That's What She Says: October 2008

It's only been a few weeks and yet it seems like it was a lifetime ago that we were last in the great land that is America. It's like a pilgrimage for us. It never ceases to surprise, amuse and entertain. Our most recent American jaunt took us to the state of Washington, to see Nodot in Kirkland, a few miles inland from Seattle. Here's a little vignette of the Seattle skyline by night as seen from the ferry that goes to Bainbridge Island.

We loved Seattle and its 'burbs. Gorgeous views, great wide roads (I might move to America simply for the wide roads), friendly people, and orgasmic food. Enough said.

As you go further out, you see it is a very beautiful part of the country. We also seem to have picked a good time to go. We saw spectacular autumn colours in the scrub forming a backdrop to the evergreens. This was the view on one of the trails leading up to Mount Rainier.

Just in case you think you're not quite in America, Washington also has all the usual American-ities like frighteningly friendly people (Dear Girl from Terra Cafe: I hope your team wins big and that your course at night school goes really well, and I regret not asking you your name), large cars (not as large as in Texas but definitely larger than in the UK), and large everything really. And if all that is not enough, there is stuff like having to cross the road (on a marked pedestrian crossing, mind you) with a bright yellow flag so drivers can see you.

This holiday also ranked very high on our food-happiness charts. There was the meat fest at the Ipanema Grill in Seattle and the divine sushi at Blue Fish in Kirkland. The one joint that piqued my curiosity along with my appetite had to be CanAm Pizza, 'CanAm' apparently being short for Canadian American. I suppose you get a lot of Canadians in this part of America and they wouldn't want them to feel left out. That's all well and good but what the name of the pizzeria or its website doesn't tell you is that it is run (through and through, from cooking to managing) by a group of Indian women (most of whom seem to be WAGs*/relatives of the male techies that abound in and around in the area). I don't know why but I couldn't stop myself gawking at the production-line style of unattached efficiency with which this band of women went about their work and cringed everytime someone asked them anything other than "how much will that be?" or blurted out their order. And yes, once we managed to find the place, the Tandoori Chicken Pizza was to die for.

On the family front, it was great to be all in one place and do things together. There were birthday celebrations, multiple visits to the Holy Land of Technology, out-of-town expeditions and high-blood-pressure-inducing-for-the-boys shopping trips.

Though we ended up somewhat gypping (sic) Clarence from Enterprise (serves him right for being smooth-talking and promising more than they could deliver - little did he know whom he was making the promises to!), we were mobile all through the trip, and that, as you know, can make a world of difference in America. That said, there seemed to be great public transport services in place. We had the moose for the first couple of days and I felt like I was sitting on the top deck of a bus! We later chickened out and swapped it for a more British-sized Dodge Avenger, which isn't the sexiest car on the planet, but to be fair, did the job of transporting the family cargo safely and happily.

We also visited Boeing's magnificient Museum of Flight. Their 'parking lot' has a couple of historic US Air Force One planes and a Concorde.

The inside of the SAM 970 is a little walk backwards through time. It's the plane that ferried JFK, Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon and has grave things like the Air Force One Safe which carried codes to initiate a nuclear strike when the president was on board, and also random things like a special pipe rack for President Kennedy. The Concorde, while stunning to look at, seemed mighty uncomfortable on the inside; thank goodness it went as fast as it did!

On our last weekend in Washington, we caught up with a dear friend of mine, from university, who lives near and works at the Boeing site in Everett. We drove to Leavenworth which is a, hold your breath, Bavarian (!) town nestled in the Cascades.

Leavenworth was once a thriving logging community whose economy was adversely affected by re-routing of the major railway line away from it. To save itself from obscurity and dwindling revenues, the people in charge decided to turn it into an alpine German-themed village (talk about random!) and it seems to have worked. We went during Oktoberfest and the place was heaving. Bier, Bratwurst, Bayerische barmaids und alle!

Dot had to fit in a work trip across the border to Victoria in Canada, and I went along to be a lady of leisure, with nothing to do except take in the sights and flex my credit card! We took the Victoria Clipper from Seattle and were in a lovely hotel room overlooking the bay. I spent hours watching the float planes land and take off.

Victoria is quite like England both weather- and scenery-wise. We had marvellous sunshine on our first day there and I walked around Government Street, Chinatown and Market Square. If you visit and there is only one shop you can go to, it has to be Oscar and Libby's! Also, if you are eating out in that part of the world, you must sample the Dungeness Crab. Try not thinking about your arteries when you're feasting on 'Two Poached Eggs on an English Muffin, Dungeness Crab Lobster Cake, Wilted Spinach, Chef’s Potato & Hollandaise' for breakfast. Sigh!

I cannot say enough how interesting and lovely Seattle is! The fabulous restaurants, the mom-and-pop and antique shops, the quirky coffee shops, the lively downtown area - we loved it all. And then, if all that is not enough, like a cherry on your sundae, there is Pike Place Market.