Last week was the first week back from Spring Break and the beginning of the end for this academic year. I always think that the mark of a good vacation is that, without even trying, you are able to forget work and school issues—completely tune out and live in a whole different way, an entirely new, fulfilling regimen, even if just for a few days. By this criterion, my Spring Break trip to Seattle, Washington (2000 miles away, on the other side of the country!) was a superb vacation. The only downside of course, was that the reading and work I should have been doing during my vacation, had to be made up for after getting back, since I was just so darn distracted.
Most people around here either go to beaches of Florida or back home, for the duration of Spring Break. Since my actual own home is something like 4500 miles from Wittenberg, I sometimes rely on the kindness of friends and their families for break destinations. (Or Florida.) And thus, I trekked back to the state of Washington with a good friend from school, whose family itself is more or less native to the Seattle area. And what a world opens up before your eyes after getting off the 4 hours flight from Chicago, and landing at Seattle-Tacoma airport! The mountains! The winding landscapes! Forests! Snow! Rain! Coming from Ohio, a place that is geographically, in its seemingly perpetual flatness, far from the most interesting of states, you kind of need to rub your eyes and pinch your cheeks once you get there, because it’s all just so pretty.
After getting into the city, Seattle has plenty of perks. The Space Needle, the first Starbucks coffee shop, the pier with its delicious seafood restaurants, and fun indoor markets, like the one at Pike Place. Outside the city, there are ferries to ride to the many picturesque destinations within the Puget Sound. North of Seattle, in Everett, is the location of the world’s largest building (by volume,) which houses a Boeing airplane factory, offering excellent tours and a chance to see the construction of the very airplanes we’ve come to rely on in getting around the world. Redmond, a short drive from Seattle is home to Microsoft—no, I didn’t see Bill Gates’ house. Driving south takes you along the Pacific Ocean, with its cliffs and mesmerizing views. If you go down far enough, you get to Portland, Oregon, which is home to (what claims to be) the world’s largest used and new books store. It was definitely very large.
With so much to do and see—as well as sleep to catch up on—it’s easy to imagine homework not getting done. I really owe a humungous thanks to the wonderful folks that gave me a place to stay and made me feel like one of their own. A thoroughly wonderful week it was, sans doute.
Martin