Escape to Seattle!

With my birthday showing up (whether I like it or not) next Sunday, I decided it was time to start celebrating. Bobby and I, intent on escaping our regularly-scheduled lives, tossed overnight bags in the Cube and hit the road toward Seattle.



We met Alex for second breakfast (we'd already had pastries at Grand Central Bakery before leaving town) in her neighborhood, and went to check into our hotel. Then it was off to the Experience Music Project (which I swear is not as lame as one might think) to see the Nirvana exhibit I'd been meaning to visit for the last year.



Bobby and I wandered through the exhibit. He got ahead of me, as I was pausing to stare at just about every artifact and handwritten note tucked behind the plexiglass. Toward the end, I ran into one of these:



The museum happened to have two of the actual anatomical angels from Nirvana's In Utero tour. I was completely transfixed. I stood staring at this chunk of plaster for quite some time. Maybe I was expecting it to talk to me - I don't know. In seventh grade, I had a Kurt Cobain memorial t-shirt that Erin's mom had bought me for Christmas or my birthday, I forget which. I wore that shirt at least weekly for an entire year, and made sure to wear it when visiting the memorial outside Kurt Cobain's house in the summer of 1995. Years ago, I let somebody borrow it and I never got it back. I'm sure the thing would be ill-fitting and threadbare by now, but I still wish I had it.



Here's a color version of the image from twelve-year-old Caitlin's favorite shirt:



You can see the angels in the background of this video:



Needless to say, I was having a moment. The exhibit had a small sound booth where fans could record their personal experiences/memories related to Nirvana. I thought about participating, but I decided it would make me more flustered and emotional than I care to be while on vacation. For the Cliff Notes version, I have a hard time understanding how most people cope without something like this in their lives. In lieu of the confession booth, we took a walk around the Seattle Center in the sunshine (!!!)





Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel and continue our evening. We grabbed a couple of drinks in the onsite bar before hopping a shuttle over to Capitol Hill. Broadway was unusually dead, especially considering the holiday. I assume all the drunk idiots were pounding their green beers downtown instead. Fine with me. We ate sushi for dinner and walked down to Julia's on Broadway to wait for Carissa, my dear friend from Palm Springs who would be joining us for the remainder of the evening. At her suggestion, we were attending Le Faux, which is Seattle's very best drag show. Carissa wasn't kidding - the show was incredible! We had a fantastically marvelous time, and, for a mere 10 bucks, we got to take a photo with the cast at the end!



After hugging Carissa a bunch, we caught a bus back to the hotel around 1 AM. Buses in Seattle run late! What a convenient novelty. Woke up this morning, dropped by Alex's for hugs goodbye, and got back on the road to avoid the projected snow. We were going to go to the zoo, but it was drizzly and cold. Another time.

Now I'm back in Portland ready to continue the birthday festivities for the next seven days. Bring on the party!