Friday, October 8, 2010

Dancing down the streets (and rail yards) of Seattle

Seattle is a place to behold. It's clean, airy, cultured, thoughtful.  There are sea birds around and the air is damp.  When the sun is out, the recently wet city sparkles.  Bikers are geared out in this city, and they have to be, given the windy, narrow roads, the frequent rains, and the hills.  This is really the first time that we are seriously coveting bikes that we see, missing our two wheels and the empowerment they bring.  We've decided that whenever we get to where we're going, we will experiment with cheap thrift store bike frames and make customized single speeds, as a challenge and for me, a bike knowledge growth opportunity.  

We've been here for a few days now, and we are really enjoying the city, loving spending time with my mom's best friend Marianne, and are completely grateful to have a house to relax in and a bed to sleep in for a few more days.  We've eaten really well, had the tastiest gyros west of Greece, slept in the most comfortable bed we can remember, been inspired by the city, and I got to take a decent dance class.

Yesterday we went on an inadvertent 11 mile walk through downtown and a few other neighborhoods, stopping at major sights like Seattle Center to see the Space Needle (but we didn't go up because it was $18 each, yikes!) Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square.  We had au chocolat chaud and un croissant chocolat at Le Panier, one of Marianne's favorite places and one that I visited a few years ago when I was here with my Grandmother.  It was brisk and beautiful and crowded.  Pikes Place Market was teeming with locals buying their daily bread, and tourists buying up cards and kitch.  It has a bustling energy, people move fast and have agendas.  Sometimes I felt pressure to walk quickly, and get out of the way, my wandering ways weren't always embraced.  After a full mid day of walking and exploring, we were ready to head home, and somehow got off our path, went over an enticing walking bridge, and on to a bike path.  We ended up following the bike path through a semi sketchy train yard with narrow passes, leading us to the opposite side of Magnolia (Marianne's neighborhood) that we needed to be on, many miles later, we survived the longest walk and crashed at Marianne's house.  I google mapped our days walk, and it turned out to be 11.6 miles.  Eeek.  My shins and heels are talking to me.

One of the many highlights of the day was Pioneer Square, where artisans sell their wares in booths, and bums are close at hand for jangly change.  If you're lucky and there's a slight breeze, look up, and you can see wind chimes hung in trees, listen, and you'll here beautiful tinkly sounds which add to the sensory beauty of the place.  I love that someone cared enough to hang chimes in trees for our pleasure.

Look at those chimes go. 
Today was/is much needed low key.  This morning I went to Velocity Dance Center to remind me how good it feels to move, and Nick went to the flagship REI store, which was full of sales and beautiful items.  I took Wade Madsen's advanced Modern class, which, while a little less than I'd hoped for, was a good way to start the day, get my bones moving, and my breath flowing a little more.  Over the past few years, whenever I go into a dance situation and before I can enjoy the class for what it offers, I have to recognize my intense bias towards dance that is not immediately embodied, smart and connected.  But lucky for me, if I can add intention to what I am doing, I can usually find value in the class.

Since I've been traveling, I've found myself in dance classes that start with crunches or yoga poses, and I feel my snarky self rearing up and wanting to shout at the teachers!  Wade's class had a logical progression, involved few disconnected exercises, and culminated in a rather big, challenging phrase that I felt good about dancing in my way.  Despite the jazzed up tondus and plies, I still felt better after finishing class than at its start.

Being in a big city makes me miss my Chicago dancing people so much, today I saw various postings for different Chicago based dance opportunities and awards (CDF etc.) and my mind immediately started working towards what it would take to sublet for 6 months, and make a piece, and be around great, mindful dance friends.

Yesterday Marianne brought home a huge Alaskan sockeye salmon that one of her clients gave her, and today, we are going to cook it up for dinner.  Nick is researching recipes that are semi bland (we're working with a picky eater :), and we will have petit peas, asparagus (on sale for $1.99/ lb!!), creamy potatoes, and crunchy bread on the side.  I can't wait to eat. But first, I have to wait for my stomach to digest all the candy corn and peanuts that I've consumed in the last hour.  We are having an October reprisal of the candy corn and dry roasted peanuts, introducing this Iowa snack to Seattle, and we all know the addictive qualities of the snack... danger light flashing.

4 comments:

Jess said...

If you're still in Seattle and have time, you should definitely go to Paseo for Cuban Sandwiches. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays - but if you are there on Tuesday, don't miss it! :)

carleen said...

Hey Jess! We didn't make it to Paseo this time, but will be back in a few days, hopefully we will catch it then. Thanks for the tip. We loved Seattle though, I bet you had fun living there!

Anonymous said...

I was blessed as a child to spend time during several summer family vacations at the places you have visited... My favorite places! Can you get to Skagit (sp)? The scenery will leave you speechless.
Love and hugs,
Theresa Mom

carleen said...

Theresa! We passed by Skagit today on the way back from Vancouver. Through the rain drops I'm sure it was beautiful.