seattle, part 2

Cool diversity of people in Seattle. Lots of young folks out and about, expressing a range of styles, subcultures, group affiliations. I rarely had the sense that anybody was trying too hard to transgress. Seattle just struck me as a place where a lot of different individuals and collectives do their own things.

We managed to hit a good number of neighborhoods where expression happens. Ravenna and Fremont, for instance, where old family friends Nate, Mike, and Erin--who live in the former and hang out in the latter-- served as awesome tour guides. They took us to an outstanding Greek restaurant in Fremont, Costas Opa and we looked at some of the area's odd sculpture: the huge Lenin statue, "Waiting for the Interurban," and, of course, the humongous, VW-eating troll. The vegetarian mousaka at Costas was unbelievably good.

Another old friend, Jeff, lives in the Capitol Hill area and was equally gracious and informative. Capitol Hill is the center of gay-lesbian life in town, and the vibe is interesting and odd: a juxtaposition of bohemianism and upward mobility co-existing nicely. Jeff took us through Ballard, where we looked at the locks and the salmon shelves, and where we ate at Mike's Chili. Don't let the food network endorsement fool you. Mike's is a cash-only, beer-drinking joint. And the chili was nice. A lot of onion, a lot of jalapeno. Thick stuff, too. Excellent.