Live from the Emerald City
Hi from HI-Seattle hostel, below Pike Street Market in rain-slicked downtown Seatown.
After Portland, I almost decided to turn back, to go off the rails completely and give the state of Washington a pass. I’m glad I didn’t, Seattle is an excellent city, but… I don’t know, it just doesn’t speak to me. I guess I’m just more of a country mouse than a city mouse.
There just isn’t anything I want or need from a big city. I’d rather listen to a bluegrass trio than a symphony orchestra. I’d rather browse 5 shelves of books at a small town library than hunt among a million books I know I’ll never read.
It’s taken a lot of walking meditation– I pounded a lot of miles of sidewalk today, and the hills in Seattle are mighty steep– but I’ve come to decide that all I’m really looking for is a small town with upbeat creative people, rainy weather, and a fun geek community.
You can’t control the weather, you can’t swap out the population of a place, but everything else can be imported, avoided or done without.
So tomorrow I’m hittin’ the atlas and hittin’ the yellow brick road again. Next stop will probably be Port Townsend, on a long arc along the north coast back towards Corvalis, OR.
