Thursday, September 6, 2007

Cultural learnings of Seattle for Make Benefit Glorious City of Grand Rapids

Today, we went on a sightseeing venture to the Seattle Center. It was a busy day and we managed to spend from 8:30a.m. until 7:30p.m. out of our hotel room. We went apartment hunting at 2, but before that we found somethings out. These are some things that we have observed in the great land of Seattle that may be of interest:

1. If you want to get anywhere a distance from home in any reasonable time, you have to grab a warm body and pull them in your car so you can go in the diamond lane (carpool, 2+ people). Which means, when I have to go to corporate, I'm alone and therefore, I'm screwed, it takes 60 minutes for a 33 minute trip. But with Stashia and Tryson at my side, we are a powerful force that can zoom by cars at 2 to 3 times their speed. Also, there are stoplights at on ramps to control traffic flow. Oh, and to round out the traffic differences, there are no "Michigan lefts". If you want to turn left, you wait for a light, not a convenient median.

2. The city is beautiful and all the attractions are amazing, and in my opinion the best ones are free. The space needle is what everyone talks about, but I am not about to pay $32 so that my family can go up there. I'm an engineer, not a doctor. Second of all, if you want to eat up there it is about $40-60 a plate. Again, engineer...not doctor. The sculpture park on the other hand is free to visit and even has a Calder sculpture! If you love gardens and woody plants, there are plenty of those for free as well. Viva Seattle!

3. This is kinda from yesterday, but we discovered a huge Steve & Barry's store in the Everett Mall. Let's look at some pictures:

Only in Seattle would some put a Michigan shirt anywhere near an Ohio State shirt.

WARNING, NEXT PICTURE IS NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IN A STORE IN THE MALL:
I have no words for this, it was funny seeing the look on Stashia's face though.

In summary, we have found Seattle, hard to get through, beautiful, confused and naked. More to come, I'm going to have Stashia write a blog soon, maybe tomorrow.

-Chris

3 comments:

Michelle said...

Your title is flipping awesome.
As is the penis picture.
Well done sir, well done.

miloman10 said...

Happy that you like it there. Give my Beany plenty of hugs and kisses and find a picture of me and shove it in his face everyday so that he never forgets his Aunt Taylor.

-Taylor

p.s.- thanks for the UNICEF donations. We're sending those off tomorrow I think.

Unknown said...

Well, now I know what to get you guys for Christmas: a blow-up doll. If you pick up a nice wig for it, you should be able to make that diamond lane, no problem.

Does Seattle have any sort of transit system. I doubt they have a subway system, but I would assume they have buses.

It's very true what you are saying about the attractions. I've found that people who move out to New York don't end up hitting some of the most famous attractions (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Bldg., etc.) until friends and family come out to visit. And that does mean you are taking us to the Space Needle, 'cause I wanna see it. :-)

Is there a Calder sculpture in every major U.S. city? There's one in Lower Manhattan in front of City Hall and across from Michelle's school. Although whenever I show people from Michigan, no one seems to care... good to see someone appreciates them.