day 5 – thursday
On Thursday, we left Portland for Seattle, though not before making one small detour: Multnomah Falls. We went there rather early, so we had breakfast at a lodge at the foot of the falls.
After crossing the Columbia River, we stopped in Fort Vancouver, Washington, which used to serve as a supply post for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The educational materials were helpful, but of course brushed over what must have been tense relationships with Native Americans, who were hired to hunt beavers and other animals for their skins. According to the materials and video, everyone got along just fine. They probably held hands and sang Kumbaya.
We arrived in Seattle at about 2 in the afternoon, and checked into our bed and breakfast, Salisbury House. We chose the place because Mena had stayed there and seemed to like it, so we thought why not. The house was built in 1904 and has a fantastic layout, with large bay windows.
We unpacked and then headed over to Pike Place Market. We strolled around and found a Greek place called The Athenian. We tried it (I had the halibut, Alex had the calamari), and his dish was absolutely awful. And boy was it smoky. It reminded me how much I like the no smoking policy in California. Anyway, after that we walked over to the Seattle Art Museum, where much to our pleasant surprise, they had a Frida Kahlo exhibit. We had missed the show when it was in L.A., so we enthusiastically bought tickets and walked around. It was great! I’ve always loved her work, though I didn’t like the new movie they did about her (too hollywood). The rest of the Museum was unfortunately not that impressive, though it made up for it in eclecticism.
We drove back to Capitol Hill, the neighborhood where our bed and breakfast was located, and had a late dinner at the Broadway Grill. Everything we ordered was great, so it made up for the Athenian.