Alaskan’s have a love hate relationship with Seattle.  It is often the place we are medevacked to when we have an emergency.  When we arrive, we feel like crap, but we leave healed.  It is the home of Costco (well Kirkland is) and we LOVE Costco.  It is where many Alaskan’s kids go to find jobs, which means they are there and not here. (Ok, here, not there, we are currently in Seattle.)  But to old time Alaskan’s Seattle is called “The Colonial Office.”

Seattle was built on exploiting Alaska.  They honor that by naming their main drag along the waterfront “Alaskan Way.”  Seattle interests exploited, and almost decimated our fisheries until we won statehood.  Seattle based trawlers still drag our sea bottoms, destroying habitat and taking “by catch” that is part of the reason for depleted Salmon stocks. 

The Seattle Based Wild Fish Conversancy has filed suit to shut down Alaska’s king salmon troll (a hook and line fishery that is mainly run by small family fishing operations) fishery to protect Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whale population.  They did not sue to shut down the Puget Sound King Salmon sports fishery.

A pair of century old acts, the Jones Act (sponsored by Seattle representative Wesley Jones) and the Passenger Vessel Services Act, require that any goods and passengers between American Ports be carried by American built, owned and crewed ships.  This particularly affects Alaska and Hawaii.  When these acts were passed, we were just poor little (well big in Alaska’s case) colonies and had no congressional representation.  According to the Alaska Statehood Commission report in the 1980s these acts raise prices to Alaska consumers by millions of dollars a year while enriching Seattle ship owners.  We would have lower prices if a free market was in play for transporting goods and people to our states. 

This is the reason foreign flagged cruise ships (and almost all cruise ships are) have to stop in Vancouver or Victoria.  It is also why Americans who miss the boat at their final port and have to fly back to Seattle get fined almost $900 each for violating the act.  (Alaska Cruising had gotten some bad coverage recently when a family of 13 missed the ship in Ketchikan.)  What happens if you get sick on a cruise ship and are offloaded in Alaska?

I share many Alaskans’ mixed feelings about Seattle.  Seattle may have saved my life.  I have flown here on an air ambulance and twice had surgery here.  University of Washington Medicine rocks!  Arriving in Seattle early enabled me to get updated COVID and flu jabs, that were not yet available in Sitka.

I had planned to spend some time sightseeing in Seattle but on my way out the door I took a fall, my leg is sore and I ache all over, so I’m mostly relaxing, using the hotel pool and catching up on email that backlogged when Sitka’s communications failed.

Rather than walking to the CVS for my shots we took a cab.  I have had this problem before in Seattle.  After surgery I needed to stay here for a week and check into the hospital, but I was told not to walk up hill.  I have had taxis refuse to take me on a short fare.  I have a friend who was a Seattle taxi driver for years and I understand why short fares suck.

I could take an Uber, if I knew how.  The one time I did it on my own I got an apocalyptic message on my screen “Jesus is coming for you in 2 minutes.”  Last summer in Ireland we used Uber a lot, but I had kids, daughters in laws and grandkids and they took over the app duties.  I tried to get an Uber from the airport but didn’t know the difference between Uber, Uber X, Uber share, Uber Comfort, Uber Black and Uber WAV.  There was also an Uber green, which I take is a Tesla.  The different classes of Ubers left from different places in the airport. We took a cab.

At the hotel I negotiated a 5-minute cab ride to CVS for $25 cash, no meter.  It seemed like extortion but, I understand, I have a friend who used to be a Seattle Cabbie.  But after my 5 minutes in the cab came calculating the tip.  One part of me said “No way” the other part thought of my friend.  I compromised by leaving a tip minus the 3% that the credit card would have taken. Am I a bad person?  (The cab ride from the airport was exactly double what I paid the 5-minute cabbie.)  We walked back to the hotel downhill.

Since we got our COVID shots at a CVS a block from Pike Place Market we did a wander to catch the local color.  On Saturday the place is mobbed, with happy people eating fish luncheons, drinking beer, and shopping, especially for fresh flowers.  It was a joyous but chaotic morning.  Lots of live music.  No need to go to the State Fair when you can go to Pike Place Market. 

But soon my leg gave out and I went looking for a place to sit down.  The cafes were full, as well the park benches.  There was space on one bench, or should have been, but two ladies wearing Phillies baseball caps, hogged a whole bench by putting their rolling suitcases on the benches and not sharing.  I was tempted to take a picture and post it, but I have not yet sunk to that level of nastiness.  So, I went on searching.  I found some more benches, but they were behind a fence. Why? 

So, I kept walking.  Dzidzilalich (Salish for “little crossing place) is a bridge over the railroad tracks.  It leads to stairs and an elevator that takes you down to Alaskan Way on the shore of Elliot Bay.  When we summoned the elevator, it would not come.  My leg was hurting enough that I didn’t to walk down roughly four stories of steps.  A kind man who was going down, sent the elevator up to us. 

We got back to the hotel, and I soaked my leg in the swimming pool and watched the Norwegian Bliss (A 4000+ pax cruise ship that we locally call Cruisezilla) sail away from pier 66, destination, Sitka

(After reading this Suzi said “First World Problems.”