With four of my colleagues from the university where I work, we set up visits to three other schools to talk with them about their student computer systems. We were able to set up all the visits for the same week. So, on Sunday we set out from Detroit (after a two-hour drive to the airport) and flew non-stop to Seattle, Washington for our first visit. Due to the time difference, the five hour flight deposited us at 2pm PDT, or apparently two hours after we left Michigan.
The University of Washington is a traditional campus with lovely buildings. The center feature of the campus is a massive fountain (right). Gorgeous.
We arrived on a rare sunny and warm day. Coming from Michigan, where it has been hot and dry for a month or more, we enjoyed the relative coolness but weren't properly respectful of the sunshine. We would learn better as Monday and Tuesday were both grey and cold.
So we walked, returned to the hotel and dressed for dinner, then met a local friend of one of my team for dinner. We went to a microbrew called The Ram, in the University Village (looked like an outdoor shopping mall, very close to the UW campus). I had a beer called Buttface Amber Ale. It was great. We also ate seafood (as we had resolved to do in Seattle - we would also later have Mexican food in Arizona and barbeque in Texas).
After a nice dinner, we got a ride back to the hotel (they had a shuttle, which was very nice). I went to bed (although not to sleep as the time change worked against me here).
Monday was our first all-day meeting with a university. I found the exercise room in the hotel and did my treadmill time, then got some coffee in the shop off the lobby. Not a Starbuck's, although that company originated in Seattle, but instead Tully's Coffee, also a chain.
Four of us later met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then we all walked across the street to the meeting.
After it was over, we rushed back to change to more casual clothes and grab the hotel shuttle to take us to downtown Seattle. The driver let us off near Pike's Place market. That is where the guys who work in the fish markets throw the fish around. We arrived in time for a show but it was so crowded that one could not get a good photo. It was fun, though.
Then we went looking for a restaurant, and the walk was enough to work up an appetite. The streets are sharply canted toward the Sound, and one is often digging in to walk up or down hill safely. Nothing like home, and a bit intimidating, really. I almost felt that I could fall off my own feet.
We ended up at a restaurant called Etta's that was near the waterfront and just across the street from Cutter's Crab House, where I had eaten the last time I was in Seattle, over 15 years back. The food at Etta's was decent, but not special (sorry to say). Still, it was a nice meal.
We then wandered off to find a bar and located a wine bar in a mall that one of our group remembered from one of his previous trips. I wasn't up for wine so I had a bottle of pomegranate tea which was different - not sweet at all as I would expect with a fruit juice and tea blend. It was good.
We returned to the hotel and some of my colleagues continued to drink in the hotel bar but I actually had hopes of getting some sleep so I headed to my room. However, it was another long night as I dozed fitfully until about 4 am. After that I slept hard but of course had to get up at a reasonable time on Tuesday morning as we were headed for Tucson. At least we had a direct flight.
We had a late lunch at a nearby sports bar, then split up. Three of my colleagues were having a horseback ride in a nearby national park but I declined. It has been at least 15 years since I have ridden and I had images of suffering a major injury a thousand miles from home. So I took a long walk around the area, scoping out places for dinner, even though it was very hot (mid to high 90s). We ate late, once everyone was back, and turned in fairly early.
After our meeting with the University of Arizona folks, we got a cab for an authentic Mexican restaurant. I had a chimichanga that was pretty good, but then I skipped the hot sauce (not much for really spicy foods, so much of the menu would have been wasted on me). Rather than cab to another location afterwards, we just went back to the hotel, then took a walk through campus, took some photos, and then ended up at a wine bar near the hotel for a couple of drinks and some intense, work-related conversation.The next day, it was on to Lubbock, Texas, via Dallas. For the first time, we had a flight delay (this time we were on American Airlines), but still got to Dallas in time for our flight to Lubbock, although since Dallas is such a large airport, we worried ahead of time about the connection. But the tram/shuttle between the terminals is convenient and fast, and we had plenty of time. One member of the group had time to pick up a Texas Longhorns ball cap (not the university we were visiting but something he had always wanted) and another of us got a purse with the leather panels dyed like the state flag. I just picked up a book, a diet soda, and some mints.
Lubbock was the only place we had to rent a van as the university was some distance from our hotel. Even though we had reserved ahead, we had some trouble getting the size we needed - 5 people with luggage for a week cannot fit into a standard car, or even a normal SUV. Finally we were on our way to the Overton Hotel, which I noted with amusement was on Mac Davis Lane. Not all of the group were old enough to remember him, but I did. He hails from Lubbock.
We arrived after 6pm so we stopped only briefly at the hotel to check in and unload our baggage before heading out to dinner. We ate at J & M Bar B Q, which had a menu on a chalkboard that listed the types of mesquite barbequed meats you could order (by the half pound or the pound). Or one could order a one meat, two meat, or three meat dinner and specify meats and sides, which is what we did. Almost all of us had brisket as one meat - you could get it shredded or sliced. They also had ribs, sausage, pulled pork, etc. I had shredded beef brisket and german sausage, with an extra cup of sauce on the side, mashed potatoes & gravy and baked beans. I didn't like the beans - they were not the sweet and molasses-heavy style I am used to, but rather a tart barbequed style with no sweetness. I didn't care for them.
Because the restaurant had no liquor, we went afterwards down the street a short ways to the Cap Rock Cafe. This is a bar that is the "Best Place to Have a Beer" - so their coasters say. They did have good beer, and served it in a heavy glass goblet. I used to have one of these about thirty years ago, which I used to keep loose change in. Quite a blast from the past!
Again, we spent most of our time thrashing through the things we had learned thus far on the trip and how we could approach our written proposals. Those of us who were less techie got an illustration on the relationship between our mainframe and web files and how they talk to each other, using coasters, drink stirrers, sugar packets, and other table trash as props.
The next day, after our final meeting, we went to dinner at a steakhouse near the city's Friday night Art Walk. We did have to wait a while for a table. There was at least one convention in town, and the restaurant was full of people wearing badges of Meat Processors. Wow, who knew?
After a nice meal and some good beer, we got on the Art Walk shuttle and visited a display area of photos, jewelry, and yard sculpture, then took another shuttle to the Buddy Holly Museum on Crickets Avenue. There I picked up a T-shirt for one of my cat sitters, and we took photos near the statue of Buddy Holly across the way.
Back at the hotel, we settled on the outdoor patio for a drink. Even though it was evening, and the sun had set, it was over 90 degrees outdoors, but we were becoming used to the heat. Of course, the next day we would be headed back to Michigan. But we had to have a drink to celebrate the successful conclusion of our trip. We shared a toast with shots all around, then spent some time winding down before heading up to bed. We were flying first to Houston, then Detroit, and then driving the two hours back to East Lansing, and had to leave the hotel shortly after 6am. We would then arrive home approximately 12 hours later (with time change figured in), and would be both glad, and slightly sorry, to have the trip be over.
