Seattle, etc.

I've spent the last week-ish in Seattle, and it's been quite exciting. Being mobile, I've traversed great distances, shopped successfully and dined well. Today, I was in Ballard with TV pal Greg, who found for me a pair of electric orange knee-high socks that say "NERD" in huge block letters. Firstly, only in Ballard would one find this (I used to have a pair of undies that said "ballard" with a little star on the fanny--then I got too fat for 'em). Actually, it's been a bit of a blessing that a lot of my pals from previous years have moved on from this place, so that I can be more focused with the few pals that remain. It's more fun when you're not stretched thin.

I made good on an old promise to podiatry pal Adrienne on Wednesday, when we Mini'd out to the Olympic Peninsula in search of Twilight-y goodness. Our journey took us to the recently world-famous (yet still unexciting) cities of Forks and La Push, by way of Sequim (pronounced "squim" for all you non-Northwesties) and Port Angeles.

Interestingly, that part of the OP, only about 25 miles from the famous Hoh rainforest, gets about 350 days of rain each year, and for us it was crystal clear and 70º. We brought a little Cali with us it seems. 

I'm not a huge fan of the Twilight Saga, for reasons rooted in character development and plot momentum (or lack thereof as it were), and the details of which I will spare you here. Except for one: our protagonist, Bella Swan (eeg, seriously?), is a mousy, good-for-nothing ding dong who can't ever do anything for herself and requires constant observation and protection. Wow, what a story. I cannot deny, however, that the mania resulting from the book and movie successes has done a lot of good for the people of Forks, and the Quileute nation. There was a steady stream of cars, and bustle of pedestrians in that town, of course accompanied by a consistent flow of cash into local establishments. And I'm not talking small scratch. These businesses that provide Twilight Tours charge as much as $40 a head. Then there's the merchandising. Even the menus of every restaurant in town is Twi-themed. We tracked down the important landmarks, awash the whole while in a sea of teenage girls and middle aged women. I have certainly fulfilled my bubble-gum pop culture quota for awhile.

 Mysterious tracks on First Beach in La Push...

But Forks was not the end of excitement for us on the OP. On our return trip through Sequim whilst en route to the Edmonds ferry, we found the greatest intersection in the world, a giant cock and even some exotic wildlife. Alas, our attempt to access the dungeness spit was thwarted in almost every possible way from errant map-reading to dead-end hiking trails and we settled for just trying to peer around the bend at our would-be vista.

This Seattle sojourn revealed two things to me:

1) I really don't miss Seattle, and I'm glad to be leaving after a week. I do not want to live here again. I mean, if I had to I could, say, for residency. But I'm just kinda done with this place.

2) Dang there's some good food & shopping in this town.


The Portland sojourn has revealed a few things to me:

1) I actually want to go to Portland instead of Corvallis now for rotations, because I want an internal med residency at Emmanuel or Providence.

2) If I go to Portland to live, I need to live on the East side. I choose a livable life, not a commutable life.

3) Dang there's some good eats in that town. Have not yet found my shopping niche, though.