Seattle Musical Theater Roadtrip
Okay so this was a trip of indulgence.
I wanted to see a couple of shows which were playing in Seattle and
the stars fell in the right position so we made off for the Emerald
City. We took off on the Friday of the November 11th long
weekend. There was some question of how we would go to Seattle –
our choices were: the clipper (too expensive and stranded without a
car), the Sidney Anacortez Washington state ferry (not a bad idea),
BC Ferries from Swartz Bay (but it is a longer drive with Border
waits) and finally the good old Black Ball Coho (Still kind of
expensive but it at least was a different route). So we found
ourselves pulling into the Bellevue Street Docks for the Blackball at
9:20 on Friday morning. We didn't have any reservations since we
were flying be the seats of our pants. The direction guy said “Maybe
we can get you on; its a bit iffy.”
But for some good reason, which I am
very thankful, we ended up being the second last car allowed on the
ferry. Maybe next time we should get a reservation. The trip was
very uneventful. It is only an hour and a half crossing so we spent
our time watching old tv shows on my nook. It is a nice way to pass
the time watching Spin City and Taxi. The crossing was very smooth
and we pretty much stayed put in the observation area. Not a lot to
see, 22 miles of flat water with fog holding close to the waterline.
We were among some of the last cars off
the ship but our timing was good because we hit a very fast customs
line up. After a few questions of where we were going and me letting
it slip that we were off to see the Addams Family (that was supposed
to be a secret from Marla) we were heading down the highway. Our
first stop was the 7 Cedar's Casino near Sequim. It is a nice little
casino and I see they are doing more renovations to make it even
larger. It is a place where we can pick up lunch for not too bad a
price. This time they had a strip loin roast which is cut down to
make excellent steaks. I really liked my small piece. Eating for me
wasn't much of a challenge here. I may have mentioned in other posts
that I like buffets because I can pick and choose what and how much
of it I want. True I did have a little more than usual but my
smaller stomach stops me when it has had enough.
Sometimes that is a little frustrating
because I would truly like more tastes and more quality of foods.
But then on the other hand I know that I have my limits and not
eating as much is my choice. We continued our drive listening to
classical music and an audiobook about George Carlin. We crossed the
Hood Canal, which is a very cool long bridge, and then made it to
Kingston to catch another ferry across Puget Sound. Sunset over the
water was pretty.
We finally found our way to the
Residence Inn in Bothel, Washington. I like staying here. This trip
we are in unit 232 for a few days. So I took the time to unpack.
Then we figured out we were hungry so we drove over to the Outback in
Mill Creek. It is becoming a regular stop. And seeing as we can
split our meals it comes out to be a pretty good deal. After supper
we went to get some supplies and do some shopping at Fred Meyers. I
upped our USA phone for another $10. We must have been right on the
line for time since we were able to keep our phone number.
We were late getting to bed; still a
little hyped from a day of travel. But we zonked right out and went
to sleep. The next morning I was up bright and early and went for a
two hour walk as the sun came up. It is a really pretty area to walk
behind the Residence Inn. I came back for breakfast (scrambled eggs
and sausage patties) and then got Marla going for the day.
We drove downtown for the matinee
performance of Wicked at the Paramount Theater. I wanted to get us
down there a little early so we could get parked and settled. We
found ourselves a $7 a day parking spot at the lot on 6th
and Olive. Then we started our slow walk up to the theater. We have
lots of time. Our first distraction stop was at the Barnes and Noble
at the Pacific Center. Why are so many places in Seattle called
Pacific? I headed towards the humour section, mostly because I saw
some interesting books about Mad Magazine. But the real treasure was
coming across a collection of Berkley Breathed books containing all
the Bloom County comics. This was a delight because in the 1985
collection I found our favourite cartoon about everything is changing
and nothing ever remains the same except the good old taste of
CocaCola. At that time Opus the penquin says “this coke tastes
different” in reference to the 'new coke'.
Next we downstairs and checked out the
major portion of the bookstore. I love going through books. It is a
wonderful feeling to know there is such an eclectic set of knowledge
and fantasy in all of those tomes. Finally we left the store and
crossed Pine street to go to Von's.
We like going to Von's. It has a
magnificent bar, great food and a fine location. We settled down for
a small lunch before the show. Since we were pretty much in a saloon
we thought we might as well have a drink. Marla went for a
Helfenwizen wheat beer and I had a brandied cherry martini. It
sounds like a girly drink but it was still pretty good and potent
enough to strip paint. For lunch I had clam chowder. It was
excellent, very full tasting and very creamy. Marla had a salad and
something else which I currently forget. The something else would
have been enough.
We killed some time, had some wonderful
conversation and then headed up the hill to the Paramount. Along the
way we stopped at the Hyatt to check out the lobby and also pop into
our favourite steak place Ruth Chris. We haven't been to a Ruth
Chris in ages and I was a little leery about going back since I can
not eat very much. But we talked with the front desk and they say it
is no problem to split a meal so we are going to put it on our list
for when we return.
I like going to the Paramount. It is a
beauty of an old theater. It has a Middle Eastern quality to its
design and it is very beautiful. Our seats for Wicked were in Row N
of the House Right side. We were two seats off the aisle so the
really were not that bad. I would not want to sit any further out or
further back than that.
Wicked the show is very good. It is
more spectical than play. But the songs are enjoyable, there is lots
of flash and money on the stage. We had a good time. The highlight
for me is to watch Marla enjoying the show.
We left the show and it was just
starting to get dark outside. One of the reasons I like going to
matinees is because it is easier to get out. Or so I thought.
Traffic was a nightmare. It took us nearly a hour to go a dozen
blocks. But once we were on I-5 we headed out to see Gerry and Jan
at their place in Federal Way.
We had a very nice visit with Gerry and
Jan. So nice to talk with old friends. After a while we headed back
up to Bothel and called it a night.
The next morning I was so stiff I could
barely move. I felt very old as everything was sore and creaked. I
don't think it was the bed and it shouldn't have been the walk from
the previous day. Maybe it is a bit of the flu. I had a nice long
bath, I don't usually have baths but this one felt pretty good. I
was wondering if we should slip into Seattle and see the pin ball
museum but frankly it just seemed like a nice quiet day. We did
drive over to Lynnwood and see if there was anything I could get at
the Big 5 sporting goods store but not really. Our next stop was for
lunch at the Olive Garden. It was good as usual. We tossed with the
idea of going downtown or going back to the hotel for a nap. The nap
won. So we slept for a couple of hours and I felt a bunch better.
Then we took off to downtown to watch the Addams Family musical at
the 5th Avenue Theater.
I got us down there about two hours
early with the view that it would be easier to find a parking spot
nearby and go over for lunch. The parking spot worked out okay. We
ended up in the Hilton lot which is connected to the theatre via an
underground walkway. But we forgot to take in the fact that there
was a football game on and the bar was really really busy. Making
matters worse, on sunday night there is nothing open around the 5th
avenue theater. Although we did do some window shopping we ended up
just waiting for the doors to the theater to open so we could get in
out of the cold. Marla found herself to sit for a while and I picked
up myself and Addams Family the Musical t-shirt for the collection.
The Addams Family Musical is a delight
of a show. Check your brain at the door, enjoy the jokes, and just
have a good time. It is macabrely harmless. I was very happy to see
Marla enjoying it. She liked it more than Wicked. I especially
liked Fester and Wednesday. But all in all it is a perfect example
of my kind of show.
There were no troubles getting home,
none of the traffic jam issues that we ran into on Saturday. We were
both pretty tired but we got watching this really interesting
documentary on Hugh Hefner. We couldn't finish it so I hope I can
find a place to download it.
The next day we made our way back to
home via a short stop in surrey for another visit to an olive garden
for lunch. I really like getting soup there. We zipped off to the
ferry and just missed the 3pm but since it is a holiday weekend I
don't think we would have gotten on anyways. So we finally did make
the 5pm ferry so we got home early enough to unpack and get ready for
tomorrow.
It was a really nice weekend. We had
a wonderful time and between you and me, I can't wait to do it again.
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