October 2020
After leaving Wyoming we drove for what seemed like weeks to get to Seattle, a city we have always loved, but we found it in rather reduced circumstances. A combination of Covid lockdowns and recent BLM protests almost totally shut down the downtown and Pike’s Market area. Shop windows were boarded up and it felt a lot like an end of the world movie. Our hotel, the W Seattle, was as quiet as the Overlook Hotel.
On a happier note, we visited the lovely Japanese Garden, the Chihuly Gardens, and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island for brunch. Once we were away from the downtown Seattle area, things seemed much more normal, and Bainbridge was packed with tourists.
Moving on down to Oregon, which I’m sorry to say had only Portland to recommend it to me before now, we stayed one night in a little seaside village that looked charming on Google, but was actually full of tough looking out-of-work locals and roadside Trump memorabilia booths. I shall refrain from naming this shithole to spare them the shame. Face Mask Quotient: 3 out of 10.
travel eat repeat 