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Soozy's 50 First Dates Tour:The Ride Report

I didn't know you were cruising so far north! I guess Joe had enough of you last summer, so you went to hang out with John. Next year, maybe you can travel all the way to see Jim!!! hahahaha!

Hi Ken H, if you are still lurking.

Can you believe that I forgot to post a link for my first worldwide live radio broadcast? Too much on my mind. The webcast archives will be up in a few days, so I'll post that, for all of you who wish to see what Soozy created.

Looking at all the gorgeous photos of you on your trip makes me miss you all the more. But you better step up your dating rate, you haven't even made it halfway to 50!

I love the pix of the sea mammals - otters are my favs! Bring me one home, please. See, I don't want one of those silly little tiny cars, I just want a pet seal or sea lion.

Stay cool, don't let the U turns make ya dizzy.

m
 
I have been here for a week and I had not ridden the scooter. I studied the maps and gassed up the scoot, checked the tires and oil. I wanted to make sure I could find Rich's hotel and the restaurant Carla suggested. Rich Simmons had posted that he was going to be in Seattle on business, so we formed a plan to have dinner while he is here. He said he didn't intend to become one of my %$#!**## dates, but it just worked out that way. Yup folks that is number 18! And thank you Linda for the loaner!

Anyway, I rode around and ended up in downtown Seattle in search of the Freemont Troll under the bridge.

Here are giant gears I found.

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And the scary scary troll whose hand is holding a VW.

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There is a statue of Lennin in Freemont too, but I didn't get a picture of it, so here is a closer picture of the troll. You have to answer a Troll's question to pass. He asked me to marry him and I said 'no.' About ten minutes later I dropped my bike. I guess it was the wrong answer.

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I dropped the bike, but I didn't drop me. Before I could try that bike lifting technique I have seen on the net, two guys were on either side of me and I was on my way. Seattle is so cool. :mrgreen:

I found my way to Rich's $16 dollars to park here hotel parking lot and drove around the barricade to park for free at the suggestion of a valet there. I was switching from gear to a skirt and sandals and up drove Rich. We made it to West Seattle to Salty's. Here is what you see from the road.

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We opted for the outside deck seating and had a stunning view of the city across Puget Sound!

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Wonderful food!

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A nosey hilarious neighbor. His first line was, "Mangoes are the fruit of love. Wherever there are women, mangoes."

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As we shared dinner and conversation, the view was changing. We saw ships pass..

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Ferrys...

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The city...

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Dozens of sailboats...

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It was a great time!

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Thanks Rich!
 
I didn't know you were cruising so far north! I guess Joe had enough of you last summer, so you went to hang out with John. Next year, maybe you can travel all the way to see Jim!!! hahahaha!

Hi Ken H, if you are still lurking.

Can you believe that I forgot to post a link for my first worldwide live radio broadcast? Too much on my mind. The webcast archives will be up in a few days, so I'll post that, for all of you who wish to see what Soozy created.

Looking at all the gorgeous photos of you on your trip makes me miss you all the more. But you better step up your dating rate, you haven't even made it halfway to 50!

I love the pix of the sea mammals - otters are my favs! Bring me one home, please. See, I don't want one of those silly little tiny cars, I just want a pet seal or sea lion.

Stay cool, don't let the U turns make ya dizzy.

m

I am waiting to hear you guys sing! The only thing I created were those MC Hammer purple satin pants I sewed for you. I will try and figure a way to get you an otter, or a sea lion, or maybe an elephant seal. I know my trunk holds water without leaking because it held a whole bottle of syrup without leaking. I just didn't want to remove the big screen tv and the stripper pole from the basement to make more room.

Hahaha! The trip to see Jim is 5 miles. I may need a 3 day weekend for that.
 
en⋅vy
  /ˈɛnvi/
[en-vee]
noun, plural -vies, verb, -vied, -vy⋅ing.

–noun
1. a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, OR SUMMER QUEST. ;-)

Thanks again for sharing Soozy, it's a treat to tag along!
 
Rich is improving in his choice of dinning locatons and partners. This is who he usually eats with.

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[/QUOTE]
 
Rich is improving in his choice of dinning locatons and partners. This is who he usually eats with.

PieStop2.jpg
[/QUOTE]


Soozy picked the place, not I.

The bunch in your photo does look pretty scruffy.
 
Today is the opening of Kent Cornucopia Days and CJ is involved in a dance/play. I was excited to get to see him in his new passion...dance.

The town center has a great water space for kids and kidlike adults. I was pretty much fascinated with the large marble ball that is completely supported on the water flowing around it. It turns slowly even when kids are not moving it.

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The play was cute and it was so good to see CJ put everything into his art.

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Soozy;
I am really jealous of your trip! :clap: Did you or are you going to get to see the old Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" when in the Portland area? It's actually in a museum in McMinville, OR. Really a don't miss sight!
I'm sure that you'll have lots to tell us when you come to the Twisted Sister's II ride in October!
 
Sea Fair is a month long happening for the Seattle area. It was kicked off today with the landing of the Pirates. ARRRRRRR!!

As we arrived, there were several boats circling, flying Jolly Rodgers, and shooting cannons.

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Way off in the distance this appeared.

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This is the Lady Washington, which was used as the boat in Pirates of the Carribean. A second deck was computer graphically added to it for the movie.

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Then the PIRATES landed! Which was pretty funny when the transport ran aground some distance form the shore. The Pirates were all yelling like pirates juiced up to disembark. Then they stood there looking at the cold water and the RRRR's turned to AAARRRGGGHH! I still think the guys in the back pushed the guys in the front.

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RRRR!!!!
 
[ And really! Can someone tell me what this means?? I have seen this man for 2 days holding this sign.

He probably thinks it's all a conspiracy---- :giveup:
 
He probably took too many non-transportation trips in the "60's".:eek2:

Now he's envisioning the Fairy Tails from his childhood as reality stories.

:giveup:

Poor Guy!
 
And really! Can someone tell me what this means?? I have seen this man for 2 days holding this sign.

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He doesn't believe that Humpty was just clumsy and fell on his own. It was a wetwork. Mr. Dumpty owed Mr. Taliafarro money. So it was made to look like an accident. It was easy, what with his inner ear problem and alcoholism.
 
Thursday June 25

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Soozy,
I'm really enjoying following your trip. To go with your Pacific Ocean boot picture, here was my Atlantic Ocean picture taken July 4th

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We just need a Gulf Coast boot picture to round it all out!

.
 
I have one in Terlingua Creek which flows to the Rio Grande which flows to the Gulf. Wonder if that would do?
 
Today we visited the dark and sordid underground of Seattle. That was fun to learn of the craziness of the founding folks of this town...I mean city.

I bought the book called Sons of the Profits that tells of the MORE than interesting roots and underhanded happenings.

The underground formed after the big fire of 1889, which burned down 32 blocks of the city. The city decided they needed to raise all of the streets up a story higher because of tide and drainage and sewage problems. So it took years for the city to build vertical walls down both sides of the street (every street) and fill them. The scene is likened to a pancake being turned into a waffle, with each city block being inside the dimples, and the roads being the ridges. Business owners could not wait for this construction to be completed and went on to rebuild in the dimples. This created high streets and low sidewalks. There was no way to cross a street, so wooden ladders were set up on the walls to the streets. You climb up one and down another to cross the street. After many years, new raised side walks were built at the street edges and to the second floors of all the buildings. Now there was a whole world underneath that is still there today.

There were many ...let us call them seamstresses, who would happily hem men's pants for a fee (if you know what I mean). The taxes on these businesses contributed 87% of Seattle's income in those days!

Here are some pictures of the underground and some of the buildings above that world.

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This street is a floor above the original street.

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The wall is the side of the new street.

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The structure to support the 'new' sidewalks is arches of brick and steel beams. This is the underground view.

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To light the underground, they used glass skylights. And yes, the skylights are walked on to this day on the sidewalks. THAT is a whole other sordid story from the days of the "seamstresses". There was a group of men who spent time watching skylights from underground, and a group of women who spent time walking on them above. Many had their prices written on the soles of their shoes.

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Lovely!

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A piece of the wooden sewer line.

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And stuff.

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One of the early shoe stores which I think became Nordstrom's.

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A totem pole was stolen from a tribe and erected here. It burned at some point so the tribe was contacted to make a new one. They said 'Sure! $5,000." Seattle paid it. When the check cleared the tribe sent this word, "Thank you for paying for the original totem, and a new one will be $5,000." Seattle paid it again.

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There is a story of a pair of men who bought side by side properties. One man started erecting a building and finished it. A day later, his neighbor informed him that he built six inches over the property line and should sell him the completed building to solve the problem. Instead the builder carefully removed bricks and shortened the building. When he finished, the neighbor/scammer gave up and built his own building sharing the wall of the first building. When HE finished, the first guy informed him that when he corrected his early mistake, he moved his building's wall back 12 inches. Now the scammer/neighbor was 6 inches over the property line himself!
Guess who ended up with both buildings?

There are stories about toilet geysers because tides and flushing schedules often did not mix. Toilets were raised higher than the floors to help with this problem.

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This was the tallest building west of the Mississippi in its day.

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Dark and scary, there are many ghost sightings reported through this section.

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The er... seamstresses. One is a cross stitcher.

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And here is the best plastic surgeon in town...

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I had my first Starbuck's coffee today, very close to the Starbuck's mothership. I LIKED it!!! It was in the 60's today and chilly. Sorry guys...just the truth. I learned that there are over 400 Starbucks in the city.

Here are a few fun signs.

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