i was in the shower in seattle two days ago when out of nowhere, i started to feel so exhausted. i thought to myself that it would be nice to go home for a few days, to some familiarity. that is when i realized that we do not have a home. we don't have a house, or even a town that we ally ourselves with above any others. everything we own is spread between my brother's attic, a storage unit in santa cruz, and my honda. this is the plan, and all is going smoothly according to it. our rules on this trip are that we do whatever we want, we don't stick to any agenda, and if we like someplace, we can stay and enjoy it.
seattle is a neat city, there is so much going on that we are both into - amazing coffee, skateboarding, ferry boats. . . but it was also unbelievably annoying too. muggy, full of tourists, no place to stay. it was the first time on our trip so far that we hit that point. the point where all that sounds good is familiarity. knowing where you can go and have some food or get a beer without the exploring part. when you are in your hometown, or even in a town that you know, you have a way of navigating it, making it part of you. your coffee shop, your street you walk home on, your post office, your bar, your view. it is the compass that helps you figure out who you know who you are. a new place every day or so means that nothing is familiar, and this is awesome. it has been a totally mind bending experience.
it would be easy to fall back on becoming a tourist in these places. go to the spots, take the pictures, eat in the applebees. but that isn't what we are like in our hometowns, that isn't how i navigate through space.
after 2 hours of frustratingly walking through gross bar filled neighborhoods while trying to find something to eat, we ended up finding a restaurant/bar called linda's tavern that was familiar. we ate grilled cheese and drank some beer, and felt like we had found a way to be part of seattle a little bit, instead of looking at it, snapping pictures of it. while we were there, somebody even put some alice in chains on the jukebox.
seattle is a neat city, there is so much going on that we are both into - amazing coffee, skateboarding, ferry boats. . . but it was also unbelievably annoying too. muggy, full of tourists, no place to stay. it was the first time on our trip so far that we hit that point. the point where all that sounds good is familiarity. knowing where you can go and have some food or get a beer without the exploring part. when you are in your hometown, or even in a town that you know, you have a way of navigating it, making it part of you. your coffee shop, your street you walk home on, your post office, your bar, your view. it is the compass that helps you figure out who you know who you are. a new place every day or so means that nothing is familiar, and this is awesome. it has been a totally mind bending experience.
it would be easy to fall back on becoming a tourist in these places. go to the spots, take the pictures, eat in the applebees. but that isn't what we are like in our hometowns, that isn't how i navigate through space.
after 2 hours of frustratingly walking through gross bar filled neighborhoods while trying to find something to eat, we ended up finding a restaurant/bar called linda's tavern that was familiar. we ate grilled cheese and drank some beer, and felt like we had found a way to be part of seattle a little bit, instead of looking at it, snapping pictures of it. while we were there, somebody even put some alice in chains on the jukebox.
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