I left Spokane at a reasonable hour, and proceeded to get stuck in traffic on I-90 because of road blasting. Smack-dab in the middle of the traffic, however, there was a pull-off near George for one of the most beautiful scenic vistas I've ever seen, of a gigantic gorge. I actually learned about the panorama feature of my phone just to be able to use it here, because I needed to actually take one. If you like scenic vistas, take a look in the pictures. I'll see if I can post the full one on Facebook simply because the small version doesn't do it justice.

I arrived at my hotel in Kent, WA around 3:30, and promptly met about four other groups who were planning to go to the Blue Jays-Mariners game, and took some quick directions on how to get into Seattle via public transport. Unfortunately, the directions were not at all good, and I simply decided to head into town in my car. I have resisted, for the most part, driving around major cities simply because of the confusion, expensive parking, and tons of pedestrians, but driving in Seattle was not too bad at all, even right downtown. Coming into town, the very first thing that struck me was that I could not see the space needle. I had figured that it would be the most prominent feature of the Seattle skyline, and I literally could not see it, coming into town. I ended up seeing it later on, but I came into the south, and it's located in the very north part of town.

I parked about 5k away from the stadium, paid not very much money for parking, and walked into Pike Place market, which was quite surprising, in that I figured that it would be a significantly more publicized and extravagant place, but it's simply a public market area with tiny shops. When I went in to tell the bank I'd be going to the states, (so don't cancel my cards if some charges appear, ) a teller had recommended a store called Piroshky Piroshky, which is a very tiny russian pastry store. I went in and ordered something I thought looked good, and told her that I'd been told about her store in Ottawa, and she said "Oh! Well, if you're just going to be here once, you can't have THAT. You will have the Cinnamon Cardamom braid, ok!"

I was surprised enough to just agree, and she gave me my new selection, which turned out to be very good, and have a flavour I didn't really expect. It went very well with the coffee I bought at the shop two doors down, a little place called "Starbucks coffee, tea and spices" There was a lineup around the block to see the very first Starbucks, which was quite small, surprisingly so, even, and, to my surprise, sold drinks, but more than that, sold primarily exclusive merchandise. I ended up getting a coffee and a thermos mug, but the couple behind me ended up spending over $150 just on swag before their coffee order.

I walked the 3km or so to the ballpark downhill most of the way, and noticed a very curious thing. I was seeing Blue Jays jerseys. Lots of them. Far, FAR more than the almost nonexistent Mariners' jerseys. As it turned out, this was the first game of the series, and the first game between the teams in Seattle this year, which made it the "Unofficial Official Canada Day in Seattle" game. All of this meant that the ballpark was filled with FAR more fans of the blue jays than the mariners, and it ended up being a bit of a home game.

I sat beside two men, Ben and Doug, who were hardcore Mariners fans, and Ben proceeded to inform this ignorant canadian about the ins and outs of the game. The ballpark was beautiful, and I was in the Left Field bleachers. The game ended correctly, with the Jays finally coming to life in the 8th and blasting three runs after an initial homer by the Mariners in the 7th had given them an early lead.

Walking back uphill was a little harder, but I was buoyed by the Let's go Blue Jays chants, and made it back pretty quickly. I then proceeded to quickly run by the Space Needle, which I will get a better shot of in a couple days when I drive by again.

Tomorrow is a day off. I will write a bit of a perfunctory update, but I don't plan on doing much.

Cheers!