Rants from the Burgh

Well. The move is done. From Spokane to Seattle, the drive is pretty uneventful. Like Montana, the Western side is far more interesting than the Eastern side. The east was largely flat --- not just a little flat --- but totally you-can-see-the-curvature-of-the-earth sort of flat. Cool, and eerie, but a little boring. The west, in contrast, was all full of excitement.

One of the most interesting things of the drive were swarms of insects. Along the side of the road, every 30 feet or so, I kept seeing little tufts of smoke. The thing is that it wasn't smoke. Each tuft of smoke was a cloud of insects, buzzing in tight cylindical formation above the ground. It was the spookiest thing I've ever seen insects do. I wish I knew what they were, but I was too spooked to even stop to take a closer look at them.

The coolest part of Washington is the rolling hills/mountains of Snoqualmie Pass. With low-hanging clouds and trees, and rock, it's truly quite beautiful. Just East of Snoqualmie, there are all sorts lakes, surrounded by remnants of petrified wood forests, which is also pretty fascinating.

So now, I'm checked into my Seattle hotel. I've caught up on some of my email. I've unpacked some of my car, which is getting pretty nasty by this point. Now I have to figure out what to do with my first evening in town.