Whole New World

Some random thoughts and observations from my trip to Seattle:

I’m fairly certain that I was the only male on my plane reading Cooking Light magazine. I didn’t take a poll or anything but I’d bet good money that that was the case. The magazine, which I bought along with an Entertainment Weekly before my flight, isn’t something totally feminine like Good Housekeeping or something but it was discouraging to see all the ads for female products and the marketing towards women in Cooking Light. And worse, the cover was pink. But they have some awesome recipes in there so you take the good with the bad.

What’s up with all the numbered highways in Washington? That was strange. It seems there were more routes to take off the freeway than actual streets – WA-99, WA-518, WA-167, WA-169, WA-18… it was a bit confusing.

I’d never heard of these places before I went to Seattle: Renton, Burien, SeaTac, Maple Valley, Maplewood, Hobart, Tukwila. Some of those places seemed really rural, which is not a bad thing, just an observation. They weren’t rural like SoCal rural, where you are still part of a sizable population no matter where you live. In Washington, some of the places I passed through seemed small, quaint, lightly populated… rural. It was a bit appealing to be honest. I’m guessing the traffic there isn’t anything like the traffic we get in SoCal.

If you are ever traveling and want to find a good place to eat, you should check out Urbanspoon.com. I used that site when I went to Montreal and found some amazing eateries, simply amazing. And I wouldn’t have been able to make a decision on where to eat without it. I used Urbanspoon.com and found a place called Angelo’s in Burien on Saturday that had some fantastic Italian food and great service. I’m glad I did so because I needed some pasta and would have just settled for the first Italian restaurant I saw, or even worse something like Denny’s. But Angelo’s had awesome service (their constant stream of coffee warmed me up), great food (the Linguini a la Siciliano was delicious) and a nice atmosphere. The thing that makes Urbanspoon great is that it’s basically user-generated reviews and such as people vote whether they like the place or not. So when Angelo’s had 66 people saying they liked it and a high rating because of it, you knew it was going to be good. I’ll have to go there and give it a positive review as well.

I liked Downtown Seattle. I really don't care for Downtown Los Angeles, and I think that's the bar that I set for other downtowns I visit. It's a pretty low bar. I felt safe walking around the streets in Downtown Seattle, felt comfortable walking around, didn't feel like there were way too many cars or people to maneuver around amongst and things were clean and well-kept. Pretty much the opposite of Downtown LA.

This was the first time I went to Washington. I've now been to: California, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. And I had layovers at airports in Florida and Georgia, though Mrs. LB won't let me count that as actually visiting those states.