Sunday, September 30, 2007

Still in Seattle - aka the home of the exploding Crapper.

Hello!
Still in Seattle, enjoying the hilarious tourist opportunities.
One of the best things we've done was to take the famous Seattle Underground tour.. Did you know that at one time, all the original buildings and store fronts in Seattle and the street levels in the Downtown Pioneer Square building were at least one story down (3 or more stories as you get further away from the shore)?


We learned that this city was built on mudflats, and when the tide would roll in it would create all sorts of problems. Roads would become impassible downtown, and a poorly thought out plumbing system would cause pressure to build up and explode toilets on the cliffs above. The solution to being stuck in the mud was to build the roads 8 feet higher than the storefronts... so you had to climb down ladders to do your shopping. And then they filled it all in, creating this dilapidated underground area (some of which is increasingly becoming gift shops).



We also did a bit of shopping at Sonic Boom and the Pretty Parlor.

The highlight of the day, for me at least, was trekking up to Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend to do some Twin Peaks style nerding out. Enjoying cherry pie and damn fine um..ice tea because i don't drink coffee...at Tweede's Cafe (aka the Double R Diner).




The night was capped by some bar hopping in the various Seattle bars that if anything have great themes and a stop at a friend's house to talk about such sundry topics as Denver the Last Dinosaur and hiding people in secret closets.

We head for the Southwest this afternoon!