Seattle

Seattle

What I know about Seattle could fill a thimble. It is a very large city in a picturesque location near lots of water. It has a temperate, albeit rainy, climate that allows lots of green trees and blooming flowers. It has major businesses, Boeing, Micro Soft It has three professional sport teams, the Mariners, the Sea Hawks, and the Sounders. It also has traffic that would scare a Californian.

So we went there today. Why? It does have a major airport, SeaTac and my sister was departing back to Minnesota. So the plan was to go early, do some shopping, and drop her and her husband off at a hotel near the airport. So we did, we did, and we did. Shopping was at Pike Place Market near the waterfront in downtown. A great experience! The place contained fresh fish,potato chips cooked on the spot, small craft vendors, street performers, lots and lots of beautiful fresh cut flowers and hundreds of people enjoying the place with us.

The only “fly in the ointment” was the parking. Lots of cars, not much parking. We got there fairly early and found a lot with several spaces available. What we didn’t know is method of payment for the spot. I assumed that the self-service pay station out front was the one for the lot. After putting in my credit card and printing a sticker to put in the window, I realized that it was for parking on the street. Seattle does not use parking tickets. Instead these stickers are purchased and stuck to the inside of the window to prevent a parking ticket. Well that sticker will not provide you with parking time at a lot. It is a self-service booth is located over in the corner of the parking lot away from the other booth. So I was offered the opportunity to donate money to the city of Seattle as well as the lot owner by buying both stickers.

I felt really stupid when I figured out what transpired. Then I felt angry because the situation is one that preys on visitors. Locals and frequent visitors would know about the situatuion, but tourists would not realize it until it was too late. When we were done shopping and returned to the lot, another individual had just done the same thing. I walked over to him and informed him of the situation. He felt as happy about it as I had been. He came to the conclusion that we had gotten ripped off just a little. Because he now belonged to my club, I offered him my parking sticker and the 45 minutes remaining on it and we left.