Sleeping in Seattle

Stefan is my friend of 10 years. Scary to say it’s been that long. Stefan has been a Seattle Seahawks fan for the entire time I’ve known him (according to him, a lot longer than that).

We planned a trip to Seattle to catch a Seahawks game. There were 5 of us (both wives, and my best friend, who is also a great friend of Stefan’s).

Frequent flier miles paved the way to Seattle, while some help from my best friend’s mother (mine as well, by proxy) on hotel rooms. Friday night saw us head to Ray’s Boathouse for dinner (www.rays.com). If you’ve never been to Ray’s, you have to go. It’s consistently ranked as one of the top seafood restaurants in the country, year in and year out. Local fish sampler was 3 of the best pieces of fish I’ve had in my life. And my wife will be happy to tell you I’m not the biggest fan of fish. Sablefish in Sake marinade, Coho Salmon and local Halibut.

Saturday saw us exploring Pike Place market, the Aquarium, and of course, a trip to the Seahawks Team Store. Nothing like a thong with a Seahawks logo to get the blood flowing, if you know what I mean. 😉 Saturday night, we had dinner at a restaurant called Oceanaire. Okay, but nothing to write home about.

To finish up Saturday, we went to see the movie, “My Best Friend’s Girl.” While it was billed as a romantic comedy, this was the funniest, perverse movie I’ve seen in a long time. Without giving anything away, when the star stands in front of his girlfriends mother, drops trou and says, “Cmon honey, this XXXX isn’t going to suck itself”, I spit soda on the back of the person in front of me.

Sunday morning, we headed to the stadium. There were a ton of people there early, and virtually everyone was wearing a jersey. What an awesome stadium! It’s a partially covered, open-air arena that holds approximately 67,000 screaming fans. While that’s 20,000 less than my beloved NYG, it was definitely louder there. Might be the partially covered roof, but I couldn’t hear my own voice screaming during introductions. Nobody sat down until halfway through the first period, and they didn’t stay seated for long.

Moral of the story was a rabid crowd, a bad St. Louis team, and an easy 20+ point win. It was a great time. Stefan had more beers than I have fingers. His alcohol consumption was only rivaled by his food consumption. By my count, 2 Italian Sausages, 1 Foot-Long, some nachos, some fries, a bowl of Clam Chowder. I’m sure I’m missing something.

All in all, an awesome stadium, a fun game, a bunch of good food. Oh, and rain. Lots of rain. The only time we saw sunshine was during the game.

We landed in St. Louis on the way home. Hard to believe how much that airport is completely abandoned with the down-sizing of AA.