Pamela Vanden Bos

The Emerald City

I’m off to the ‘Emerald City’! 

No silly, not the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz, I’m going to a lush bright-green valley, snuggled between two mountain ranges, called Seattle. 

I’m going home to see my children and grandbabies.
 
When you’re in Seattle you can’t help but delight in the magic you discover that’s hiding behind the curtain of dingy-gray clouds. 

Take a deep breath and hold it, as you stroll along the legendary piers of the Seattle waterfront. That whiff of spicy cinnamon hanging in the air is from the specialty tea sold in the Pike Place Market. Hmmm…it’s heavenly. 

I’m totally spoiled by the Seattle Starbucks barista’s expertise. They make the best sweet 30 second-dripped espresso drinks in the country. So, it’s no surprise when I pray for a bathroom exit off the freeway after I’ve downed my third venti-double-shot-skinny-no-foam-vanilla-mocha. 

Seattle also has these enormous overhead digital signs that inform drivers how long it will take to travel ten miles up the road. Thanks for the warning; I’ll just snag the next exit to potty. 

I’ll have plenty of time as I’m bumper-to-bumper snaking along the I-5 corridor to check out the new line of ‘eco-friendly’ vehicles everyone is driving. Or, I can look around for a large yellow hot-spot icon road sign that notify drivers when they’re in an area to pickup free computer waves. (I do love to multitask.)   

Zipping down 405, there’s this jaw-dropping spot where you can view the purple peaks of the Olympic Mountain range straight ahead and the pearl-white snowcapped Cascade Mountains in your rear view mirror. 

Watch out! The view is so breathtaking no one is watching the road. Scary. 

Oh-oh. One last thing. This is a Kodak moment. Traveling on interstate 4-10 just as you’re cresting Eli Hill, Mount Rainier peaks up over the top looming like a humongous in-your-face ice-cream sundae smothered in a thick oozing layer of puffy marshmallow. 

When you reach the plateau, a perfectly placed Dairy Queen sits waiting for your business. The perceptive owner of the DQ obviously had the same vision as I did rounding over that hilltop. 

As much as I dread being squeezed into a compact plane seat for the eight-hour trip, I’m looking forward to getting back into the caffeine induced, break-neck speed of the human race. 

For a while anyway.   

Okay, with my camera in hand, I’m off to see… no not the wizard, I’m off to see Seattle, the Space Needle, and ride the ferry to catch a glimpse of Orca whales playing in the icy cold waters off the Pacific. 

My favorite? 

That’s when I’m sitting along the waterfront in a heated outside café eating creamy-thick Ivars Clam Chowder…then the pewter clouds part, and I see the bluest sky I’ve ever seen. That’s Seattle. 

Oops…I almost forgot the grandbabies!