(350/366) Little Green Balls of Death

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December 15, 2012 – I hated Brussels Sprouts as a kid. And I hate them as an adult. So this sign was about right! They say that different people have different genes that affect how you taste Brussels Sprouts. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I know Mom loved them, and I couldn’t stand them.

We woke up at our usual time (stupid early) and decided to get moving and head for Seattle for the day to spend a couple of hours at the motorcycle show. We usually take the train down and spend the night, but Milo is on daily meds and we didn’t fee we could ask our critter sitter if she could look after him, particularly in light of how she stepped in when we had to unexpectedly leave for Prince George last month for so long.

So we drove down, three hours, beat the train by an hour and a half. I had four goals in going down. #1. Stop in Blaine to pick up a parcel. #2. Hopefully see and make the final decision on the bike I have been considering for the past year. #3. Find an iPhone case at AllSaints. #4. Stop in at the Washington University Store and buy some cheese.

First stop was the Motorcycle Show and right through the door was the bike in question.

Last year it came in grey/black and green/black. I liked the green and figured that would be the way I would go. This year the green/black is back, though the colour scheme is reversed. But they came out with a pearl white/black that looks even better in real life than it does in the promo photos. It was almost a done deal until we started to check out the mounting system for the hard cases. It is a ‘permanent’ mount system and looks absolutely hideous when the bags are off the bike. A major part of the appeal of the sportbikes to me is the aesthetics and when you look at a sportbike with tubular metal baggage mounts, it destroys the aesthetics. And I don’t want to ride a bike with bags all the time.

The rep suggested aftermarket mounts might be available so we found ourselves over at Twisted Throttle discussing systems. The rep was great and even came over to look at the bike and the bags before taking us back to his booth to discuss options. They have a system that comes off in seconds and leaves very little on the bike. Looks like we have a winner.

The only decision left to make is green or white, but I’m leaning heavily to white. I had to laugh though, my gear is all white and black and usually people buy gear to match the bike, not the other way around 🙂

We poked around a bit more and looked over a trailer that we’d been looking at last year. Really neat system that folds up and is easy to store in a garage. Something to think about. We wandered through the custom bikes – can’t say I really like any, but definitely appreciate the passionate efforts that people put into them. There are always tacky bits though. Like the rear foot pegs on this one.

After that we stopped in for a fabulous lunch of Dungeness Mac & Cheese and corn chowder at the Taphouse Grill before wandering the streets and visiting our favourite shops along Pike and Pine streets – Sur la Table, Fluevogs, the Dr. Marten’s Store, the Washington State Connections Store (to buy Cougar Gold Cheese FABULOUS cheese!!!), and Silverworks Jewellery. At the jewellery store I chose a pretty pair of dangly silver earrings with green stones, from Bali. Kirk was buying a ring and when he went up to the cashier she held up the earrings and I waved “yes, they are for me” at him, so he paid and we left. I asked if the earrings had been on sale because the price I’d seen was $45 but they had rung in as $32. He said “probably” and we didn’t think anything more of it.

We had a wander through Pike Place Market (always love the crafts, the fabulous foods, the fishmongers, etc), before heading back towards the Convention Centre to retrieve the truck and head home.

One last stop in two stores I love to poke around in, but rarely buy anything – AllSaints Spitafields, and Anthropologie. AllSaints has the neatest decor, sewing machines everywhere.

And as we were walking back up the street towards the parkade, Santa’s were coming out of the woodwork. It was SantaCon again. We also passed a fellow and about 40 feet on I realized we sort of knew him. He was a fellow we’d met through BCSportbikes a couple of times, both up in Squamish and at the Toy Ride. It’s always surprising to see a familiar face in a different city.

One amusing thing on the way home. As we were driving along I pulled out the earrings and slipped them into my ears int he dark of the vehicle. I felt them and something didn’t seem right. The earrings I’d chosen had two stones in silver connected by a tiny loop. These didn’t have a second tier to them. I pulled the earring out of my hole and turned on a light. I was holding a lovely pair of silver earrings with teardrop shaped blue topaz coloured stones. Very pretty, but not what I’d intended to buy. I feel badly if someone else had chosen them and went to the till to discover they had been sold. Not much to do about it at that point though, we were halfway home. So I have a new pair of silver earrings with blue stones from Bali now instead of ones with green stones.

It was a successful day (except for the earrings) and we accomplished everything we set out to do down there, and in a reasonable amount of time. It was a quick trip, and we saw snow on the way in both directions, nothing of any amount, but it was a reminder that we are into the season where the white stuff could fly, and if it does, it will make me smile.