Dates of Trip: August 17/18, 2018
We’ve been doing so much and having so much fun here in late summer that I haven’t had enough time to process the pictures and write the posts.
When the MLB schedule was released late last Fall I was delighted to see that the Los Angeles Dodgers were making a trip up to Seattle for the first time in six years. So, early in the summer we booked tickets for the Friday August 17 game. We boarded the noon Amtrak Cascades for the ride and were lucky enough to get seats on the left side of the train in business class – meaning we’d have a nice view of Puget Sound for part of the ride.
The train was full of Dodger fans – it was fun seeing all the hats and shirts. The ride up wasn’t as restful as it might have been thanks to some loud people in the car with us. There were a couple of families riding together and one of the men talked so loud we could hear his conversation halfway down the car. We didn’t need to know how rich he is and that their “poor” friends needed help from their family to buy a $2 million dollar home. Their kids watched a movie on an iPad but instead of using head phones they just turned up the volume. The other man of the group got a couple of business phone calls that he stood up in the aisle to take – rather than walking into the vestibule between cars. We got to hear about his “idiot” employee couldn’t figure out how to mark a path at some construction site.
If you are traveling by rail, please don’t be like this family. The rest of the car just does not care about your personal lives and business.
The downtown core is very walkable. It was a beautiful day when we arrived in Seattle and we were able to walk from King Street station to our hotel in the Pioneer district on Yesler and 1st Avenue. It wasn’t long after we arrived that it was time to walk down to Safeco Field to catch the game.
We were along the third base line and had a nice view of our players lining the dugout
Safeco Field is a fun ballpark to catch a game in.
It turned out that we weren’t the only Dodgers fans in attendance. The stadium was jam packed with Dodger blue hats and shirts. It was the third largest crowd in Safeco Field history and it sounded like at least half were cheering the boys in blue. It was extra fun that the Dodgers won 11-1. Good times.
We got to bed after 11:00 and got a good night’s sleep. Saturday morning we were up and out on the streets to find a breakfast place. As we walked down the street we saw some posters like like this.
It was great to see the businesses taking steps to combat racism and homophobia. It’s a sad commentary on our culture today that we have to go out of our way to stand against this.
After breakfast we headed up to Pike’s Public Market which is the tourism spot in Seattle.
On the backside of the market and across the Alaskan Way Viaduct – which is being replace by a tunnel and will be torn down later this Fall – lies Puget sound with its blend of entertainment and industry.
Our train was scheduled to leave at 2:20 so we headed over to the station to check our bags. As we walked down the street we found ourselves in the middle of a Seattle Sound fan rally. They were having a great sign with their organized cheers.
Their cheerleader was getting into it!
As we continued to walk, the crowd was off as well and we walked along side for a few blocks toward the stadium. It was Los Angeles’ teams weekend in Seattle. The LA Galaxy was the opponent. We found a group of fans with their own scarves and signs answering back to Seattle.
But it was all in good fun – nothing like I experienced in the 1980s when I watched a game between Oxford United and Tottenham Hot Spurs where the fans from the two sides were kept separate by the police with the help of big orange fences throughout Oxford.
We checked our bags and went looking for a place to eat lunch. We found Cheese Meats Bread where we had sublime grilled cheese sandwiches with salad and tater tots. Sorry – no pictures.
We were scheduled to depart at 2:20 but by 2:00 there was no sign of the train to take us even though the schedule showed it “on time”. At 2:20 the train went from “on time” to “cancelled”. We later found out there was a small electrical fire in one of the panels in the auxiliary engine room/baggage car. As the crowd surged to the counters to rebook, I took out my Amtrak app and quickly rescheduled us on the 6:00 train. I suggested to another couple that they do the same but they wanted to talk to someone in person. They got separate seats in coach class. Most of the rest of the passengers took the hastily arranged busses.
It was a drag waiting around for the later train but the ride itself was great. We delighted in a quiet car – now loud people sharing their life stories with the rest of us.
We took Lyft home from Portland Union Station; we were glad to be home but also thankful for a very fun overnight trip to the Emerald City.
