Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Day Off in Seattle

Nice little 900 mile bus ride to get to Seattle. I'm up around 7 and spend the rest of the ride sitting up front with Steve the driver. Three of the people on my bus didn't want to make this drive, so they stayed behind in San Jose and took $84 flights to Seattle late morning, arriving at the hotel around 1pm.

They might have gotten here 2 hours ahead of us, but I've still got $84 in my pocket.

My buddy Scott Goodrich comes to the hotel at 7pm to pick me up for dinner and a few beers. I've known Scott since the mid/late 80's when he lived in Raleigh.

He takes me to a cool little part of town which I think is called Belltown. I've been here before, but I never really got a chance to check out the bars.

First stop is Shorty's Coney Island, which is a combination hot dog stand and slacker bar. They don't sell Budweiser (WTF?????), so I have a couple of cans of Schlitz. Not bad, but they never should have changed the recipe back in the early 80's. I used to drink it a lot, but I haven't had one since the change. Scott's slapping back Pabst Blue Ribbon on draft. A round of his and mine together is only $3.75. Awesome!

We yack there for a while, getting caught up on each other's lives. Scott's in law school, is married to an attorney, and he and his wife are getting ready to adopt a Chinese baby. Wow!

For dinner, we move down a couple of doors to the Noodle Ranch, where I have the BEST Pad Thai I've ever eaten. Funky little restaurant – cool décor, concrete floors. I'm slapping back Sapporo on tap.

After dinner, it's next door to the Lava Lounge. What a cool block of Second Avenue. Everything you need is right here.

The Lava Lounge is pretty similar to Slim's Downtown back home in Raleigh. A rock n' roll dive bar. I'm so comfy here I could stay all night. Lame fucker that I am tonight though, we pack it in after only a few more rounds. This is the only place we've been tonight that sells Budweiser. And I declare it my new favorite bar in Seattle…

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