Protected From The Rain

It's funny when people come to visit you from out of town. You want to show them the best of what your home has to offer, and while this may not necessarily include things on the universal tourist checklist of things to see, you as tour guide somehow feel responsible for every time your guest is forced to say no when asked by some well meaning person if they saw such and such.

Okay, well I do anyway. I also feel this overpowering urge to tell people that it doesn't always rain here. Part of me likes it when visitors get the full Seattle feel of things when they get rained upon, but then I also wish they could have one of those spectacular days when it is crystal clear and you can see water and mountains everywhere your eyes go.

So Mercedes and Eric got the rainy days while they were up here, rainy and cold. But damn it, they were troopers! Did they stand in the pissing, cold drizzle to watch boats come through the Ballard locks? Yes they did. Did they walk through downtown and down to the market in the rain? Yes they did. Did they jump on a ferry to Bainbridge Island just to jump on a ferry to anywhere? Yes they did.

And that is exactly the sort of tourism that I love, they can handle what comes at them with a joke or bitchy comment, and will go check something out for no other reason than to go check it out. Having had the experience of traveling with Mercedes, I already knew that we fit together well; I drag her hung over ass around when she can't find the motivation, she buys me shitty Circle K coffee when I'm locked in a bout of post Hand Grenade vomiting.

While I'm not sure if I played the perfect salesman for Seattle, I know Mercedes at least would tell me if there was something else she would rather be doing. And she would tell me in a very caustic fashion...

But the things that make me smile thinking back on them are not the Touristy McTour Guide things we did. It was walking through the downpour to the grocery store with Mercedes, both in bright yellow rain gear, to get ice cream and then mock fighting over the honking duck dog toy she decided to get. It was watching Eric cook up a feast in our little kitchen, giving tips on boiling greens and cooking rice all the while. It was sitting, or laying, around the living room with the heater going, listening to music and talking shit.

Thanks for coming guys, it was great seeing you. I hope you will at least think about coming back in the spring or summer when it doesn't get dark at 3:30 and you can see the mountains from atop that water tower.


No!vember song of the day: No New Tale To Tell by Love & Rockets.