Sweetness in Seattle (2013)

Seattle Space Needle

My graduating class at Dartmouth (1960) has a very sweet tradition … we (as many as possible) celebrate our major birthdays together … all starting with our 50^th in New York City.  Jeanette and I have attended the celebrations in New York, San Francisco, and Boston. This year our class celebrated our collective 75^th birthday with a three-day shindig in Seattle, Washington … all organized by a fraternity brother, Tom Grow.  (He did a bang-up job!).  We combined this celebration with a visit with old friends, the Agees, from our early married days in Stuyvesant Town, New York City … with easily a 17 year hiatus.  Here’s how the event went:

Day 1 – Our friend, Dennis Noonan drove us to the airport … then an easy flight … we flew directly from Boston to Seattle on JetBlue.  Debbie Agee met us at the airport and took us directly to Samatha’s (her daughter’s) business, A and B Imports (see: A and B Website), in Ballard, Washington (a section of Seattle).  This was a very impressive operation with two huge warehouse rooms full of cases and cases of wines and spirits from around the world.  Gil, her father, has been helping her for a number of years and, I’m sure has had a hand in her success.  (Gil is the businessman, Samantha (Sam) and Debbie are the crackerjack salespersons.).  After a tour, we all then ate lunch at the nearby Calamity Jane’s (delicious Cobb salads). We then dropped off our things at the Agee abode, a beautiful house with scenic views overlooking

Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains. Debbie then took us on a short tour of the area … ending with hours d’oeuvers (steamed mahogany clams are the best) and drinks during the happy hour at Ray’s Boathouse in Ballard. Gil rejoined us there.  It was a frolic.

Day 2 – After waking in our own separate huge apartment in the Agee’s lower level (looking out on a beautiful garden views), we spent a happy morning reliving old times with Gil and Debbie  Then Gil dropped us off in downtown Seattle near the Fairmont Olympic hotel on his way to his athletic club. There we met a bunch of classmates, picked up our badges and tickets at fraternity brother Rick and Linda Roesch’s room … followed by a four hour City Highlights narrated bus tour including the waterfront, Pioneer Square, International District, Ballard locks (and fish ladder), botanical garden, and ending with a lunch at Anthony’s Home Port.  This was followed by dinner with classmates at the Space Needle and tour of the Chihuly Glass

Tom Grow, the Radigans and Jeanette

Museum (at the base of the Space Needle).  Chihuly is, to my taste, a little over the top … kinda like Salvadore Dali was toward the end.  But I did get a chance to see Dale Chihuly close up … he reminded me of an one-eyed troll.

Day 3 – All class visitors crowded on the ferry to cross Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island where we toured Bloedel Botanical Reserve.  Here we had some time with my Junior-year roommate and frat brother, Charlie Radigan and his wife, Tina.  I hadn’t seen them for probably twenty years and it was great catching up. While most others did the whole tour, I spent a contemplative hour at its beautiful Japanese garden … to be blemished by hearing that another fraternity brother, Gary Stass, had just passed away and my freshman-year crew-mate, Al Stowe, had just entered hospice … an upper and downer melange.  We all then lunched at the stunning home of another classmate, the cable-TV famous Mort Kondracke.  Mort had arranged a fabulous catered barbeque for us

Kondracke House

all. Unfortunately, his caterer pulled a no-show … so Mort and his wife, Marguerite, without missing a beat, raided and emptied-out a near-by deli for our great repast.   Then our class had a “dress-up” dinner at the Seattle Tennis Club … a very impressive locale.

Day 4 – Jeanette and I decided that we were going to “do” Seattle on our own.  We cabbed it to downtown Ballard and, after breakfast at the HiLife restaurant (OK), we caught the Emerald City Trolley for a long tour of Ballard, Fremont (don’t miss the fawning statue of Lenin), Woodland Park Zoo and then to downtown Seattle … finishing at the Pike Place Market.  Next Jeanette “did" the Seattle Art Museum while I did the NY Times crossword.  Then, on the way up to the hotel, we enjoyed Happy Hour at The Brooklyn, a recommended restaurant.  (The oysters and Margaritas were cheap and delicious.)  The whole class then took a boat Cruise to Blake Island and the Tillicum Village where we had a Salmon Buffet Dinner and a

Tillicum Village

Native American Dance Program … a little too touristy for my taste.  … but sincere and well done.

Day 5 --- This was a day to recover a tad.  Debbie took us to the Sunday farmer’s market in Ballard … nothing like it out east here.  The produce was spectacular and the merchants, very accommodating.

Ballard Farmers's Market

When we returned to the Agee abode I made my raddish, scallion and cream cheese spread for lunch (see: Simply Simple) which we all ate on a farmer’s-market bagette.  Not to brag, but we ate every last snippet.  Then, after some more reminiscing, the Agee’s two daughters, Sam and Anistasia (Stach) came over with their boyfriends for a delicious dinner of salmon, veggies and a salad.  Sam’s son, Luke, was with them.  He is a charmer.

Day 6 -- Today we left with the Agees for the Cascade Loop (Rte 5 to Rte 2 to Rte 57-A).  Be careful on 57-A … this stretch of road is a deep-South-style speed trap with 25 MPH signs every few miles.  Here, I was driving and, after passing a cop giving out a ticket, he followed us for about ten miles.  My palms were sweating but I managed to avoid his perfidy. We stayed overnight at the Freestone Inn in Mazama, Washington … in the depths of the North Cascades.  This is a beautiful huge log-built inn with all the

Freestone Inn with the Agees

amenities, balconies, fire places, great vistas, etc.  It was not very crowded and, when I asked about their peak season, I was disappointed to hear that we were in it.  I think the writing is on the wall … unfortunately.

Day 7 – Today after a continental breakfast and some soak time in the hot tub, we left to finish the Cascade Loop (Rte 153 to Rte 20 back to Rte 5).  The scenery on the remainder of this route is spectacular

The Cascade Mountains

 … picture-postcard perfect.  After some meandering, we had a fried oyster lunch (they were the largest I’ve ever eaten … order 6 … 12 is way too many) at the Conway Pub in Conway, Washington.

Day 8 – To start the day, Jeanette and I visited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building near the Space Needle.  It is comprised of many multi-media exhibits detailing the many Gates Foundation’s favorite eleemosynary causes.  This, of course, includes the threat of global warming.  To do this, it has a large-screen computer allowing users to type in comments about climate change.  I, of course, complied … typing “How come the Northern Hemisphere is possibly warming while the Southern Hemisphere, with much higher CO2 levels, is clearly cooling?”  When I passed by this exhibit 20 minutes later, my comments had been

erased.  However, I must say that the docents there are extremely polite and helpful. We then had a late lunch with the Agees at Barolo Restaurant (1940 Westlake Ave, Seattle).  Then Jeanette and I picked up Hertz rent-a-car so that we could self-tour the next day and then drop it off at the airport.

Day 9 – Jeanette and I drove north and west from Ballard for a car tour of Whidbey Island.  At the start it was so foggy that we barely could see anything.  We intended to have lunch there but getting lost several times unfortunately precluded this.  Took the ferry back from Clinton to Everett, passing the huge Boeing plant on the way back to Route 5.  Famished, we ate dinner at the Hilton Spencer’s Bar.  It was obviously better than at our hotel, but not a lot.  We stayed at the Clarion … a typical airport hotel … nothing to brag about.  We did this so we could get to the airport at the crack of dawn the next morning.

Day 10 -- Another easy but early flight … we flew directly from Seattle to Boston again on JetBlue It would have been better if I could have gotten my video controls to work.  We thought that we would outfox JetBlue’s bad food by buying airport sandwiches … bad idea … also inedible.  From Logan airport … bus and taxi home. It was good to get back and see the grandkids.