I can’t get no sleep. After the last rough nights in the National Park and on my way up, I thought I would be getting some good sleep in Seattle. I should have known better. It’s not that there was abundant night-life during the week. Not at all. In fact, most bars were populated only by the bar keepers at night. No, I had some bad snorers in my dorm room and it was so hot that we had to open the window and let fresh air… and lots of noise in.
But I don’t want to whine all the time. That’s the life I chose, so I have to put up with it. I also chose a city tour offered by the hostel. It was nice, but I didn’t see much of Seattle to be honest. A great view of the skyline, some fountain with kids playing (and me also getting wet) and the EMP museum.
The next day I decided to use my car one last time and drove up north to the San Juan Islands, got on the ferry as pedestrian and rented a bike to get around. The weather was nice and so was the landscape. However, compared to other islands I had seen, it was not so spectacular. I rode to the American Camp, a historic place where the Pig war between the American and the British took place, both claiming the island. Except for a shot pig that started it, nobody was killed and it was settled by Kaiser Wilhem I as arbitrator. Se germans again! Weird.
I continued to the South Beach, where I wanted to unpack my towel and lay on the sand, but it was just covered with threepwood (only Guybrush was missing). Arctic winds seem to blow here and so I didn’t lay down. However, I was able to watch Orca killer whales from the shore — great!
Back in Friday Harbor I got myself a bucket of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and sat down in the sun, listening to a street musician with a violin recording and replaying loops. After the one hour ferry ride I drove back to Seattle for another two hours. This was my last night and I tried to find a place with action. As I already explained, Seattle was dead during the week, but I found a place with a couple of live bands that were quite good (and I have this distant feeling that I heard of “Monty Ray and the Truth” somewhere before, but I can’t remember where or when).
So much for Seattle. The next morning was again wasted organizing and writing emails. At around half past three, I headed to the station to catch the Empire Builder to Minneapolis. It was a bit late, but not as bad as the announcement before had made us all thinking (they expected more like four hours). But that is another story.
