Tuesday, September 04, 2018

We were supposed to leave for Seattle around 10:00 AM, but a tire issue delayed Caribou’s brother at a repair shop. When he arrived, Smileyface ended up coming along to pick up her package in Skykomish, where we also ate lunch. Considering the limited time we would have in Seattle, I felt bad about the side trips that Caribou’s brother was making for us: the post office in Skykomish for mine and Smileyface’s packages, and Bigfeet had to visit a running store in Seattle that had his shoes in stock, whereas Caribou and I only had to visit REI. The brother had been planning to visit a museum in Seattle but there was ultimately no time (…). Sorry! We did get drive-by photos of the Space Needle, which must have been a major consolation.

I accompanied Bigfeet into the running store, because why not? It was a cool place that stocked nut butter flavours like dark chocolate + coffee and maple syrup + sea salt. And trail mix, but we already have too much trail mix in our lives.

The employee was a friend of Anish’s, so I’m now going to claim one degree of separation with Anish. That’s probably not how degrees of separation work, but I’m okay with that.

The REI we visited was the flagship store. So huge, so much selection! I had a long wait for service in the footwear section, during which I rambled to a fellow customer about waterproofing – she was looking for the equivalent of a rubber boot comfortable to walk in. Our hiker crew had different understandings of where to meet after making our purchases, and Bigfeet had gone off somewhere else, so those were more delays. In the end, after the shopping, we just headed back to Stevens Pass after a stop at Starbucks. I had fun, anyway.

For supper, one of the volunteers made chili and cornbread. An Australian hiker kept talking about how bizarre the concept of cornbread was and wouldn’t try it. IT’S AUTHENTIC AMERICAN FOOD, EAT IT.