I feel it is my duty to debunk a longstanding falsehood about our great nation: It does not rain every day in Seattle. What did you think I was going to say, we were still owned by Great Britain?
Two weeks ago, I spent eight relatively low-key days in Washington state. Of course, the high-key occurrence came as we crossed the border into Oregon, after thinking we were already Oregon when instead, we were actually in New Zealand. It is amazing what you can find in Washington: mountains, a rain forest, beaches and a diversified population. My brother is a graduate student at the <ahref="http://www.washington.edu/" target="_blank">University of Washington, so we made a family trip of it. I'm not too fond of riding in a car, but I used it to my benefit to write column ideas and throw cabbage at passing cars.
The first mistake was throwing the cabbage. Traffic doesn't move in Seattle, so oftentimes I threw multiple heads of cabbage at the same car. From there, we had an arduous time merging on the expressway. Secondly, I thought it would be neat to gather as many URLs as I could and devote my next column to these sites. I had to stop midway through the trip because there were Web sites everywhere, from buses to billboards to bumper stickers to business cards.
To make matters even more ridiculous, I saw a car with, no joke, floppy disks covering the entire vehicle. The vehicle's license plate read "DISKDRV." It was a Washington plate, and I had hoped I could find his Web site, but Google searches produced nothing. On a more positive note, a head of cabbage got wedged in between a couple of disks, and the driver didn't seem to mind.
Now I will share 10 of the Web sites I did manage to jot down; at least the ones I can read. They appear to be in the order in which I saw them.
PiroshkyPiroshky -- Quite possibly the hardest link to ever type into your browser, this site shows the story behind the piroshky. Trust me, they taste good, and you can even order them!
TheSamples.com --This appears to be a band. I have no idea where I saw the Web site, but they must be good. They have an anthology.
City Fish-- Order fresh salmon right from the Pike Place Market right into your own home.
Pike Place Market -- Before going to Seattle, and to the Pike Place Market, check out all it has to offer. I've never seen an array of food, flowers, expensive jewelry, cheap jewelry, fish and fruit all in one place. Did I mention about 27,000 people pass through the market on a summer weekday?
Noah's ArkBuses -- Unless you are enthralled with tour buses, and pictures taken in the '80s of people getting on and off tour buses, there's no reason to visit this site.
Nature of the Northwest -- Learn about the various campgrounds, hiking trails and wilderness area sof the northwest. This site is worth visiting just to see the small fire icon.
REI -- If you are going camping, go here to get gear. I think they also sell trees to hide behind while walking down the street.
Puget Sound Blood Center-- Based on the site, I would donate blood to the Puget Sound Blood Center. Wait a minute, it's on the other side of the country. Nevermind.
UrbanPhysiology -- A fancy name for a gym. Probably expensive too.
AdvancedRadiant -- This company's motto is the following: "The art of heating your home ... perfected." It makes giving blood sound fun.
I probably saw close to 50 Web sites in the seven days I was out West. It was a bit overwhelming, but at least I had plenty of stuff to put in a column. If anyone happens to go to Seattle in the near future, please look out for "DISKDRV" and ask him for an interview. Better yet, just get my cabbage back.
Comments