Even on the Sidekick, one is not safe from crashes! As I was typing a post, A called, and when I hung up the SK reset. I’m typing into an email now so it will at least sync with the server periodically.

I’m in Seattle! When I first typed this I was sitting in a mini-park between a tattoo parlor called Under the Needle and a music shop called Rock Memories. Now I’ve walked past the Space Needle and Seattle Center (where The Donnas are playing) and I’m perched on a ledge within sight of the restaurant where I’m meeting friends.

The flight from Minneapolis to Seattle was unremarkable; I ended up spending the $3 on a snack box because it was cheaper than buying snacks individually somewhere. The baggage carousel was broken so we had to wait a while for our luggage; I chatted with a deaf couple who told me it would be $30 for a cab to my hotel! (It ended up being $40, but I’m probably a big tipper. I forgot to get a receipt though, hopefully that’ll be okay.)

Things I have noticed here:

• When the deaf couple asked where I was from, it took me a moment after saying “Washington” to realize that I had to specify DC!
• I am not accustomed to seeing so many Washington state license plates; they turn up occasionally at home but mostly we have east coast state plates around.
• The mountains here sure are big! While we were at cruising altitude the mountains all looked like little puckers of land, but as we descended (at about 3000ft) they were huge! I see what A means now by “you people on the East Coast don’t know what mountains are really like.”
• I think there were other things I’d been saving up to tell about, but I’ve forgotten so they’ll have to wait till later.

I forgot to bring a little bottle with rum for making mixed drinks in the room, so I bought a 24oz bottle of Mike’s Hard Cranberry Lemonade at a 7-11. Hey, something’s better than nothing…the onboard drink prices are sky-high!

I think that’s it for now…I’m going to head closer to the restaurant to meet my friends.