Dear Jason ~

There's an eerie sense of karmic activity going on right now. I suspect the Forces That Be have spread psychic scent-trails around Seattle so that I might follow them to exactly the right places. It's the only explanation I can think of. Probably, my brain is reacting to some subconscious honey-and-blackberry smell, leading me around by cosmic olfactory stimuli... Though, so far, I've found Seattle to smell like nothing so much as coffee, asphalt, and faint salt-water...

...the totem pole at Ancient Grounds...

I caught a bus somewhere between the Mount Baker neighborhood and the Leschi ("Lesh-Eye") neighborhood of Seattle. I'm not sure WHY I had the guts to get on a bus of unknown destination, because in, say, Manhattan, I wouldn't have ventured any further than one or two blocks, for fear of getting lost. Hell, it took me until I was seventeen to explore Binghamton with any real confidence, and I've NEVER gotten on a bus ANYWHERE, EVER before, without knowing EXACTLY where it was going. I haven't got a map, I haven't got a clear picture of Seattle's layout, I just decided to drift. Of course, still being slightly neurotic about getting lost, I did write down the names of the streets the bus drove down, in case of complete disorientation. East Alder, East Yesler, Yesler, 3rd Ave...

Once downtown, I began to recognize things. From the window of the bus, I saw the Columbia Tower; Ian sent me a photograph he'd taken of it, and I've been carrying it around with me for months. I took it as a sign to get off the bus immediately, which I did.

After a year of hearing Taze complain about Binghamtonian coffee as it so unfavorably compares to Seattle's, I had to find a café that seemed appropriately classy. The first one I came across was Ancient Grounds, a "coffeehouse and art gallery of natural history," as the free postcards so quaintly read. Sure as HELL, one of the totem poles from the Kiana Lodge -- known better as the interior of the Twin Peaks Great Northern Hotel -- was there: the one with the whale's tail on top. A piece of art I've seen so many damned times it may as well have been sitting in my living room for the past several years. Not only THAT, but the proprietor of the place claims to have helped acquire the totem poles and things FOR the Kiana. They're permanent fixtures there, apparently, not just props for the TV show. Naturally quite excited, in a way only a super-caffeinated Peaks Freak can be, I asked the guy how to get to Bainbridge Island, where the Kiana is. (That is, it's on Bainbridge Island, in a town called Poulsbo, on a road called Sandy Hook, at least according to the information online that I printed and brought along with me... Doesn't sound TOO difficult, I suppose, except my internal map of this area is still AWFULLY hazy, and I AM easily disoriented...) The coffeehouse owner was obviously very excited to talk about it. So here I am, now seated comfortably on the very front deck of the Bainbridge Island ferry. The motors are running, but we haven't left shore yet. Wait, now we have. "The lonesome foghorn blows..." [--Pete Martell, "Twin Peaks."] Yes, and it blows directly into my ear. Gahd this is exciting! More later!

...the docks near the ferry...

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