With
only one morning left to explore Seattle, we had a few items high on the list
we wanted to hit together, starting with Underground Seattle. (Jim remembers that I did this tour 25 years
ago, and when he says it it sounds probably true, but it all still felt totally
new to me.) It provides a super
interesting look at the history of how Seattle came to be – not a city built on
top of another abandoned city, but a city in which businesses built buildings
at the same time that the city moved massive amounts of dirt (more than was
moved in the building of the Panama Canal) to raise the level of the roads and
sidewalks creating an entire underground city that eventually was
abandoned. The total lack of city
planning and concensus building among interested parties from the get-go helps
explain the crazy state of the current road system in Seattle; it is a wacky
place to try to drive!
We
then drove by to see the central public library which we had heard so much
about. Unfortunately it was closed for
the holiday, but the outside of the building was certainly cool. Next
stop was the Olympic Sculpture Garden which was either actually underwhelming
or I was just losing my energy (more likely) – either way we didn’t stay long. We thought about lunching at Pike Place
Market so Jim could see it for the first time but while the city streets were
largely empty, that turned out to be where all of the tourists were. So rather than fight them we went in search
of an Indian buffet.
 |
| The lunch buffet long shut down by the time we left |
Rachel
found us one, Chutneys Bistro, in a converted public school in the Wallingford neighborhood. So we got to see a new part of town and enjoy
a delicious buffet! It wasn’t until
after we finished eating that we realized that the 3rd/4th
place game was already more than half-way through. We could see the two tvs in the bar from our
table and I asked the waiter if he would mind changing from the Matrix (a movie
I realized I have actually never seen) to the World Cup and he was glad to do
it. We moved from our table to a couch
in the bar area for better viewing and hoped it would be ok with them if we made
ourselves comfy there, especially after the game went into overtime. Turns out it was more than ok…the owner of the
restaurant, Harish, said that when we were sitting at the table we were his
customers but when we moved to the couch we were now his guests. He brought us
over piping hot mugs of chai tea (that Jim proceeded to spill on himself) and
then brought over a box of four beautiful cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes next
door for the girls to eat on the road when they got hungry. It was one of those magical travel moments being
so charmed by the kindness of strangers and sharing an experience together. And
it was especially nice to watch England beat Germany, finishing the highest they
have in a World Cup and coming back from the horrible loss they suffered earlier
this week.
A
few months ago, when we started planning this trip in earnest, Rachel realized
that our path to Vancouver would take us right through the home base of her
favorite band Wild Rabbit (now Rabbit Wilde), Bellingham, WA. She reached out to them through their website
to see if they would be performing anywhere in the Pacific Northwest during our
time on the road and was beyond thrilled when lead singer Miranda Zickler
answered her email personally. She let us know they'd be headlining the 4th of July Festival at Edgewater
Park in Mt. Vernon, WA - right on the way between Seattle and Vancouver. So we shaped our trip around that (and will
just have to do Vancouver as a separate trip another day). Our next stop: a Quality Inn motel in Mt. Vernon,
WA – the first actual hotel of the trip – after briefly visiting Target and
Walmart to try to make ourselves look more patriotic (not just for today, but
more importantly tomorrow!).
The festival began at 6 pm, but Rabbit Wilde
wasn’t going on until 9 pm followed by a fireworks show. Not knowing exactly what to expect we wanted
to get there early to get a good spot.
We arrived around 7 and were one of first thirty or so people
there. So we put out our blanket close to the stage
and listened to a great opening act, drank huge lemonade shakers, and ate
grilled corn spread with mayonnaise and cheese, savory pies, and sweet potato
fries.
 |
| when we arrived |
 |
| check out our red/white/blue flannel |
Just as the Back Porch Apostles
were finishing up, Rabbit Wilde drove up in their minivan – Rachel knew it was
them immediately. My normally very calm and collected daughter
gets super nervous in these sorts of situations and didn’t want to approach
them. I had to walk the delicate balance
between not embarrassing my teenage daughter and wanting to help her make
the most of this opportunity to meet these musicians she really admires. I also knew for sure that they were expecting
us to be there and that they would be very happy to meet her. (Miranda couldn’t
have been nicer in our preconcert correspondence.) I had
to reiterate with Rachel that people who are touring the country performing
their music actually WANT fans… and it makes them happy to know that they have
real fans willing to travel miles and miles to see them perform. It also turns out that rather than being from
Bellingham (where they live now and claim for convenience) they all four are
from the very small town of Mt. Vernon, Washington and this is a festival that
they came to as kids growing up.
(Ironically, they didn’t meet each other and form a band until they were
all living in New York and met there.)
So, as the audience grew, it was full of friends and family of the band. After the soundcheck, the band members came
out into the audience to say hello to their families. After some nudging, Rachel finally let me approach Nathan
which led to a nice conversation with his and Zach’s dad.
When
the band started playing Rachel didn’t want to miss watching any of it herself, but she also
wanted to record every moment, which meant the rest of us recorded for her. My phone
battery eventually died, Rachel’s phone storage filled up, Jim’s phone
ran out of battery, and Julia’s phone ran out of storage, but on the four
devices combined I think we managed to capture it all.
Rachel’s friend Ellen is an equally huge fan and the girls have been
scheming for months about how to fly her up here for the concert part of our trip, but that didn't end up happening. Rachel didn’t like the idea of seeing Rabbit
Wilde without Ellen, but now she can at least bring Ellen the whole concert on video. The performance was amazing – the sound quality
was great – and it was so fun to see the songs we have been listening to over
and over (and over) again on this trip performed live right in front of us. They are all very talented musicians who put
on a great show full of energy and passion for what they are doing. The only downside was when Miranda brought
out a tambourine and put all my glory of yesterday’s performance at the EMP in
perspective – I have a lot of work to do on my tambourining!
 |
| Front row "seats" to a great performance! |
After the show we went up to buy several t-shirts, get autographs, and talk to the band members. They were all so gracious, kind, and encouraging of Rachel and her music. In Rachel’s words: they were “perfect humans.” As they spend hours together on the road touring, we also got great tips on NPR shows to listen to on long road trips! I can't thank them enough for making Saturday the perfect first half of what could possibly be the best weekend ever!
 |
| Miranda and Rachel |
 |
| Rachel and Rabbit Wilde |
 |
| Julia allowed in too! |
With
only one morning left to explore Seattle, we had a few items high on the list
we wanted to hit together, starting with Underground Seattle. (Jim remembers that I did this tour 25 years
ago, and when he says it it sounds probably true, but it all still felt totally
new to me.) It provides a super
interesting look at the history of how Seattle came to be – not a city built on
top of another abandoned city, but a city in which businesses built buildings
at the same time that the city moved massive amounts of dirt (more than was
moved in the building of the Panama Canal) to raise the level of the roads and
sidewalks creating an entire underground city that eventually was
abandoned. The total lack of city
planning and concensus building among interested parties from the get-go helps
explain the crazy state of the current road system in Seattle; it is a wacky
place to try to drive! 
We
then drove by to see the central public library which we had heard so much
about. Unfortunately it was closed for
the holiday, but the outside of the building was certainly cool. Next
stop was the Olympic Sculpture Garden which was either actually underwhelming
or I was just losing my energy (more likely) – either way we didn’t stay long. We thought about lunching at Pike Place
Market so Jim could see it for the first time but while the city streets were
largely empty, that turned out to be where all of the tourists were. So rather than fight them we went in search
of an Indian buffet. 
Just as the Back Porch Apostles
were finishing up, Rabbit Wilde drove up in their minivan – Rachel knew it was
them immediately. My normally very calm and collected daughter
gets super nervous in these sorts of situations and didn’t want to approach
them. I had to walk the delicate balance
between not embarrassing my teenage daughter and wanting to help her make
the most of this opportunity to meet these musicians she really admires. I also knew for sure that they were expecting
us to be there and that they would be very happy to meet her. (Miranda couldn’t
have been nicer in our preconcert correspondence.) I had
to reiterate with Rachel that people who are touring the country performing
their music actually WANT fans… and it makes them happy to know that they have
real fans willing to travel miles and miles to see them perform. It also turns out that rather than being from
Bellingham (where they live now and claim for convenience) they all four are
from the very small town of Mt. Vernon, Washington and this is a festival that
they came to as kids growing up.
(Ironically, they didn’t meet each other and form a band until they were
all living in New York and met there.)
So, as the audience grew, it was full of friends and family of the band. After the soundcheck, the band members came
out into the audience to say hello to their families. After some nudging, Rachel finally let me approach Nathan
which led to a nice conversation with his and Zach’s dad.
When
the band started playing Rachel didn’t want to miss watching any of it herself, but she also
wanted to record every moment, which meant the rest of us recorded for her. My phone
battery eventually died, Rachel’s phone storage filled up, Jim’s phone
ran out of battery, and Julia’s phone ran out of storage, but on the four
devices combined I think we managed to capture it all.
Rachel’s friend Ellen is an equally huge fan and the girls have been
scheming for months about how to fly her up here for the concert part of our trip, but that didn't end up happening. Rachel didn’t like the idea of seeing Rabbit
Wilde without Ellen, but now she can at least bring Ellen the whole concert on video. The performance was amazing – the sound quality
was great – and it was so fun to see the songs we have been listening to over
and over (and over) again on this trip performed live right in front of us. They are all very talented musicians who put
on a great show full of energy and passion for what they are doing. The only downside was when Miranda brought
out a tambourine and put all my glory of yesterday’s performance at the EMP in
perspective – I have a lot of work to do on my tambourining! 
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