Amtrak: Day 17

7/25/21

Wow! There’s so much I want to say about Seattle! Despite only being in the city for 48 hours, and without getting a chance to venture out into the nearby national parks, this was still one of my busiest and most fun stops on my trip. If I weren’t already moving to the Chicago area in the fall, Seattle would be at the top of my list for places to live!

The train pulled into the station at 3:30pm on Friday and I walked the two blocks over to the hostel where I had booked a room, located in Seattle’s Chinatown district just south of downtown. I stayed in a room with double bunk beds, although I got lucky and only had to share the room with one other roommate instead of three. Eager for adventure (and a late lunch), I walked over to the Pike Place market, a half-indoors multi-level conglomerate of souvenir shops, grocery stands, vendors of fresh-caught seafood, and various eateries. Taking advantage of the proximity to Puget Sound, I ordered some cod fish and chips then made my way to a spot recommended by my train neighbor Linda: Rachel’s ginger beer. They sell craft ginger beer in a variety of flavors as well as several variations on the Moscow mule cocktail. I chose the Front Porch – ginger beer with Aperol and gin. They even offer refillable ginger beer growlers, how cool!

After my late lunch/early dinner, I kept on with my walk along the shore of the sound, heading north. Ever the ambitious sort, I got it into my head that it would be fun to walk all the way to Discovery Park to watch the sunset over the mountains. Why didn’t I take a bus? Couldn’t tell you, but I keep putting myself into this type of situation. Be warned if you ever travel with me: wear your walking shoes. I finally reached the overlook spot, quite a bit after I had anticipated, just 30 minutes before sundown at 9pm. After a few selfies (ok like 20) in the golden hour light, I made the difficult decision to head back. As great as it was seeing the mountains of Olympic national park across the water, and Mt. Rainier due south (it is truly enormous and quite prominent from several points of the city), I worried about getting through the woods of the park before dark. I made it in the nick of time and found a bus station that would take me back all the way to downtown. A good thing too, as I hit my record of 14.7 miles walked on a single day of this trip.

As ready as I was for bed, I struck up a conversation with a fellow hostel resident and he convinced me to go with him to check out some of the gay bars in the Capitol Hill district (another 30 min walk, each way). I was definitely glad to have a friend to accompany me, as I’d have been too nervous to go out by myself in a foreign city. As it was, I maybe got too comfortable and had to deal with a bit of a hangover the following morning, but I was glad to have made it back safe and sound, without even a lost jacket.

My start to Saturday was thus a little later than I had planned, but I dragged myself through a cold shower and got some pastries at a bakery next door, Fuji bakery, a small shop in an unmarked building with an unassuming order window facing towards the street. Despite its quaint appearance, it has excellent reviews on Yelp and consistently had a line of customers waiting to order, so I figured it was worth trying. They specialize in malasadas, Portuguese-style fried round donuts filled with pastry cream popular in Hawai’i, that are supremely delicious. I devoured their crunchy-cream version (coated in sugar and cornflakes) as well as a beautiful blackberry croissant. Energized, I found my way to the ferry station where I hopped on a boat to Bainbridge island before noon.

Bainbridge island is the closest ferry destination you can reach from Seattle, only 30-45 minutes away, and it is famous as the birthplace of pickleball. I loved being on the water, although the wind was intense and chilling and I had forgot to bring my jacket along. On the island, I stopped for a bowl of Pho at a Vietnamese restaurant where I saw a group of girls waiting for their order, one of whom looked oddly familiar. Thankfully I happened to be wearing a Carleton college-branded face mask, so she was able to place me as a fellow classmate! She and one of her friends are both in the year below me, so while we didn’t know each other well, it was fun to say hi and chat for a bit. You never know who you’ll run into or where!

I considered renting a kayak for an hour in the harbor, but I was tired and forgot my jacket and my sunscreen, so I returned to the mainland after lunch and a short walk. That evening I took a bus up to the base of the space needle (I was advised by friends that the views from the observation deck were not worth the wait for the elevator) then found some excellent Filipino takeout at a restaurant called Jeepney’s. Seattle is historically home to a large Filipino immigrant community, so I was eager to try their cuisine while in the city. I ordered a vegetarian sisig, with mushrooms and tofu over rice instead of the traditional assorted organ meats. Cooked in soy sauce and citrus and topped with herbs, pickled veggies, mango salsa and a mayonnaise sauce, it was one of the most deeply layered foods I’ve ever eaten. Deeply savory, unquestionably funky, with creaminess and fruity sweetness added on top, it didn’t seem like it should all work together, but it melded beautifully. Clearly, I’ve been missing out on Filipino cuisine my whole life!

I woke up at six on Sunday to get my laundry done before I left. Checking out at 9am, I dropped my bags off at the Amtrak station for a small fee so that I’d be free to wander unencumbered. Originally planning on walking up to the Washington park arboretum, for lack of a good bus route to take me there, I found the lack of sleep catching up to me and stopped at Capitol Hill for lunch. I wanted to try out Chung Chun rice dog, a Korean specialty corn dog store (Ramen and potato-coated corndogs! A “corndog filled with nothing but mozzarella”, no dog in sight! Sounds odd, honestly, but it has an abundance of 5 star reviews), but I vetoed that in favor of an acai bowl with fresh fruit, as I wasn’t quite feeling up for that much grease. Later, I met with a Carleton friend, Will, who is from the Seattle area, at a green tea specialty café, where I enjoyed a matcha soft serve. It tasted like a leaf, in the best way possible. He dropped me off at the train station, where I had time to take stock and realize that I wasn’t feeling very well. I started questioning whether I was just sleep-deprived and tired, like I initially assumed, or if I was starting to get sick. I decided to get on the train, an admittedly dubious decision, but I was convincing myself that with some more rest and food I would feel a lot better – which indeed I did! And I was very meticulous about wearing my mask the entire time, just in case. I have to remember to take care of my body when traveling. While it’s exciting to try and fit in everything you can in a short period of time, it’s still important to take it easy when you need to.

The train has been gorgeous so far. I wish I could’ve rented a car and done more hiking in Olympic national park and the Cascade mountains, but I’ll just have to wait until my next visit. We just passed through a tunnel for 15 min straight, the longest in the US. Now we’re through the mountains and into the plains of western Washington. Catch you in the morning!