place to make brownies, be barked at by a small hyperactive dog, and play Puerto Rico.The next morning we got up and did some last-minute (for me; I suppose other people would think of it as "early") Xmas shopping and used-bookstore browsing at the Pike Place Market. In the rain. During the Seattle Marathon, so the buses weren't being so much with the "reliable." At around three o'clock we came down a hallway and stopped short. "It's snowing." "So it is." "They told me it never snows in Seattle!"
But snowing it was, big fat silent wet flakes that drifted around aimlessly and melted as soon as they hit the pavement. This seemed slightly ridiculous, especially in light of the fact that I hadn't seen a need to lay in any different footwear.
We grabbed piroshkis from the piroshki place, and a giant pumpkin cookie, and retreated to a coffee-and-art-shop. There we ate in relative warmth and waited out the snow for a bit. It turned back to rain as we were getting ready to leave, but the temperature was still dropping. So we decided to say our farewells to the Market and hit the two other shops we'd been planning on.
As we walked back to the bus stop the snow returned. This time it was beginning to stick to the dirt. I began to get slightly alarmed, and also cold. Thankfully the bus /did/ eventually show up.
Did I mention that Seattle's a dangerous place for bibliophiles? The only things I bought were books, and those for other people, but I could have blown through another $50 without even thinking hard.
Coming out of the last bookstore we had a choice: stand and wait for a possibly nonexistent bus, or walk home through the night and the snow. We walked. I'm quite glad we did: it's been far too long since I've walked anywhere through a snowfall. I'd forgotten how the flakes swirl in the cone of a streetlight, and how much fun it can be to try and catch them on your tongue. And I don't think I've ever seen their shadows rush to meet them as they fall. We passed a guy who'd just hurled a well-formed snowball at a brick building. He grinned and said "This is /great/ snow!" I can't argue. I was wet and cold and smiling the whole way.
Home, to dinner (mmm bison) and tea and quiet talks. And then I got up far too early on Monday to catch a flight back to DC. Talked for a bit with the woman sitting next to me, who was reading _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell_ while I was engrossed in _Fragile Things_. (She recommended the book _Night Watch_ and expressed her distaste for the movie.) Changed planes in Denver this time, so I was able to get an overpriced lunch. The flight from Denver to Dulles was one of the huge airplanes that I only ever fly on from Denver to Dulles, the kind with a centre aisle of seats. I was, of course, crammed into the centre seat in the centre aisle, so no watching out the window for me this time.
Then arrival, and the ritual ransoming of my car from the parking guardians, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Seattle feels utterly different from DC. Perhaps it's only that I've spent no time in DC as anything other than a tourist or occasional visitor. In Seattle I'm living there, if only for a few days.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-28 10:44 pm (UTC)Seattle feels different from DC to me, too. Same thing, I guess - I live here, I never lived in DC. But I think it's more than that. They are very different places with very different people, on average.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 08:15 pm (UTC)The woman next to me said that it took her an extra hour to get to the airport on Monday morning due to the trees down in her neighborhood. Yow.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:13 am (UTC)It snowed again Wednesday night, but warmed up almost immediately after, and everything was fine within a few hours on Thursday morning, back to normal Seattle weather. We just have to hope that it stays cold enough in general that the snow in the mountains doesn't melt.