Seattle Day Trip

Went down to Seattle to watch the Real Madrid vs DC United match along with my Dad. Here is a brief summary of the day trip:

• We went out at around noon, had lunch in Richmond and then headed down the 99. We waited for 1.5 hours at the border (the wait might be longer now because of recent events in Britain). We also ran into traffic congestion twice, so we didn’t get to Seattle before 5:00pm
• Because we were there late, we didn’t have much time walking around Downtown Seattle. I did find out where Cheesecake Factory is though (Pike and 6th Ave).
• We had trouble finding a good place for dinner. I really hate trying to find a place to eat at a “foreign” place. As a result… (see bullet below)
• The stadium food was both expensive and bad, as expected
• The upper sections of the stadium get kind of windly and somewhat chilly (because of the wind blowing from the harbour), so it’s a good idea to bring a jacket
• The match was nothing much to speak of. I don’t particularly like Real (in fact, I kind of hate them), but I reckon it’s a good chance to see an European side playing in person, short of going to Europe
• We made the correct decision to park farther away from the stadium, I think. It takes very long for cars to get out of the Qwest field parking lot, and it is more expensive
• I drove the return trip back to Vancouver, and found that roads in Seattle are quite confusing. I lost my cool a bit when we got lost for a little while and was scolded by Dad because of that
• On the I5, we ran into congestion again. There was some road work going on. At one point on the highway, only one lane was opened
• We had to wait 20 minutes to go through the Canadian customs. I wonder if all those cars coming up are driven by people who went to the same match?

Overall, it was okay. I got kind of tired of the driving though. Probably because I wasn’t used to drive long distances.

Tags: Seattle