Thursday, January 30, 2014

Pacific Northwest Trip June 2013 Day 6 Friday June 21

UPDATED: February 10, 2021

This is the sixth of a series of posts dealing with my tenth and most recent trip to Seattle as adult, this time also covering Portland. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.  What few updates there are indicated by NOW in brackets.

Minor editing to fix typos/incorrect names.

Forgot to mention: the day before my short sleeved pants split. Probably the elements plus wearing under jeans in rain were too much for them. Luckily on a whim I had packed a spare.

Also got a rash with my jeans sticking to it. Probably from that Boring walk. My shoes have fallen apart to the point that they'd be tossed if I wasn't for wanted to stick close to the Customs limit. Will probably have to withdraw more money despite the financial penalty for doing so here: strip worn down on VISA, many kids running tills don't know how to punch in numbers, and they still don't use the chip reader for credit cards in the US.

[NOW: Luckily I managed to avoid having to withdraw anything.]

After checking out of the hostel in Portland, I ate breakfast at the nearby McDonald's and then wandered down to the downtown core.  En route I noticed that a fetish store was open at 6:30 am; probably 24 hours then; I passed west Portland's Everyday Music and Powell's.  Arriving downtown I took photos of a few statues again (the cloaked woman, the animals fountain), then did one last visit to Mill Ends Park and Salmon Street Springs.  I arrived at the bus stop 1 1/2 hours ahead of time, too tired to move any more with all the stuff.  One guy was also there then but hadn't bought his ticket.  Unfortunately there was one other person on standby and only one seat so he didn't make it on. Managed to snag the front seat myself.
 
[NOW: The bus was BoltBus.]

A little less than three hours later we arrived at the International District/Chinatown Station entrance (Downtown Transit Tunnel) in Seattle.  I put money on my ORCA (transit) card and inside the tunnel took a 106 bus (Metro Transit) a few stops to Westlake Station. I had lunch at a nearby McDonald's before taking the 2 bus (Metro Transit) to City Hostel Seattle.
 
[NOW: The full name of Metro Transit is King County Metro Transit.]

It was too early to check in but I paid and stored my stuff in storage. Heading out, I noted a few areas blocked off in part due to a rock festival tomorrow. Deciding to skip Issaquah this trip (its zoo has nothing on the Oregon Zoo despite a similar price), I took the 578 bus (Sound Transit) to Puyallup.  This is where I really started to notice the rash. I only saw a couple of the art pieces as most were temporarily gone for a huge outdoor market called Meeker Festival Days (Salutation, the nude woman statue in particular might make some parents upset).  In a way I'm relieved: listing all the art in photos can be very time consuming! I also visited Ace Pawn.
 
[NOW: Many of the sculptures including Salutation are no longer there.]

I took the 502 bus (Pierce Transit) to the Commons in Federal Way, deciding to skip Fantasium Comics this time. I cut through the Commons' parking lot and visited Al's Music Games Videos and Action City Comics. Walking to Federal Way Transit Center, I took the A Rapidride bus (Metro Transit) north. I had already decided to skip Angle Lake Park in SeaTac due to weather etc but it was closed anyway due to renovations.
 
[NOW: That Al's closed due to the building burning down.]

At Tukwila International Blvd Station in Tukwila I took the 140 bus (Metro Transit) to Burien.  For years I kept missing Platinum Comics due to its late opening time and then last year because it was closed this year, so I was determined to make it just this once... and it was closed down.  I took another 140 the other way and got off at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila. I visited f.y.e. and got some Latin DVDs. I crossed the street to Buybacks and then went to the nearby Half Price Books, getting a couple more DVDs.
 
[NOW: That Buybacks is now closed.]

After a short walk (passing through Tukwila Pond Park and looking at the pond itself), I took the 150 bus (Metro Transit) back to Westlake Station. I walked to the McDonald's across from Seattle Center, passing the giant red popsicle statue and the Chief Sealth statue en route.  I was too frazzled by credit card issues to notice if the McDonald's still had the sports balls in polls; I imagine that one still does.

[NOW: confirmed later in the trip.]

In Seattle Center I rested at the International Fountain, the half dome with the water jets shooting different directions. Still my favourite Seattle locations.  I walked over to Silver Platters... only to find they had moved to the SoDo district. I'll still get there at least once this trip, but now all the stores I liked to visit in the general vicinity of Seattle Center have closed/moved. :(

I returned to the fountain for a bit, then wandered to the hostel, checking out Rite Aid and a store near the hostel en route (got a drink). I then finished checking in.

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