Tourist Traps, Snowballs, and Bad Driving

April 10, 2007

Here we are, back in Seattle. We have spent the last week taking care of business. Now we are resting a bit before we head off to Austin to visit my brother. I’m excited as I will be able to see my niece dance for the first time. I understand she is quite the dancer.

Zachary and I got to ride a Duck. Ducks are World War II landing craft that have been refurbished. For forty bucks, Zman and I got to ride around Seattle and check out the sights. Then we headed off for a boat launch and drove around Lake Union for awhile. It was touristy, but very fun.
Today we checked out the new sculpture park and walked the waterfront to see what was happening. It’s kind of fun to visit my hometown as a tourist. There’s so much I’ve never seen just because I live here. We have wandered through the market and ridden elevators downtown. Hey, we had to do something to keep ourselves entertained in between bouts of passport pictures, document processing, and waiting in line.
April 17, 2007

Last week I got to ride go carts with my buddies Dan and Brett. We had a blast, tearing around the track on our carts, racing each other and anyone else who ventured onto the track. We ended up extremely sore, but energized.

We also headed out to Leavenworth to visit some old rafting friends. It was great to felt out of the city. There was snow up on Snoqualmie Pass so we stopped and played in that for a while. It was awesome to be cold and feel snow in my shoes. On our way home we visited our cat, Gatito. He lives with my cousins in Lake Sammamish. We had a tremendous Barbeque complete with salmon, chicken, and fresh Caesar Salad.

It was during this short road trip that I came to the conclusion that Washington State drivers are probably the worst drivers I have ever seen. They all drive as if there is no one else on the road. They drive slowly in the fast lane, pass in the slow lane, stop before merging, change lanes without signaling, and sometimes they stop in the middle of the road for no apparent reason at all. No one seems to know what a blinking yellow light is for and therefore they just sit and stare at it.

I have tried to be objective. I mean I have lived in Western Washington for twenty-one of my thirty-eight years. I have traveled to every state and a dozen foreign countries. When we moved to New York, I tried to pretend that they were the worst drivers, but I no longer believe that. Although there seem to be no rules in New York, most drivers understand the principle of moving out of the way for faster traffic. They will double park and block the right lane, but no one ever stops right in the middle of the road unless something is wrong. Traffic flows there. Anything goes so long as movement happens.

Here, some folks seem to have appointed themselves as traffic cops; they drive the speed limit in the fast lane so as to prevent anyone from breaking the law. As a result, traffic is a mess. You can’t get anywhere no matter what time of day it is. They have finally started building light rail, but only after arguing about it for ten years. The bottom line appears to be that nobody wants to admit there are others here who need to get places. The fact that gas has topped three dollars a gallon doesn’t seem to deter single occupant vehicles or huge, extraneous gas guzzling SUVs.

Maybe it’s the lack of sunshine. Maybe it effects people’s brains. Who knows? What I do know is that I have missed the mountains and the water and the fresh seafood. Complain as I will, I will still always call this place home.
MJR