Our last full day in Washington's capital city began in a most discouraging way; when we woke up, the sky was still dark and the rain? Still raining down. I flatly refused to put off plans to visit Pioneer Square in spite of the weather, but the low temperatures drove us to make a few stops along the way... one at American Apparel, purveyors of cheap sweatshirts... and one at Top Pot Doughnuts, purveyors of comfort food.
Beyond Tim Horton's, doughnuts don't have much of a presence on the West Coast of North America. I grew-up on them in central Canada... my grandad met his friends at a doughnut shop every morning of his retirement, and always stocked up on bags of day-old treats for my brother and me. Doughnuts, for me, are the ultimate taste of home. Naturally, the idea of homemade ("hand-forged", as Top Pot's slogan proclaims) doughnuts appealed to me on a variety of levels; the sweet, the sticky and the sugary. The only real problem was deciding which doughnut I wanted... There ended up being a subsequent visit because I hadn't been able to try everything I wanted on the first go around. I sampled the raspberry bullseye, the bismarck, the maple kruller and the raspberry-glazed chocolate cake. They were all delicious, but the raspberry bullseye, a combination of thick glazed donut with a generous glob of sour-sweet jam in the middle, was without equal.
Fortified, we made our way through the rain, braving the Seattle transit system, to Pioneer Square. With Elliott Bay Books closed, the area seems to lack life... but that may also have been a result of the abysmal spring weather. The architecture was as beautiful and impressive as ever. And the new waterfall garden is a lovely addition to an area that remains, in spite of the constant influx of tourists, one of Seattle's most impoverished.
Soaked through, we returned to our room at the Gaslight Inn for a pre-dinner rest that turned into an hour-long nap. Such is the beauty of vacation. We made our way back downtown refreshed and recharged to enjoy dinner at our of our Seattle favourites, Mae Phim. The pad thai was exactly as I remembered it... perfectly browned; sweet, sour, sticky and covered with a generous helping of chopped peanuts.
We wandered the Westlake Centre location of Barnes and Noble after dinner. Ian was hoping to get a picture of the Paramount Theatre's neon sign once the sun set, but darkness flatly refused to fall. Although the sign was turned off by the time that it was dark enough to get a good photo, I did walk away with a beautiful sketchbook, bargain-priced at only ten dollars. I don't have the faintest idea what I might draw in it, but that isn't really the point.
Check back tomorrow for details about our final day in Seattle... and a full Seattle recap!
xox,
Cee
No comments:
Post a Comment