Before I left for the summer, I sold my car. Genius! I thought. I planned to be gone for over a year, the car was starting to get old and maintenance would be around a corner, and I could round up a few thousand more dollars to make my Greek odyssey and tropical asian travels that much grander. And it was easy - the first person to respond to my post offered to give me what I wanted, so voila, my car was gone. Now I am at home with an ORCA card and a very limited knowledge of the Seattle public transportation. However, no complaints in that department. Public transportation here is extraordinarily clean (I have yet to smell one bad smell either waiting for a bus or riding a bus), and timely. And it certainly makes life a little more unpredictable every time I walk out of the house.

When I first came home, I was putting my sleepy unemployment mornings to good use and reading the Seattle Times. It mentioned sunflowers ten feet tall in front of the Downtowner Hotel on 4th Street. Mmmm, I like sunflowers! Finding these was my first trip into Seattle on the bus, and it also became the first time I started looking at my hometown as a place just as interesting and full of hidden secrets as any international city. Sure, these sunflowers are a relatively simple thing, but they were pretty majestic. There is also something exciting knowing the city holds something you want to see, but not knowing exactly where it is, how to get there, or what it will be like when you get there. The trip really did remind me of trying to find Paradise Beach in Mykonos, the China Tea Museum in Hangzhou, or the horrendously long day walking around Buckingham Palace. Just because I am home does not mean the discoveries have to end.


Side note on riding the bus in King County: It has appeared that people do not like sitting next to me. I have yet to figure out if this is because some of the seats on the bus are better than others, and my neighbors switch to these coveted spots, or if it is because I have a grumpy grimace (I don't think this is the case, but I am open to possibilities), or if it is because I somehow command more than my alloted space. One time I was digging in my purse and my elbow became highly invasive to the man next to me. Except for that time, I'm not sure what's going on. Solving this is going to be next week's research activity.