Seattle Concert Trip Sparks Memories Of Childhood Adventures

Recently I had the privilege to travel over the passes to Seattle with a friend of mine to take in a concert. The show was epic. But the chance to revisit some places that I remember from my youth was even better. 

The whole thing started off with my buddy Lon from the tri-cities coming to Wenatchee early in the morning. Then we jumped into my car to head out for Seattle by way of Blewett and Snoqualmie Pass. The drive was uneventful. We stopped at the North Bend Outlet mall to charge up. 

There was a little bit of drama because I went to the Tesla Superchargers and tried to log into the system, but it wasn't happy with me (This is unusual), so I eventually gave up and went to the EV Go chargers on the opposite end of the parking lot and charged up with no problems. While I was charging, Lon did a little shopping in the outlet mall, and I read a couple of chapters of the latest book I was working on. 

About 20 minutes later, we were on the road to Seattle. 

Why make the trip? 

The whole purpose of the road trip was to go see a concert and maybe spend a little time roaming around the Seatle waterfront which has just finished being recently renovated. I honestly wasn't sure whether I was going to like the new waterfront look since they had taken out the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a major landmark in the Seattle area all through my youth. 

Once we hit town, we passed though Mercer Island and then ran into some traffic trying to get into downtown. It turns out the reason for the traffic was that the Seattle Mariners were playing that afternoon. We eventually made it down to the waterfront, found a parking area right across the street from Ivar’s and then prepared to venture out into the rain. 

The Seattle waterfront.

One of the things I really wanted to do was spend a little time on the waterfront, have some fish and chips at Ivar's and maybe look and see if some of the old things that I remember from my childhood were still there. 

The rain was coming down pretty good, (just your average Seattle day) got out of the parking lot, walked across the street and went to Ivar's to check things out. My experience with Ivar's when I was a teenager was going out with some friends, show up at Ivar's, and having some fish and chips at the sidewalk Ivar's location. Then we would eat our fish and chips, throw a few fries at the seagulls and be on our way. 

The food was hot; it was affordable, and good. 

That Ivor’s sidewalk location is still there, and it pretty much looks vintage. There's been a few improvements behind the window but overall, it's the same Ivor’s and the same quality of product. Yes, the prices are a little higher and there was a couple of items on the menu that weren't there when I was there as a kid. 

The big improvement was the covered and heated eating area just off the sidewalk, It was very comfortable. The other advantage is that it also kept the seagulls out. I ordered fish and chips. My buddy Lon got some Manhattan chowder And I have to say, aside from the fact that the prices are higher, it was just like I remembered it. 

We wrapped up our lunch, and it was still raining, but we decided to take a little walk and see what we could see. I was looking for “Ye Old Curiosity Shop”. This is a business that's been on the waterfront in downtown Seattle for over a century. 

According to yeoldecuriosityshop.com/about, 
‘In 1899, J.E. "Daddy" Standley opened his Free Museum and Curio at Second Avenue and Pike Street. By 1901, he moved his establishment - now called, simply, "The Curio" - to a larger space on Madison Avenue. in order to have first dibs on the goods being brought ashore by sailors, a shop on the waterfront would be best so he relocated to the Colman Ferry Dock in 1904, under the name "Curiosity Shop and Indian Curio," and by 1907 had adopted the name Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.’ 

I have some rather fond, (if slightly fuzzy,) memories of being a kid, sitting in the family car at the ferry dock waiting for a ferry boat to show up so we could go do a little vacationing on the Olympic Peninsula. Since we had time to kill, we would jump out of the car and run down to Ye Old Curiosity Shop and look around. (Very seldom with any money) Of course, we saw Sylvester (The Mummy) Who has been there since 1955. Sylvia, (the other mummy), arrived in 1970. 

Sylvester

Sylvia

A Seattle tourist trap.

Ye Old Curiosity Shop is, by any definition, the quintessential tourist trap. Lots of things to look at, lots of ways to spend a little money, and lots of questions when you're done. 

After we finished looking around there, we walked down the waterfront for a little while looking for another place to check out and then finally gave up because it was still raining and we were soaking wet. We went back to the car and found the hotel. 
(Yes, we spent the night, I'm not driving back over Snoqualmie Pass at midnight.) 

The concert was at The Paramount, a beautiful theater, billed as the Satch/Vai Band the show was Joe Satriani and Steve Vai with a few side men including Kenny Aronoff on drums, Marco Mendoza on bass and vocals, and Pete Thorne on guitar with an opening act called “Animals As Leaders”. 

Show at the Paramount.

It's really hard to describe Animals As Leaders. They are trio. Musically, I guess I would describe them as “thrash, speed metal, instrumentals”. Their music was very intricate and complex. To my way of thinking, it was a little difficult to follow, but I have to say the light show was spectacular. 

It took about 20 minutes to change over the stage and then The Satch/Vai Band came out and as expected, it was a total shred fest. 

The combination of the opulence of the refurbished Paramount Theatre, the light show, the music, and the crowd made it special. It was a wonderful evening of music, and I was grateful to not be driving back home that night but rather spending the night in a hotel. 

The next morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel and got back on the road and here I am.  

Just one final note. 

A big thank you to my buddy Lon from the tri-cities. If you're going to make a trip like this, it's always best to have a good friend along to keep you company on the drive over and back and also to make observations and comments about the crowd at the show. 

Now I just have to look for a reason (or another show) to make another trip.