Washington! Woot woot!
State #44 began by continuing down the road with Jonny, Mindy, and Robert! We left Eureka, Montana around 4 pm on Wednesday afternoon. It was strange driving in Jonny’s car and following the van for 2 reasons. One, Marc and I were always together, but we split up boys and girls. We got the car because it has a heater, unlike the van. Two, because I wasn’t in the van-I’ve never gone to a different state not in the van, and why would I have?It was about a 500 mile drive so we didn’t make it to Seattle until around 1:30 ish. Marc seems to think it was 2:30, so somewhere in between the 2 is probably the most accurate. We have a tendency to remember details a little differently. Either way, we got there very late, found Walmart, parked it and went to sleep. Mindy slept in the back of Jonny’s car, while I slept on the floor of the van and all 3 boys slept on the bed. I could have slept in the bed, but I thought it would be a bit weird to have someone else in bed with us, so I opted for the ground. It was an amusing fit to say the least. As it always does, morning came. We survived the night, and woke up to face Seattle.
In the same parking lot with Walmart was a Safeway and Panera, so we got up and
got a dozen eggs to make breakfast for our houseguests, then used our free
coffee voucher to sit at Panera and have our study before our adventure. Just before we got in there, we noticed that there
were Jehovah’s Witnesses walking in a path that would lead them straight to us,
so we walked a bit slower to ensure an encounter. They passed us a magazine and
we stopped to talk. Marc dominated one of the conversations, and Jonny began
talking with the other lady. I considered butting into Jonny’s, but I think
that experience can be one of the best teachers, so I hung back and let him ask
his questions. Afterwards, we talked about different ways to approach it. I do
always love talking about different cults. I think I might like to teach a
workshop on it one day, Lord willing anyways. I need to learn a bit more, but
it would be awesome!
After we finished up at Panera, we headed into Seattle, thus beginning the usual frustrating situation that we face in major cities-trying to find free parking. After a good bit of research and driving around, we gave up and Jonny paid for us to park in a lot. We now had 5 hours to explore! We walked to the Seattle Space Needle, which was fairly close to us anyways. We didn’t pay to go up because usually awesome things aren’t free, but we took pictures then headed on down the road to find Pike’s Place. (p.s. I’ve been informed by a local that they call it Pike’s Marketplace, not Pike’s Place or Pike’s Market, so if you wanna be in the know, there you go!) On the way, we passed a man who was dressed rather nicely in business attire, crouched down on the sidewalk pouring what looked like water over 2 wires that were twisted together in a circle. Marc said, mostly in passing, “I can’t wait to see what it is you’re doing.” And just like that, we were having a conversation with this man named Paul. He told us about his artwork, and Marc told him about our trip. As the conversation progressed, we found out that he knew the Lord, but wasn’t really living for him, according to his own admission. It was a good conversation and sweet to see that Jonny naturally joined in by sharing verses and encouragement. As we moved on down the road, there was a guy standing outside smoking. We asked him a bit about the city, things to see, where to go, etc. The first thing he said was that Pike’s Marketplace was lame. I made a joke about thanks for making me feel like a lame tourist since that’s where we were going. A necessary evil of being a tourist is being predictable and going where everyone else goes, but you can’t go somewhere like Seattle and not do what they’re known for! So anyways, he told us of a couple locations. One funny thing that he said was, “If you drive by (whatever place) you can see a bunch of prostitutes. Just see them, though; I don’t recommend engaging their services.” It was too funny. The touristy conversation was coming to an end, so Marc gave him a tract and began to ask him about his beliefs. Very politely, he said that he was on a 10 minute break from work and as he was just about at the end of his cigarette, he had to go back inside. He seemed sincere and apologetic in saying it, so hopefully he’ll read the tract and it will minister to him. His name was also Paul, oddly enough.
After we finished up at Panera, we headed into Seattle, thus beginning the usual frustrating situation that we face in major cities-trying to find free parking. After a good bit of research and driving around, we gave up and Jonny paid for us to park in a lot. We now had 5 hours to explore! We walked to the Seattle Space Needle, which was fairly close to us anyways. We didn’t pay to go up because usually awesome things aren’t free, but we took pictures then headed on down the road to find Pike’s Place. (p.s. I’ve been informed by a local that they call it Pike’s Marketplace, not Pike’s Place or Pike’s Market, so if you wanna be in the know, there you go!) On the way, we passed a man who was dressed rather nicely in business attire, crouched down on the sidewalk pouring what looked like water over 2 wires that were twisted together in a circle. Marc said, mostly in passing, “I can’t wait to see what it is you’re doing.” And just like that, we were having a conversation with this man named Paul. He told us about his artwork, and Marc told him about our trip. As the conversation progressed, we found out that he knew the Lord, but wasn’t really living for him, according to his own admission. It was a good conversation and sweet to see that Jonny naturally joined in by sharing verses and encouragement. As we moved on down the road, there was a guy standing outside smoking. We asked him a bit about the city, things to see, where to go, etc. The first thing he said was that Pike’s Marketplace was lame. I made a joke about thanks for making me feel like a lame tourist since that’s where we were going. A necessary evil of being a tourist is being predictable and going where everyone else goes, but you can’t go somewhere like Seattle and not do what they’re known for! So anyways, he told us of a couple locations. One funny thing that he said was, “If you drive by (whatever place) you can see a bunch of prostitutes. Just see them, though; I don’t recommend engaging their services.” It was too funny. The touristy conversation was coming to an end, so Marc gave him a tract and began to ask him about his beliefs. Very politely, he said that he was on a 10 minute break from work and as he was just about at the end of his cigarette, he had to go back inside. He seemed sincere and apologetic in saying it, so hopefully he’ll read the tract and it will minister to him. His name was also Paul, oddly enough.
So we kept walking and FINALLY made it to Pike Marketplace. It wasn’t actually
that far, maybe a 10-15 minute walk and with good company, but I’m an exaggerator,
so I use all caps. So the market place was pretty sweet. We walked around a few
of the surrounding shops first before making our way in. It was crowded, but
not crazy. There were a lot of free samples, everything from jerky to dipping
oils to flavored almonds and the BEST apples I’ve ever had. (I know I just said
that thing about exaggerating by using CAPS, but it seriously was so good!) I
suppose that’s how they get away with charging $3 an apple, but it’s totally
worth it! There were tons of produce vendors and just as many flower vendors.
All of the produce people looked like hipster hippies and all of the flower
people were little Asian men and women. The flowers were GORGEOUS. While I do
love flowers, the idea of spending money on something that is going to die
quickly and be useless just seemed pointless, so I never want them unless they’re
free. However, if I lived there, I have a feeling I would buy these flowers.
The bouquets were stunningly beautiful, prettier than I’ve seen even at any
wedding. From farther down the walkway, we heard people yelling and cheering,
so we approached just in time to see the throwing of the fish. A cliché, awesome must of the marketplace.
As we finished walking through, we ended up at a small waterfront park just at the end of the shops and vendors. It was actually more like a strip of grass and some tables than a park, but that’s ok. To the left sat many, many homeless people at the tables. Some slept, others sat, others socialized. To the right on the small grass slopes were, for the most part, couples sitting enjoying the view, friends hanging out, and other non-homeless people. It was odd to see the divide-as though people knew where their respective “place” was; one side so very different from the other. Right away, Marc found a target! There was a man sitting on a bench. As he and Jonny began a conversation with him, Mindy and I took pictures and went for a walk. When we came back, they were still talking, so we went over and hung out in their area to see if we could be of assistance. Marc moved on to the other guy on the bench, who believed in God but wasn’t walking with him, the story of a lot of people that we meet, especially the homeless. I’m not sure if these guys were homeless, but I got the feeling. Jonny was still talking to the first guy the boys had started talking to, a Native American man named Bear. I got pulled into the conversation when he asked what the difference was between Christianity and other religions, namely Mormonism. I gave him an answer, but he didn’t really seem to interested to hear it. He brought up questions like, “What about the people who have never heard of Jesus? What’s going to happen when they get to heaven?” I told him that I didn’t know, but that God is a just God and that it says in Romans 1 that He has made the world so that man is without excuse. Also, Acts 4:12 says, “’Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’” This is a fairly common argument that people have and is usually presented with the wrong heart-people ask it because they want a scapegoat or an unfair reason not to believe in God, so after I told him the verses, I said, “But that doesn’t matter for you because you do know.” The brunt of his objections, which came up many times even before we got there, had to do with his heritage: “I just think that it’s more important to have children and take care of your family. If you live a good life here on earth, that’s what’s important. Nothing really happens when you die.” As much as we presented different reasons, it always came back to that. It lent to the idea that he didn’t really care and wasn’t listening at all. In other words, we were casting our pearls before swine. Marc came over and said that we had to move the car, which was true, so off we headed.
As we finished walking through, we ended up at a small waterfront park just at the end of the shops and vendors. It was actually more like a strip of grass and some tables than a park, but that’s ok. To the left sat many, many homeless people at the tables. Some slept, others sat, others socialized. To the right on the small grass slopes were, for the most part, couples sitting enjoying the view, friends hanging out, and other non-homeless people. It was odd to see the divide-as though people knew where their respective “place” was; one side so very different from the other. Right away, Marc found a target! There was a man sitting on a bench. As he and Jonny began a conversation with him, Mindy and I took pictures and went for a walk. When we came back, they were still talking, so we went over and hung out in their area to see if we could be of assistance. Marc moved on to the other guy on the bench, who believed in God but wasn’t walking with him, the story of a lot of people that we meet, especially the homeless. I’m not sure if these guys were homeless, but I got the feeling. Jonny was still talking to the first guy the boys had started talking to, a Native American man named Bear. I got pulled into the conversation when he asked what the difference was between Christianity and other religions, namely Mormonism. I gave him an answer, but he didn’t really seem to interested to hear it. He brought up questions like, “What about the people who have never heard of Jesus? What’s going to happen when they get to heaven?” I told him that I didn’t know, but that God is a just God and that it says in Romans 1 that He has made the world so that man is without excuse. Also, Acts 4:12 says, “’Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’” This is a fairly common argument that people have and is usually presented with the wrong heart-people ask it because they want a scapegoat or an unfair reason not to believe in God, so after I told him the verses, I said, “But that doesn’t matter for you because you do know.” The brunt of his objections, which came up many times even before we got there, had to do with his heritage: “I just think that it’s more important to have children and take care of your family. If you live a good life here on earth, that’s what’s important. Nothing really happens when you die.” As much as we presented different reasons, it always came back to that. It lent to the idea that he didn’t really care and wasn’t listening at all. In other words, we were casting our pearls before swine. Marc came over and said that we had to move the car, which was true, so off we headed.
this picture doesn't do justice to the flowers I was talking about
Our next stop was one of the places that the 2nd Paul had
recommended us to see: the Fremont troll! There’s this giant sculpture under a
freeway overpass of a troll grabbing hold of an actual Volkswagen Beetle. When
we got there, I was delighted to realize that it was a filming location for one
of my favorite movies, 10 Things I Hate About You. So we took pictures, did our
tourist thing, and headed up the road to spend Jonny’s Olive Garden gift card.
Dinner was delicious, but it was quite odd to be out to dinner at a sit down
restaurant. I felt out of place, as though I didn’t belong in a place where
people spend money so freely. Most of us got the endless pasta bowl, which of
course, filled us up but we took a bowl to go and headed back to lay our heads.
The next morning, Friday, we woke up to rain. I guess we should have expected it, seeing as though Seattle is known for constant rain. We headed to Starbucks to have our studies and figure out what to do. At first we looked up the mall, but I didn’t want to waste our day trying to avoid the rain. I looked up cooler, inside things to do and didn’t find very many, but luckily the rain let up and we headed off to see Gas Works Park. Apparently it used to be a gas refinery (I think) and when it shut down, most of it was torn down. Some parts, however, remained and it was turned into a park. So we sat and had lunch-smoked salmon and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches all around, then explored the park a bit. Happily, this was also one of the filming locations for 10 Things I Hate About You! If you’ve seen it, the paintball scene was filmed here. They set up the whole paintball park for the movie, but you can tell it’s the same place.
The next morning, Friday, we woke up to rain. I guess we should have expected it, seeing as though Seattle is known for constant rain. We headed to Starbucks to have our studies and figure out what to do. At first we looked up the mall, but I didn’t want to waste our day trying to avoid the rain. I looked up cooler, inside things to do and didn’t find very many, but luckily the rain let up and we headed off to see Gas Works Park. Apparently it used to be a gas refinery (I think) and when it shut down, most of it was torn down. Some parts, however, remained and it was turned into a park. So we sat and had lunch-smoked salmon and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches all around, then explored the park a bit. Happily, this was also one of the filming locations for 10 Things I Hate About You! If you’ve seen it, the paintball scene was filmed here. They set up the whole paintball park for the movie, but you can tell it’s the same place.
Gas Works Park
photo sesh!
the boys chowing down on smoked salmon
the view!
we had to take our 10 Things picture :)
After a good little while at the park, we headed off to what the internet said was a must see in Seattle-the public library. As odd as that may sound, as soon as we pulled up, we could see why. It was very bizarrely shaped, and the inside had an intriguing design as well. As we rode the elevator to the top, I couldn’t figure out why they called the stacks “spiral” instead. Then suddenly, it all made sense. Rather than having to take the stairs to go between levels, the floor literally spiraled into the next one. A slight downward slope took you through the stacks to the next, lower level of stacks. It was fantastic and sincerely made me miss working at the library. I would be happy to be a paige there any day!
We didn’t have a lot of time on our meter, so we semi-quickly made our way through the stacks and back to the car.
This next story is probably my favorite from Seattle and involves our good friend from back home, Mark Johnson, the sound guy at our church. Quick back story-our very own Mark Johnson was a tour manager for the Red Hot Chili Peppers for 20+ years (if I remember correctly) and has tons upon tons of stories about them and many other bands. Because of this, he knows a great deal of people. One of his friends just opened up a restaurant here in Seattle in the past year, so they worked out a deal that allowed us to eat dinner there that night, all 5 of us! The name of the restaurant was Tanglewood Supreme. Marc called to make reservations as I looked up the menu, which consisted mostly of seafood, with a handful of non-seafood options. Unfortunately for me, I really don’t like seafood, pork, or steak, but with no chicken on the menu, these were my options. Between the 5 of us, we ordered a couple small starters to share and each a different entrée, except Marc and Robert both ordered scallops. So, on the table we had two orders of scallops, Mindy got steak, I ordered pork loins, and Jonny ordered butter poached cod. Let me tell you, everything was AMAZING. I don’t like really any kind of fish but I’ll deal with deep fried fish in my fish tacos, never by itself on a plate, but this cod was superb. It wasn’t fishy or overpowering, but had a perfect blend of flavor and a texture that melted in your mouth. I didn’t care too much for the steak, but I’m not a steak eater anyways. That being said, it probably was the best bite of steak I’ve ever had. The pork got better with every bite I took and the sauce that it was served with was excellent. But best of all was the scallops. I was afraid that they would be rubbery or fishy or something gross that I wouldn’t like, but they were fantastic. These were some of the best entrees I had ever had. The presentation was beautiful, the portions were a good size for being an upscale restaurant, and everything matched together deliciously. They had a garlic aioli that was literally the best sauce I have ever had in my life, which is what I told Kent, the owner, when he came over to check on us. He made a joke about bringing me shots of it, and I was actually hoping that he would have because I would have happily taken them. Then came dessert. I took one bite of the chocolate soufflé and my eyes literally watered because of how good it was. I’ve never had any chocolate dessert that was so good. It wasn’t heavy or too sweet to eat, it was the perfect dessert. We also had a goat milk cheesecake with sake poached huckleberries and a macadamia crust. It was great as well, but I’m a chocolate girl and nothing will ever touch that dessert. I’m a little mad because I’ll probably never have it again! You know what they say: it is better to have loved and lost love than never to have loved at all. I remarked when all was said and done, “tonight would be a good night to die.” Of course, not that I wanted to, but it was a wonderful day with great people and a dinner experience that we’re not likely to replicate again.
The Seattle Public Library!
the stacks that spiral downward
The best food I've ever had:
I was happy that Robert, Jonny, and Mindy were able to be there with us. We’ve been so blessed so many times in ways that we cannot repay and I’m glad they got to experience that with us. Much love to our good friend, Mark Johnson. If you’re reading this Mark, we owe you a card playing day!
After dinner, we picked up our van and headed off to Anita’s house. Anita is Marc’s Granny’s cousin. She lives in Seattle with her niece, Michelle, so they had us all over to spend the night. Her place was small but that didn’t keep her from being welcoming and inviting all 5 of us in! We schmoozed for a bit and then bedded down. Mindy got the couch and the rest of us took the floor. We were sleeping on piles of pillows and Robert slept on a human sized stuffed moose. It was a pretty funny sight that I really should have gotten a picture of.
Six AM came, of course too early, and our friends got up and left to go back home. We went back to sleep and woke up bright and early….around 9:45. It’s one of the perks of being vagabonds. After Michelle treated us to the movies and Little Caesars, (thank you!) we set out to see what West Seattle had to offer. It was, of course, raining again, so we headed to the mall. It was a pretty good sized mall and we walked all of it, but at this point every time we enter a mall I feel like Solomon-there is nothing new under the sun. Ever. And yet, we’re not going to meet anyone new sitting around the house so we find public places to be and pray for opportunity. As we walked, Marc spotted a man sitting alone at a table with a few different bags with him. He had the typical, “I hate shopping with women” look on his face while he sat and waited. Marc approached him and easily gave him the gospel. He mentioned as he sometimes does, “I have peace knowing that I can lay my head down at night, knowing that if I died, I’m going to heaven.” He asked, “how can you know?” so Marc was able to talk with him until the ladies came back for their goods. I started talking to this girl nearby me, but she took off before we could really get anything good going. We exhausted the mall, so our next stop was another rainy day favorite: Barnes & Noble. As I sat to write my blog, Marc walked around to look at magazines. After about 10 minutes, I looked over and chuckled to myself as I saw him talking to somebody. I love his faithfulness and willingness to always grasp the opportunity set before him. Another half hour or so passed and he came back to see how I was doing. I still had to add pictures to the blog, which usually takes a little while, so he went back to read magazines again. He never actually got to the first time because he was side tracked talking to Pat that whole time.
Sunday morning we were off to Calvary Chapel West Seattle. They’re a small congregation that meets inside a senior center. They were very welcoming and we were greeted by many people who seemed genuine in their welcome. The message was based in the 10 Commandments and touched a bit on apologetics. It was good! Afterwards we stayed for a ministry meeting. We had kind of hoped that it would be more of a lesson, but it was what it said-a meeting. The pastor there is beginning a ministry to rally together with people (probably mostly Christians, but open to everyone) who desire to vote with a Christian world view. He made a great point that if Christians of all denominations would stand together and vote with Godliness in mind, we would be a huge minority; large enough, certainly, to sway the vote, if only we would stand together. His passion for it was definitely inspirational and had I not voted in the last election, I would have felt very convicted!
After church and the meeting, we headed back downtown, where it was free to park on Sundays. It seemed that everyone else in the city knew that as well, because it took FOREVER to find a spot! But we did and did another walk through of Pike’s Marketplace and the original Starbucks. We walked by it when the gang was there, but we didn’t go in because the line was spectacularly long. It was long this time as well, but we didn’t order anything. We just squeezed past to say we had been in, and it was lame! There were boxes all over the place, no couches, no tables, nothing! Just hustle and bustle! There was another Starbucks literally down the block that didn’t have a line, but because this was the original, everyone had to have a drink from there. Madness, I say, madness. After a short but enjoyable excursion downtown, we headed back to the house to spend some time with the family, and that wrapped up Sunday.
Monday was a lazy day. Of course it was raining again, as if you expected anything else, so we hung out with Michelle, did some laundry, and worked on projects that we had going. We did venture out later in the afternoon-Michelle took us to see Jimi Hendrix’ grave site! That was pretty sweet! Later that night, Anita treated us to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, where I had the biggest salad of my life. Usually you go to a restaurant where they charge you $12 for a salad and it’s like, what the heck? Either it’s small or not worth it. This salad practically looked like it was $12 worth of lettuce! It was so good! I must say, Anita and Michelle treated us so well while we were there! Even though Marc hadn’t seen them in forever and I had never met them before, they opened their doors and treated us with tons of love! We are so thankful for them!
The next afternoon, we headed out! We stopped in Tacoma, a city about 25 miles south of Seattle, to see Stadium High School, the castle looking high school where they filmed (you guessed it) 10 Things I Hate About You. The actual school looked the same but the surroundings were a bit different. Either way, it was awesome! From there our next stop was the Mt. St. Helen’s visitor center! Unfortunately we got there about 22 minutes after it closed so we didn’t get to go in. Although, with it being the 1st day of the government shutdown, I don’t think they would have been open anyways.
Finally we made it to Vancouver, Washington to visit with Marc’s cousin, Rachel, and her husband David. We enjoyed spaghetti for dinner and awesome company. Not to mention a comfy air mattress and the best wi-fi we could ask for! We spent the night watching Fringe and sleeping cozy!
The next day (Wednesday) we drove around Vancouver to see what it had to offer. We walked the mall (lame) and then headed to downtown, which was also lame. The trouble with Vancouver is that just across the river is Portland, Oregon, so when people want something awesome to do, they just go over there. Needless to say, downtown was not popping, but we walked it just to make sure. One guy was happy to give us advice on where to go and what to see, but we were quickly shut down with the, “I don’t talk about religion or politics with anyone,” as he walked off. Next were two people walking with dogs who responded kindly, but hurriedly on their way.
Next we ran into a woman named Carey. At first she said that she was Mormon but didn’t believe in Mormonism, which she later changed to say that she wasn’t Mormon but still believes in God. Marc shared Romans 10:9 and a bit about repentance and walking with the Lord, and we went our separate ways. As we continued walking, we came across this 16 year old kid and were able to talk with him for a bit. He seemed very mature for his age and believed in God but didn’t exactly walk with Him. He knew he was there for a purpose but wasn’t sure what it was. It was a good conversation and I hope we planted seeds of faith in him. I guess we’ll find out when we get to heaven.
From there we headed back to the van, where we found some disheartening graffiti on the side of our van. Underneath the window that has the giant sign that says, “JESUS SAVES,” someone wrote (in Sharpie) “ur butthole”. I took it rather well-I actually was pretty amused by it. Marc was a little upset, but I was just glad that it wasn’t profane or very bold. Besides, people in other countries die and are imprisoned for their faith, I think we can handle a little bit of graffiti. We headed back to Rachel’s and the four of us left for church. They attend a Lutheran church, which I’ve only been to once in my life when I was in 8th grade. There was a short study and then they had everyone split up-adults in one room, youth in another and talked about different things. It was an interesting format for a midweek service, one that I wasn’t used to, but the people were so nice and once again, welcoming. Again we spent the night at Rachel & David’s and in the morning took off for Portland, Oregon. It was a short drive, about 20 minutes, but exciting as we entered state #45! Stay tuned for the Oregon blog! Coming soon!
inside of the original Starbucks-ugly, plain, and no comforts
the OG Starbucks and the ridiculously long line
Hendrix Memorial:
from Alki Beach, the beautiful city view
Stadium High School!
aka filming location of 10 Things I Hate About You
aka filming location of 10 Things I Hate About You
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