6/5/02 9:40 PM Pacific

Well we just got back from our dinner at Sky City, the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle, which makes this as good a time as any to write about today. Actually the fact that I've written our trip up to this point does that. So...

Got up this morning and were out of the hotel by around 10:00 or 10:10 AM. Today was to be a day of shopping. We started out by heading down the hill to Pike Place Public Market. We did mostly window shopping therein, but we did stop in at Cibola to meet and introduce ourselves to Deb. Apparently I had forgotten to tell her that we were going to be honeymooning out here because she was absolutely floored to meet us. We talked to her for a few minutes before heading out again. We wandered around for ten to twenty minutes before finding ourselves dumped out on the lower street rather abruptly. So either we missed quite a bit of the market or it is a lot smaller than we thought. I did see some belt buckles I liked at one place, though, so we may have to go back for one of those.

So after ending up outside we managed to work our way back up to First Avenue, about four or five blocks further South than we had been. This was quite all right, though, because it positioned us perfectly to go into a store named Northwestern Indian Art. After about 35-40 minutes we departed with a large bag and a bit more money charged to the credit card. The plunder included a small totem pole, several prints and a window decal. We may be back later for some wooden carvings and/or a painted drum. Bye bye money!

We made one more stop where Lauren bought some incense before going back to our room to drop our purchases off. Then we went around the corner to Orca Bay Art where we bought a printed canvas wall hanging (must speak with Susan about this one) and a note card. The wall hanging depicted a raven and the note card an orca. I should mention that the totem pole we bought earlier was made up of a raven, orca and beaver (top to bottom). Of the four prints we bought one was a cougar, one was an orca (for my parents) and two were of ravens. The decal was also of a raven. Are you seeing a pattern yet?

While at Orca Bay the shop keeper commented on my Utilikilt, which prompted me to mention that I thought they had a storefront in Pike Place, but that we hadn't seen it. Then he did something that surprised me. He got out his phone book and looked up their address for me. Then he did something that amazed me. Because their listed address didn't look right to him he called them up and got their right address as well as directions on how to get their via bus.

What is it with Seattlites? Why are they so damn helpful and friendly? It's weird and it's freaking me out.

So after shopping up the street to have a look at a store Vanya had recommended we caught the bus and headed up to [I think] Ballard, to the Utilikilts Corporation HQ. The bus ride went smoothly and easily and we got there in a short amount of time. The staff member working the front (Danielle) was very friendly in a gruff sort of way, and the couple of other people there (Megan and a guy whose name I don't know) were also friendly and nice to meet. We browsed through their selection and chatted for a bit before I decided to place an order for my second Utilikilt. In 6 to 8 weeks I'll be adding the Painters' Kilt to my Postal Blue original. I'm quite pleased.

. o O ( This is page 23 in my handwritten journal. )

Soon after we caught the bus back down to the main part of town where we stopped in at our hotel for a brief respite before setting off on the next leg of the days shopping. I'm going to take a break now to do some organising in preparation for tomorrow's departure. When I resume, whether it be tonight or tomorrow, I'll tell you the rest of what we did with our Wednesday in Seattle.

At the sound of the tone the time will be 10:38 and 50 seconds...

BONG