The time had come to leave Lion’s Den and head to Seattle. Dave arrived at around 8:30 am and we stopped by the famous Mazama Bakery before leaving town. Along for the ride were two other hikers, Sweet Potato and Showers. The four of us drove for 3.5 hours to Seattle.

When we got to Seattle, Dave wouldn’t take any gas money from us, so we insisted on taking him out for lunch instead. We went to an Indian Restaurant on 2^nd Ave and had a great meal there.

After lunch, Goldfish and Veggie arrived in town, they’d organised an Air BNB in the city so we met them there. The apartment was in a good spot and we had good walking access to the whole city.

The others were tired from traveling, but I had plenty of energy and wanted to explore. I’d also noticed while walking around Seattle, for the first time, we truly looked out of place. This far from trail, and especially without packs, we didn’t look like hikers, we looked like vagrants.

My first stop was Goodwill, a secondhand clothing store which should help my town clothing situation. The store was on the other side of the city, which gave me a good route to explore the city with some purpose.

Once I had some passable town clothes, I headed back to the Air BNB, but wanted to stop for a drink along the way. A place called Pine Box caught my eye, they operate from within an old funeral home. Inside they have a strong punk vibe, reminiscent of Mary’s Burgers in Sydney.

I made it back to the Air BNB quite late, everyone was already asleep by then. I’d had a brief introduction to Seattle, and a taste of the kind of life I will be having to readjust to. I went to sleep, warm, dry, and with a roof over my head, all of which was very strange and unusual.