Seattle, Day Two

So today we took the Duck tour. A Duck is WWII vintage amphibious vehicle so we went on a tour of part of Seattle and part of Elliott Bay. The driver was hilarious. Every time we passed a Starbucks had us all yell Cha-Ching. We cheered at passersby and even got a guy to dance for us. It was a lot of fun.

Elliott Bay

House Boat for Sale $375,000. Plus mooring.

Seattle was fun, but it is hard to tour a city from an RV. And this park is really not enjoyable. It's clean enough but the trailers are close together and the highway noise is awful. Seattle isn't really dog friendly, so Doogie had to stay in the trailer for two days. He was fine, but I worry that he barks or might have a little melt-down and tear something up. Tomorrow we head for Olympia National Park and the banana belt of Seattle - Port Townsend, Sequim, and Port Angeles.

I mentioned the highway noise. We're close to the beginning of I-90 (which ends in Boston with the New York Thruway and the Mass Pike, two roads we know well). And I mean close. The traffic noise is constant and loud 24 hours a day. When we lived in Connecticut I thought I-84 and I-91 had a lot of traffic. Maybe they did. And when we lived in DC area I thought there was a lot of traffic. Maybe there was. And LA certainly has a lot of traffic. But the number of cars in the Seattle area and the constant very heavy traffic on every roadway was a real surprise. It's constant, heavy, fast, and loud. Even with GPS we're having trouble navigating. 

The city is, of course, beautiful. The lakes are deep blue, the trees are emerald, the mountains are still white with snow, and at least for the past two days the air has been clear and the sky blue. The city is clean and full of people out enjoying the place.

There is an astonishing number of panhandlers. It started in the rest stops with people sitting in lawn chairs begging. All over the city there are people begging quarters and dimes. Although some have the look of burned-out drugged-addled mental illness that you see with many homeless, for the most part the people begging here look as if they're pretty new at it. Victims of the recession, probably. I feel bad for them. Thursday, deciding to give one person an amount that might make a difference for a day or two, I handed a sad-looking young woman at a rest stop a folded up $20. Her sign read "homeless mother of two - need gas money". She mumbled a  thanks, then as I walked away yelled thank YOU. After that my heart iced up a little at the number of people with their hands out. But today I gave a wild-eyed guy in front of Starbucks $2.00. Steve gave a crazy woman the change in his pocket as I told him to watch the backpack. She said "That's right. Watch her purse, too!" I know...I know...I know better. But we're on an extended vacation, for heaven's sake, and these people don't have enough to eat. Scammers? I'm sure, some. But I'll never believe they chose this life. And there but by the grace of God go I. So I gave some people some money, but I blew off the gay-rights guy who wanted me to sign his petition. At first I didn't hear him. By the time I registered what he was saying and turned back, he was gone.

We got scammed by the city at the parking lot, for sure. It was one of those things where you put money in a box. So we put $10 in the box as instructed and when we got back there was a ticket on the window for $25. With the threat of another $25 if we don't pay up. Steve called the phone number and got an answering service. What a pain! Now what?

Don't mean to be negative about Seattle. It's beautiful and vibrant. We've certainly had Jean and Steve's Marvelous adventure here!