Thursday morning me and the Boys headed downtown to Seattle’s Pike Street Market for a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s first store.  Where did the name Starbuck come from anyway?  Per Anne and also Wiki, Starbuck was the Ahab’s Chief Mate in Moby Dick.  The original Starbucks has the original Starbuck’s mermaid logo.  This mermaid is much more anatomically correct then the corporate ones, with their suggestive wavy hair, that prevail at all the other stores.  With hot beverages in hand we exited Starbucks and set out to explore Pikes Market.

The market was not completely open when we first arrived.  In fact some of the shops proprietors were in line with us at Starbucks.  We walked around and watched as the different booths first arrived and then begin setting up.  I took pictures of the colorful cut flower stands and also of the colorful hot pepper stands.  We watched the flying fish market, but I was unable to get a good picture of the deed.  I purchased salmon jerky for the long flight home.

I looked for Jay and Carl’s floor tile at the market, but to no avail.  They were one of many donors that helped refurbish the market.  We descended through the market back to the wharf and the car.  With still some time to kill we walked along the waterfront for just a little bit.

On the way to the airport I got a call from out of the blue from Meaghan, eldest of Bob and Noreen.  She was going to fly into Saint Louis and was just wondering …  I think that I put her aback a bit when I announced that I was in Seattle.  I left messages for Anne and gave her Dan’s number and then boarded the plane home.

The return flight had a movie, Easy Virtue.  The movie is a noir comedy, set in Britain during the inter-war period.  Here is the IMDB Synopsis:

A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future – blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.

That is until the stuffy British counterattack.  I enjoyed the movie.  Jessica Biel shined as the American divorcee.  I guess I’ll rent it so Anne can watch it too.

I landed in Saint Louis about seven.  Anne, Meg, Dan and Annie were already at Blueberry Hill when I arrived.  The “kids” carried the conversation, I was plainly flagging by then.  After dinner the kids headed off to Ted Drews and beyond.  Do I have to go to work today?

Ivar’s versus Salty’s, that is the question, which one is the better fish house. Wednesday night most of the work  group that ate diner on Monday at Ivar’s ate dinner at Salty’s on Alki, on Wednesday. My vote is for Ivar’s. First off the food was better and so was the service. Ivar‘s is a white tablecloth kind of restaurant, Salty‘s is not. Salty’s view is better though. See above for a portion of it or tomorrow for my version of the Frazier view of Seattle.

Here is a Carl story from Tuesday night’s game. I think that it was evoked after a White Sox’s player hit a screamer, foul, off the third base line. One of the Mariners’ ball girls snagged it beautifully out of the air. Apparently, the Mariners’ third baseman had at one time had had the habit of not wearing a cup. After one accidental play though, he ended up on the injury list for about a month or so. On his return, at his first at bat, the accompanying music was the Nutcracker Suite.

We finished up our work today, so Thursday is pretty much just a travel day. Returning from the left coast pretty much shoots any work day anyway, so even if we left Seattle early, we would still only have a couple of work hours at the end of the day. So I didn’t dare call Barbara for a third flight change. So us guys have a couple of hours to kill before we head to the airport. Who knows what will lurk in a group of engineers group think hearts. Stay tuned …

I landed in Seattle about noon, on Monday.  After work, six of us decided to go out for diner.  We went to Ivar’s Salmon House.  This place is under I-5, on the north side of Lake Union, not to far from Jay and Carl’s place.  In fact after arriving there, I remember going there once before with Jay and Carl.  The place has a northwestern Native American decor, that includes various Native American art objects.  Today’s header shows some of the other art there, a family of salmon luv’n bears.  The place has a great view of the Space Needle, I’ll use that view soon.  We all had salmon and all of us left happy. 

Afterwards we spoke briefly with the chef.  He uses Alder for his firewood grills, because, he says, this is what the Native Americans used.  When asked what is the secret of cooking salmon, he said, it is preparation.  Have everything ready before you put the salmon on the fire.  He also likes to serve salmon with lemon.  His grill seemed hotter than what I am used to cooking over.

UPDATE: On the Ivar website and on the local TV is news that an Ivar underwater billboard has been discovered.  Apparently the original Ivar was a big proponent of submarines and believed that they would soon become of private planes are today.