Thursday, September 11, 2008

Day 57...Tuesday, September 9, 2008...A Great Lunch in Seattle...On to Port Angeles





We lingered awhile in Seattle to spend some time at Pike Place Market and have lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle.
We took the hotel shuttle to Wild Ginger...a "Pan-Asian" restaurant specializing in exotic "satays"...little pieces of meat/chicken/fish/shrimp marinated and then grilled on little wooden skewers.
Even though Wild Ginger had moved to a different location since my last meal there back in 1999, I couldn't help feeling a little nostalgic about that last visit. In 1999, my Company had a lawyer's conference out in Seattle. The night before the meetings got started, I took my entire "staff" of attorneys and their spouses out to dinner at Wild Ginger. I was accompanied my my soon-to-be "child-bride", Amber...it's like I often say now..."I married my high-school sweetheart. I was forty-seven, she was just out of high school". Thinking back to that night made me reflect on how much life can change in just a little time. Back in 1999, I was at one of my absolute "peaks"..."Group Counsel" for a major company with a great staff and a boss who liked and respected me...excited about marrying Amber...I could not have been happier.
Eighteen months later, it was all gone. My Company was smaller, weaker...most of my staff had left the Company for other jobs...my new boss didn't particularly like me, didn't follow any of my advice, and made life very difficult...and my marriage was at an end, embroiled in a nasty and emotionally-draining divorce.
So...sometimes you've got to make sure that you don't dwell too long on either the "peaks" or the "valleys" because as surely as you experience one, the other is just around the corner. OK...enough with the "philosophy!
After lunch, we walked over to Pike Place Market and "stocked up" on some provisions...some nice looking halibut "cheeks", some wild mushrooms, baby bok choy...there's a great dinner coming up!
Now loaded with Washington's "bounty", we headed for the ferry to Bainbridge...a nice 30 minute boat ride across the bay. From Bainbridge Island, we headed inland and north to the town of Port Angeles. From there, we can take another ferry tomorrow over to Victoria, B.C. as well as explore the Olympic National Park as we head down the Washington/Oregon coasts to Oregon's Wine Vally in the Willamite Valley.
It was very buy in Port Angeles...we couldn't find a suitable campground and a lot of the hotels were booked. We ended up at the Red Lion Hotel...very nice and located right next to the Victoria Ferry Terminal.
Tired from the drive, we opted to eat at the "Crab House" right in the hotel...not bad, pasta was decent and I polished off a half a Dungeness crab with very little effort.

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