t 'n t luoma

As Tracey had done all of the planning for San Francisco, I told her I would work on the Seattle itinerary. Of course the bulk of this work was done by suggestions that people had given us, and the fact that the Seattle City Pass has several really cool places included in it.

Despite their gratutitous use of Flash (a web technology more overabused than the average corporate buzzword), I really must comment the CityPass folks for both their website and their product in general.

Example of City Pass as Generally Cool Idea: The idea is simple, buy a City Pass for several different touristy places and get a discount on them. For example, the Seattle City Pass includes the Woodland Park Zoo, Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, Argosy Cruises (Seattle Harbor Tour), and the Museum of Flight. All of these places are well worth visiting, and examples of sites that touristy folks are likely to want to visit. You might expect that they would throw in a couple losers, like, say, “Ed’s Belly Button Lint Museum” but these are all places that folks who live in the area would be likely to suggest to friends who are visiting from out of town.

Example #1 of City Pass as Well Executed Good Idea: The cost of all 6 of those places is $82 for an adult, but the CityPass is sold for $42. Of course not everyone will want to visit each place or have time to visit them all, but even a quick look at the individual price list will show that if you visit 4 of the 6, you will save money (not to mention time spent in ticket lines at each stop.

Example #2 of City Pass as Well Executed Good Idea: At least in Seattle (and likely at the other cities as well), the CityPass can be purchased right at each location, which means that if you haven’t ever heard of the CityPass and just show up at, say, The Space Needle, you will see a sign for it and can figure out if it is something that you want to buy and get it right there. Or if you know you want to buy it, you don’t have to make any special trip out of your way, you just pick them up at the first stop.

What makes the CityPass even better, in my opinion, is their website. Like I said, I could do without the Flash animation I’m generally pretty low-tech when it comes to websites... I’m looking for information, and fast... I don’t need or want the “flash” — I want the substance. More importantly the website has very useful information and is very clear. It will show you: a) what places are included, b) the cost [something a lot of sites seem to want to hide] of the CityPass versus if-purchased-separately, c) a clear link to buy online, d) individual links to each of the attractions, which includes hours of operation, location/driving directions, official phone number and website links, and “Insider Tips” which tell you the best time to visit, etc, and e) a note about what additional upgrades are available (for example, upgrade to a Day & Night pass for the Space Needle for $6. What is a Day & Night pass? It tells you that too!)

What do all those bits of information have in common? They are all things that visitors would want or need! There is no superfluous information or advertising/marketing nonsense cluttering the site.

Ok, so that’s today’s unsponsored advertisement for something that was actually really useful...

When visiting Seattle, one must take into consideration not only what attractions one wants to see, but the weather for the week as well. For example if you are going to the zoo, make sure there is no monsoon scheduled for that day. (Actually Seattle gets much less rain than people think, but they get much more gray sky.)

Since Monday was supposed to be the best of the weather days for the week, we decided that we would go to the zoo on Monday. I planned the entire week around the CityPass and the weather forecast. I printed out AAA driving directions for each place and coordinated visits to sites which were in close proximity to one another. Tracey complimented me for my attention to detail and organization in planning the week, and I was happy to have relieved her of some of the responsibility for the planning of the trip.

Just before we were ready to leave, Tracey mentioned that she could not find my leather jacket. My leather jacket is one of my few prized possessions. It was purchased in Spain in 1989 while I was on a school trip. It was $250 of my own money which I had saved from my after-school job. It was the only thing I bought for myself while on the trip. “The Jacket,” as it is called, is made of the softest leather that I have ever felt, and I have made it a point to feel every leather jacket I have seen in the 15 years since purchasing it. Every single time I leave the store I smile deeply and say to myself, “None of those come close to mine.” Prideful? Perhaps, but it is just one of the few purchases I have never ever regretted. The Jacket has played an important role in my life, and its significance was not lost on my mother or college roommate, who both observed that it was the only article of clothing that I consistently put on a hanger when I was not wearing it. The Roommate and His Girlfriend both watched in dumbstruck awe and disbelief when I came back to the room and handed The Jacket to a girl to wear (note: I married that girl. Wearing The Jacket was basically the equivalent of a pre-engagement ring, unbeknownst to her.)

The Jacket has made a triumphant return to my wardrobe routine since I have lost enough weight that I can now comfortably zip it again (not bad for a garment purchased in my sophomore year of high school). We brought it with us against the little voice in my head which said, “The only place you are likely to wear it is in Seattle, and are you going to want to wear it with the potential for rain?”

And now it was missing. I was not pleased. My last recollection of seeing it at the Columbus airport as I placed it inside a suitcase so I did not have to wear it or stuff it in an overhead bin for the flights.

Tracey wondered if it was left at Yvette’s... I wondered if it was now in the possession of someone who had searched our bags for contraband and decided that we’d never miss it. I emailed Yvette and headed out for the day in a generally sour mood. Digital cameras are replaceable, The Jacket is not.

We were barely out the door and around the corner when Yvette emailed back that yes it was there. God bless the Treo, which gave us the immediate relief of knowing it was not lost. Sour mood removed, happiness restored.

We arrived at the zoo with nary a wrong turn (thank you AAA Driving Directions, as opposed to Mapblast which generally stinketh), the day was bright and the week was starting off on the right foot.

Stepping out of the car I made sure that I had the camera, the cell phone, the diaper bag, the spare batteries, and my wallet.

Well, 4 out of 5 isn’t bad... usually.... except that the 5th item was, in this case, the most important. We had yet to purchase the above-mentioned CityPass, and since Tracey still did not have a replacement wallet, she did not have her replacement Discover Card with her.

Meaning that we had to drive all the way back to the house (about 20/25 minutes).

Before we could do so, however, I had to take a little time to myself until I was, as my mother used to put it, “ready to be around people.” I was starting to feel like a modern day Sisyphus, condemned to drive around in a car without getting anywhere, and wondering who I had been or what I had done in a previous life to deserve this.

The really unfair thing is that Tracey was probably some very kindly person in her previous live but has the misfortune of being tangled in my web of kharmic rebalancing in this life.

(By the way, since this is writing for the public and given the law of averages, it is certain that someone will read the above and think that I actually believe in some of that, which I really don’t, except at some brief moments where it is a good way to blow off steam at whatever situation has come up. Like mom always said, if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re probably missing the joke.)

So the net result of forgetting my wallet was that by the time we got back to the house it was too late to go to the zoo, because the harbor cruise (which we also wanted to do on Monday since it was good weather). I was very unhappy about potentially mucking up our only day to see the zoo, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it by that point.

The rest of the day went much better, so I’m going to post about that separately.