Last century in Seattle

I made my first visit to Seattle in 1999. I stayed with Michael, a friend originally from Sydney, and his partner, Anthony. Michael had recently relocated to take on a bigger role with Microsoft at its headquarters in Seattle. I flew into San Francisco early on the morning of Friday, 9 April, cleared immigration and transferred onto a shuttle flight heading north.

I spent a week with the boys. They were gracious hosts, arranging regular excursions to experience all Seattle’s popular attractions. Anthony wasn’t working at the time, so he was a chauffeur and tour guide whenever Michael was at work. Although Michael took me onto the Microsoft campus one day to give me a taste of Silicon Valley life.

As a seasoned technology public relations consultant and former industry analyst, I certainly wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to visit the headquarters of one of the world’s most formidable tech giants. Michael took me through the Microsoft museum on campus. This was rather special as the building wasn’t open to the public. You needed a security pass to access it.

I vividly remember seeing a Radio Shack TRS-80 personal computer on display. Launched in 1977, it was one of the earliest mass-produced and mass-marketed retail home computers. It was also the same device on which I’d learned to code in BASIC in 1984. At the time, I was an exchange student studying at Syracuse, in upstate New York. My high school had a computer lab set up with dozens of these pioneering desktop computers.

I signed up for a Computer Studies elective and spent a semester creating some nifty applications. This includes programming a multiple-choice quiz about my home nation, New Zealand, and its culture. The program also featured a map of New Zealand built using highlighted pixel blocks. According to Wikipedia, the TRS-80 was the bestselling PC line until 1982, outselling the Apple II by a factor of five. It’s hard to believe this simple machine was once leading-edge technology.

Anthony also helped me get my geek on. We took a day trip up to the Boeing factory in Everett, a satellite city 40km north of Seattle. We booked ourselves onto a factory tour that took us through this massive complex. The factory is the world’s largest building by volume, covering 98 acres. Its ceiling stands 32 metres above the floor, and six hangar doors that are more than 100 metres wide. It contains six separate production lines with commercial aircraft standing nose-to-tail in various stages of assembly. You know a building is huge when it’s housing rows of Jumbo Jets but doesn’t feel claustrophobic.

Anthony and I somehow missed the start of the tour. We’d been exploring the Boeing Museum attached to the visitor’s centre and missed the guide calling everyone onto the tour bus. However, a staff member took pity on us and took on a golf cart to catch up with the rest of the group. The fastest way there was across the factory floor.  As a result, we got an unscheduled, close-up, ground-floor view of the assembly line in action. It was awesome.

On Monday, 12 April, Michael and Anthony bought tickets to see the Seattle Thunderbirds, a local team in the junior ice hockey league. The game was played at KeyArena, but to my surprise, it wasn't well attended. Most of the stadium was empty. At best, the attendance was barely 4,000. The Thunderbirds ultimately lost 4-0 to the TriCity Americans, another Washington State team. I still have the souvenir hockey puck I bought after the game.

Fun fact time. The stadium sits in the original 1962 World's Fair grounds, home to the city’s iconic Space Needle. The needle made for a memorable sight as we walked from the car park to the stadium. I can’t recall if we ever ventured up the tower during my time in Seattle.

One day, Anthony took it upon himself to anoint me as his personal shopper. We hit the stores and spend the day shopping for a whole new wardrobe for me. I eventually came home with a second suitcase filled to the brim. Michael wasn’t impressed; He later commented that his partner enjoyed spending other people’s money a little too much.

One afternoon, Anthony took me for a trip into the mountains east of Seattle, where the winter snow was still deep on the ground. I vividly recall driving on roads at the base of the ski fields that had been cleared by cutting deeply through the snowbanks. In places, the walls lining the road were three or four metres high. It was more like driving through a tarsealed canyon with vertical white walls.

I also made an impromptu visit to Tacoma Air Force Base, approximately an hour south of Seattle.  I met an armed serviceman from the Deep South at a nightclub.  He invited me back to visit the base. This was years before 9/11, as the security guards on duty at the base's entrance waved us through after a cursory check of my companion's military ID. I wasn't asked for any ID at all. How times have changed!

Towards the end of the week, Michael took me on a road trip to see some of Seattle’s iconic landmarks, including Lake Washington, Lake Union and the locks of the Shipping Canal that links the city’s lakes to Puget Sound. The locks also feature a nifty fish ladder that helps spawning salmon make their way upstream. 

At one point, we stopped for coffee at Pike Place Market, the city’s bustling produce and craft market located on a hillside along the shores of Puget Sound. Although if truth be told, our itinerary with plenty of outdoor venues was partially an excuse to take Bondi, Michael’s large Malamute dog, for his daily walk.

After an eventful week in Seattle, I packed my bags and flew back to San Francisco for my first-ever visit to the picturesque Bay Area. I share more about this experience in another retrospective post. Garry and I returned to Seattle for my second and last visit in 2012.