My adventure in Seattle with Rick Shepherd's Prius happened a few weeks ago. I used my Iphone for navigating my way to 4 destinations.
Nook is wedged in the University of Washington District between fast food, vintage dress shops, and charming 19th century housing. It was too bad the vintage dress shop was closed while I had to wait 15 minutes in the freezing cold for this biscuit haven to open. This place just closes down after they run out of fresh steaming hot sconies. I actually had the biscuits and sausage gravy. I knew I needed fuel for my full day.
Fuel, a hip little coffee house in the Montlake District was next on my list. Jan Shepherd, writer and publisher of New England Crafts Connoisseur recommended that I check this place out since it was one of the many places that were hosting 2012 NCECA Ceramics Conference. I bought the cream mug with the high tiny handle. It has an image of a kid in a Spider man costume with a set of moose headed parents. It is cool as yellow highlighting.
Seattle Public Library, Architect of Record, Rem Koolhaas
After chatting with Hollis L. Engley, and his friendly family I polished off my iced cafe Americano. I sped from my most perfect parallel parking job and drove to the Seattle Public Library. This was a tip from my dear friend Khanh Le. This building that replaced the original 18th century public library sits proudly in the center of the downtown core. It is hands down, COOL! It is a beautiful structural sculpture really. It is so different from the straight up and down buildings it has for neighbors. It commands your attention.
The inside does seem a bit tortured when it comes to finding your way around. I spent an hour armed with my Iphone and ear buds to find my way to the single dead end catwalk at the highest point. The security guards were curious indeed. For a sunny day in Seattle, there were quite a few people reading books under a powder blue steel and glass canopy.
Circulation paths were delineated in red for stairs and chartreuse for escalators. By the end of the tour I was a bit disappointed with the disconnected circulation system. It looks cool but if there was a fire I wouldn't want to be on the 6th floor looking for the wayfinding arrows so I could find the next flight of stairs. The buildings circulation system should be intuitive not dependent on signage for finding the exit stairs.
This is the floor to really get cozy and read some Little Women that has 1200 some odd pages. I will never be one to read a book on an electronic device. Wow. That is so not true. I am actually reading Little Women on my Ipad to Eva every night. We started about two years ago.
Gold and purple clouds lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery white peaks that shone like the airy spires of some Celestial City. Chapter Thirteen, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Choice building materials.
The couchy thing is located in the stacks on the side lines. Mrs. Who and Mrs. Whatsit are sitting there. Can you see them?
Chartreuse is so yesterday?
My final stop was the Fairmont Hotel which serves high tea in the afternoon. I thought the finger sandwhiches passed up the ones at The Ritz Carlton in Phoenix. No offense Jeffrey Hattrick!
Any trip worth going on begins and ends with biscuits.
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