Showing Yngvar Around, Days 2 and 3

[annathepiper]

Not too terribly much exciting in the way of touristy things yesterday, showing ravyyngyngvar around, because I had to spend most of the morning downtown having job interviews. (Of which I think it is hard to say as per usual about how it went. I had three perfectly amiable conversations and I think I did a good job demonstrating to the guy asking me the "tech" questions that I have more than the average quotient of clues, and the third person didn't know what to say to me at ALL so I wound up just yakking with him about my testing experience, about music, and about the interesting and controversial things going on with music moving into the online realm. But I really didn't get much of a feel as to whether I've definitely got that job, and as of this entry my recruiter hasn't called me jumping up and down saying they want me, either. So.)

But we did go down to the Lake Forest Park shops yesterday for a bit of lunch (barbecue sandwiches, which I think were pretty satisfyingly American), and I picked up a copy of Peter Mayle's A Good Year. Which I would not have ordinarily even thought of buying, except this is the novel that's supposed to be Russell Crowe's next movie. And he did well getting me to read Patrick O'Brian, so I figured, what the hell, I might like this book too. ;)

Today, however, we had a lot more touristy goodness what with heading downtown to have the Underground Tour. Yngvar amusedly summarized his experience with this as "fun, educational, and damp". Me, I was amused to discover exactly how much of an impact sewage, sawdust, and (aheh) "seamstresses" have had on the history of Seattle. The tour guide diligently hawked copies of Sons of the Profits and Doc Maynard: The Man Who Invented Seattle, both of which were written by the original founder of the tour. We already had a copy of the first book, so I picked up a copy of the latter for both my amusement and Dara's, and Yngvar picked up a copy of the former.

We did not, unfortunately, have time to head up onto the Smith Tower observational deck, but we are still expecting to head downtown again at least once more this week to hit Pike Place Market, so we may still be able to do that too.

Monday miles: 2.0 (walking)
Tuesday miles: 5.4 (treadmill + walking)
Miles out of Hobbiton: 480.6
Miles out of Rivendell: 22.6
Miles to Lothlórien: 439.4

Comments

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

I spent a summer volunteering at the Klondike down on Main Street, and they arranged for me to take a free Underground Tour so that I could talk a bit more knowledgably about it with the tourists. It's hilarious. I think my favorite part (besides the ladders from sidewalks to streets and the fact that horses were the mode of transportation... do you suppose they all carried umbrellas?) were seeing those little square panes of glass from the underside. You see them all over in certain parts of downtown, but until then I never really thought about the fact that they might have been /skylights/ of a sort.

And I was glad I'd never worn a dress while wandering around Seattle. ;)-

[annathepiper]

*chortles* Yeah, and I got a kick out of imagining drunk guys staggering out of saloons and having to navigate their way up the ladders. And the story about the boy who drowned in the Great James Street Chuckhole, which prompted the editorial out of the city founders the next day that said "It's high time we taught our children how to swim!"

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Seattle used to be so much more *colorful*! *laugh*

I love being in the little cafe in the bottom of Elliot Bay Books and seeing the brick barrel vault ceilings and and feeling all cave-like and stuff. Way cool.

Were you living in Seattle in um... hmm. '96, when there was the day-after-Christmas storm that knocked over trees and flooded streets etc, etc? I think it was that flooding that washed out some of the fill underneath a downtown street and a car just fwoop, dropped right down into a sinkhole in the middle of the street. That was quite an image. Might have been a different winter, though, can't remember for sure.

[annathepiper]

I am really, REALLY amused by the census of various jobs they were taking and how so many hundreds of women in the business district had put their occupation down as "seamstress"... while the city fathers were going "But, but, but we're full of miners and sailors who don't give a damn about holes in their pants... HEY!" ;)

Yeah, I was here in '96. I don't remember that incident offhand, though! I should look that up!

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Heehee. Seamstresses. Right.

It might not have been due to the '96 storm- but it did happen while I was visiting with my folks which tended to mostly happen around Christmas, and the '96 storm seemed like a pretty significant causal event for a guess!

Haven't found it yet (I'm convinced everything you ever could want to know can be found on the web... you just have to know the right search string, which I haven't figured out yet), but I did find this, which you might find interesting if you're going to be doing writing set in mid-20th century Seattle.

Actually, the whole web site is pretty darn cool (http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3384)

[annathepiper]

Oh, cool link! I may indeed have to remember this if I get to the point of being able to tackle the Millicent book. It's gone down in priority now that the Persephone one has bubbled up--but I definitely need to remember this for later reference. Thanks. :)

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

Ah-hah! I was remembering the right storm, but the wrong location. The sinkhole was in Shoreline, and therefore nothing to do with the Regrade. Though there was apparently more than one sinkhole associated with that storm. Whee.

Gore visits Shoreline sinkhole (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2518101&date=19970110&query=sinkhole) (have to register with Seattle Times to read it)

More '96 storm stuff (kinda interesting!):
transcript of conversation between Jim Lehrer and Gov. Lowry
USGS landslide summary (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1998/ofr-98-239/ofr-98-239.html)
National Weather Service storm reports (http://zebu.uoregon.edu/flood/storm3.html)
another sinkhole from that storm (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2516809&date=19970102&query=sinkhole)
more storm damage (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2516799&date=19970102&query=sinkhole)

There was also a portion of old Highway 101 on the Olympic Peninsula that was badly damaged, but I can't remember if it was a sinkhole or if it was just a washout under the road. The latter, I think. What fun winter storms the area gets. ;) (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/storm_12-30.html)

[annathepiper]

Ah okay, cool! No wonder I missed it then--I am not sure Shoreline was even on my radar in 1996. I mean, I knew it was there, but I barely ever heard anything about it. I'm more aware of it now that I live in Kenmore, of course. :)

[kissare.livejournal.com]

I still haven't done the Underground Tour. I really need to do that some time! Glad you guys had a good time. :)

[annathepiper]

You totally need to do the tour. It's great fun. :) And it makes me wonder how well the Seattle history taught in local schools has started lining up with the history talked about in the tour--if at all. ;) Apparently, Sons of the Profits was BANNED!

[kissare.livejournal.com]

I don't remember EVER learning "Seattle history" in school. I guess I'll have to self-educate by taking the tour! Oh bummer! ;)

[annathepiper]

Hee!

I picked up a crime novel that they were selling in the gift shop as well, which apparently draws on Seattle history and even credits the Underground Tour in its acknowledgements page at the front. I figure this kind of thing screams for possible supernatural plotlines, too, so it'll be fun research!

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

All I remember about Washington State History class was the film of Galloping Gertie. That and the horrible 30-year old textbooks. If we'd read "Sons of the Profits" and "Once Upon a Time in Seattle" and "Wildmen, Wobblies, and Whistle Punks" and "Skid Road" and even "Of Men and Mountains" instead, I think I would have paid a LOT more attention.

[annathepiper]

And ooh, more potentially interesting titles! Thank you! *dumps those into research file for Millicent story, too*