Day #59 - 5/10/2011 - Olympia, OR to Seattle, WA - 69 miles

It was an easy 69 miles from Olympia to the Super 8 motel in Issaquah, WA, just outside of Seattle.

Our visit to Seattle, the most northwestern major city in the continuous 48, was more of a social call than a sightseeing visit. 

Nowhere near as rainy as people think it is (Seattle is not on the top-10 rainy city least), it is one of the least sunny with less than 70 sunny days a year.  On the other hand, the region is largely denied Pacific storms by the Olympic Mountains and Arctic air by the Cascade Range so the winters just do not drop into the freezing range...usually.   Seattle is named after Chief Sealth "Seattle", of the Duwamish and Suquamish native tribes.  It is home to Starbucks, Amazon, Nordstrom and Costco while, just a few miles away in Redmond, Microsoft employs over 90000 people.  The Space Needle, dating from the Century 21 Exposition (1962), is Seattle's most recognizable landmark.

We pulled in and oriented ourselves.

Pulling into the Seattle downtown, Lani contacts Maria, a friend from UF.

 One of the things we've definitely enjoyed are local cuisines and local favorite eateries.  There was one in Seattle that I was definitely looking forward to checking out.

Oh yeah...discovered on a Travel Channel segment on donuts, I set my sights on Top Pot Doughnuts.

 Founded in 2002 and now with 6 locations in the Puget Sound area, Top Pot has a passionate following.

I studied the doughnuts behind the glass while Lani tries to pry her cellphone from her ear.

With 40 doughnuts to chose from and dinner on my mind, I limited myself to just one...and a cup of coffee.

Lani got that pink thing and I settled on the Chocolate Old Fashioned.  Sadly, I have to report that it was just "good".  I mean, I enjoyed it, and all, but I'd have traded it in a heartbeat for the chocolate chip bar from my beloved Santa Monica Donut King. Return to that wonderful blogpost of yesteryear or simply gaze upon my precious chocolate chip bar.

 Even though the doughnuts, IMHO, were not quite worthy of all that attention, it was clear that this was a popular location.  Lani picked up some chai milky looking thing and I had some locally roasted coffee.

Florida tourists enjoying the downtown Seattle ambiance, getting ready to soak up some WiFi.

 Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the Seattle Space Needle is built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour  and earthquakes of up to a Richter 9.1 magnitude. 

There's a 43 second elevator ride to the observation deck at 520'.  You can also enjoy dinner at the rotating Sky City Restaurant.

Post-donut, we drove around the bustling downtown on our way to some bookstores. 

Parking is always a serious issue in a city like this, a matter that some people really take seriously.  Strategically located on each block are parking sticker vending machines that gladly take your credit card and provide you with a timed sticker to attach to the inside of your window.

 Big cities like Seattle have some pretty massive bookstores with rows upon rows of older books.

The problem with the large city bookstores is that even though there are some impressive collections of older books, they are impressively priced.

The highlight of my day - and one of the trip highlights - was catching up with a pair of friends from my years at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.   I spent two years there as a pulmonary fellow and 8 years as the Internal Medicine program director.  Steve Hayashi was a year behind me.  After he finished his residency, he completed a year as the Kennamer Fellow after which he became the Associate Chief of Medicine.  We were colleagues and friends...Steve is one of the all-'round brightest people I've known.  Carolyn Holeski had been a University of Miami M.D/Ph.D graduate before coming to West LA for her residency, where she met Steve.  Carolyn and her mom had edited a book on the Alaskan gold rush.

Steve Hayashi was a year behind me when I was a pulmonary fellow.  After he finished his residency, he completed a year as the Kennamer Fellow after which he became the Associate Chief of Medicine.  We were colleagues and friends...Steve is one of the all-'round brightest people I've known.  Carolyn Holeski had been a University of Miami M.D/Ph.D graduate before coming to West LA for her residency, where she met Steve.  Carolyn and her mom had edited a book on the Alaskan gold rush.  It was great to see them..we went out for dinner and returned to their home for dinner.

So, after 59 days of travel, we finished the night near Seattle, having traveled from the most southeastern to the most northwestern in the lower 48.  Every move after this would take us close to home.