November 13, 2001
Maybe the cat can find the funk

Location: Seattle, WA

First yesterday. We drove from Portland to Seattle. On the way we stopped at the Mt St Helens visitor info center, which was interesting---watched a little movie re: the volcano eruption. I didn't know it was so serious as to cause death. There was an annoying guy behind us who kept jingling the change in his pocket--he bothered Mena, and she said she wanted to hurt him.

Then we walked around a bit outside before heading back to I-5 to go north. Stopped in Tumwater (what a horrible name) to go to Quizno's for lunch (why no Quizno's in the Bay Area?), then went north again.

Arrived in Seattle at about 3--neat seeing the downtown buildings all of a sudden, first over the hills, then, as we rounded a corner, right in front of us. We checked into the B&B, Salisbury House, an hour early. The sweet little cat (one of them) came to check who was there when we rang the bell, then decided we were uninteresting, and walked away. Cats rock (more later).

We played chess (badly) for about 45 minutes in the very snug and warm sitting room with a nice little fireplace. The B&B is gorgeous and in a great neighborhood with historic mansions etc. Near Volunteer Park. Our room (the Rose Room) has a canopy bed and is decorated in rose (the color). After chess we went to Chutney's (Indian) for dinner. Very good: had the flat break with some chutneys, then ordered onion and cilantro naan, plus vegetable vindaloo and chicken tandoori tikado. And for dessert, these fried wheat balls in a sugary saurce--sounds kind of disgusting (wheat, in particular) but actually really good. They resembled the romano bread puffs from Numero Uno, but not in taste, of course.

Before dinner we were hungry and it smelled very good in the Salisbury House (they were baking pumpkin bread). Mena said I should go to the kitchen door and meow for some food. She liked this joke a lot. :)

After dinner we returned to the B&B, then went down to the sitting room to read. The cat (one of them--there are two, Emily and Jane) was sitting in there, staring at the fire. She ran away when we came into the room, but eventually she returned and came up to us, rubbing against the table legs. She lay with us on the couch for a while, and I scratched her stomach.

After a while of reading we went back up to our room and read some more, then went to bed.

So then today: we woke after a relaxing sleep (no smoke in the air) and went down to breakfast. First, a banana-orange-something smoothie, then a plate with a brie quiche, and some fruit (watermelon, grapefruit, figs, grapes), and a platter of breads (the aforementioned pumpkin, and rhubarb). Very good breakfast. We talked with some people from Washington DC (yesterday we just saw the father and son together and thought they were a robbing-the-cradle gay couple. But no).

Then back up to the room, then downtown on the #10 bus, where we first went to Kinko's to fix the problem with the Movable Type message boards (stupid Ikonboard). Then checked email, added donors, etc.

Then we went to Pike Place Market. Neat: so many shops etc. We went to DeLaurentis and bought 2 cannolis and ate them there. Then walked around a bit more, and in the process ate a steamed pork bun and a sauerkraut-carrot-onion piroshki from Piroshky, Piroshky.

After the Market we walked down the Harbour Steps to the waterfront. It was starting to rain but we didn't want to look touristy so we didn't use our umbrella; the guidebook had mentioned that locals don't really use umbrellas much because they are used to the rain. But of course, this turned out to be the start of a very big storm, and this rain was not usual; and we just looked like idiots without umbrellas.

We had planned to walk down to Pioneer Square, but it was raining and Mena was already feeling a cold and threatened me that she might catch pneumonia, so we headed up Columbia St (up a hill) back into downtown. Walked up the hill, then left on 2nd Ave, through downtown, then right on Seneca and up to 5th Ave, then left down through the shopping district. Went to Old Navy for warmth and so we could dry off a bit, and bought some dog clothes. Then over to Westlake Center, where we took the monorail over to the Seattle Center and the Experience Music Project.

The EMP was very cool; favorites were the Hendrix Gallery and the room where you can play all of the instruments (Sound Lab). Also liked the rap section in Milestones w/ all of the outfits, particularly Professor Griff's.

The Sound Lab: I played w/ the mixer (mixing Sweet Dreams), the keyboard, the guitar, and special effects pedals, and the drums. Drums were the most fun--I did all right on the fills up to #11 and I completely lost all ability to move my hands consistently. I was also very uncoordinated when trying to play simple 1-2-3-4 rhythms, particularly when two different drums had to be played at once, or at separated intervals, etc. I would think I was moving 1 hand but then the other--or both--hand(s) would move. And then I tried to play the damn kick drum.

Then we went to the Artist's Journey ("Funk Blast"), which was way weird. We went into this room and watched a little video about some funk people, and I started to worry we were going to have to dance or something, and this guy came on talking about 2 kids who needed to "find the funk." And I didn't know what I was going to have to do to find the funk for/with them, but I didn't necessarily want to find out. But we went into another room w/ this huge shoe and pant leg, and the pant leg then lifted to reveal video screens, where the same weird funky guy was talking to the 2 kids (who were both Asian--I guess Asians don't have the funk) and they were at a funk show. And they said they had a funk band, but this really didn't look like 2 people in a band. They looked like brothers of an Asian fraternity or something. And the music started, and they started dancing in place, and it was kind of embarassing to watch.

Anyway, then they decide they need to find the funk, so they jump into a funk tunnel wormhole, and that's when we go into the next room, which is one of those rides where the seats move as a video screen changes. So we get into the seats and it was really intense, then the movie/ride started, and it was kind of nausea-inducing w/ all the twisting etc. And the 2 kids went into some weird funk world where James Brown jumped from the side of a building and did some magic, then everyone started dancing. The 2 kids got a guitar and a bass and tentatively started playing along.

Then we went through the wormhole again to a Parliament Funkadelic concert and the 2 kids are up on stage, and they've changed outfits now: and one has his chest showing, and I'm sorry, but I don't want to see this guy's creepy little chest.

So anyway, they played along w/ the band, etc. then it was over and we left through the wormhole again. Very odd.

That was basically it for the EMP, so we took the monorail back to Westlake Center. We were tired and didn't feel like looking for a restaurant, so we ate dinner at World Wrapps, where they have this interesting option to get an Asian wrap(p) in a bento-style box w/ a little salad, some potstickers, and some snow peas. An odd little combination, but pretty good.

So then we left the W.C. and headed downtown back to Kinko's (again) where Mena wrote a blog entry. Then took the #10 bus back to B&B, read, went to sleep.

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Comments how close to sf do you mean by "in the bay area?" because there is a quiznos in redwood city... usedta go there sometimes when I worked at excite. :) Posted by kim at November 28, 2001 03:59 AM


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