Compared to yesterday, we were off to a whiz-bang start on Sunday morning. Nick was up at 4am. Mack and I got up at 6:30 - watched a little cartoons in bed - Mack brought us cereal how cute is that?! Around seven, the sun was coming up over the mountains and I was itching to get outside. Mack and I worked in the yard for a little bit - each of us with our respective hot chocolate and cappuccino :) It turned a little chilly and Mack told me was ready to go inside for some soup! Of course, because everyone wants “curly noodle” (AKA Progresso’s Chicken Noodle) soup at 8:30 in the morning! After soup, we headed out on our grand adventure to pick up my dad and go to Seattle for the day. Now, I don’t need a “reason” to go to Pike Place ever. BUT, I had a secret mission for my trip and that was to go to the
Panama Hotel’s Tea Room. I just finished reading
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I really wanted to go see the place that kick started the idea for this novel. The Panama Hotel served as a storage place for several Japanese families that were sent to internment camps during WWII. That stuff was just sitting in the boarded up hotel until 1986 when the new buyer uncovered all of it. That’s more than 40 years that these things were there and no one knew, eerily - no one ever returned to claim these items either. I’m sure that most people assumed that the items had been destroyed. At any rate, the woman that bought the hotel has preserved all of those items, even going so far as to create a tea room to display several of the items in. The women, Jan, sounds like a very interesting woman based on what I read in
this article. Our first stop, however, was the Market.
After loading up on fruit rolls, raspberry bear claws, a copy of the Financial Times, and a bouquet of tulips, we were ready to head into the International District. During the time that the book takes place, there was no ID, just China Town and Nihomanchi - Japan Town. Now of course, there are Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, even Slavic and Mexican shops in the ID. Our first stop was to Uwajimaya for some staples like seeing the fish in the tanks, picking up some pocky, rice candy and wasabi peas, and looking at all the beautiful dishes. Our next stop was to Viet-Wah. This store is on the other side of the freeway from what I would call the “American-ized” ID. On this side of the freeway, nothing is in English and you had better know what it is you are looking for because there won’t be any sort of indication to help you should you get lost or confused. I’ve been to this store several times with my dad. They have an amazing pharmacy - complete with a relic of a medicine man. He sits behind the counter with apothecary drawers full of herbal supplements, resembling very much a yard waste bin. He also has a very large book in which he looks up his remedies. I can’t get enough of that. My dad has been coming here for years to get a special type of ginseng and for bee pollen “shooters.” Our final stop was to the Tea Room. When we got there, I was surprised just how packed the place was. After ordering a glass of White Peony Tea, we sat down and took in our surroundings. Turns out, the owner was there giving a tour - to about 20 people - and that’s why it was so crowded. I have to say I was a little bummed to A) not be on the tour and B) not have the place more to ourselves. This just means that I’ll need to go back. I did manage to snag a few pictures, including one of the original wall paper which is still exposed at the top half of the walls, a photo of a layout of the old Nihomanchi District, and my dad got a picture of Mack enjoying the ritual that surrounds lose leaf tea.
Back in the car, we realized we were pretty hungry and decided to head out to Alki for some lunch. Mack kept calling it dinner, which I suppose is fair given that he had breakfast at 6:30 and lunch at 8:30. No trip to Alki would be complete without a walk on the sand (even if it is drizzly and grey) and the chasing a few seagulls, ahem, pigeons.
After the long drive back home, we settled in to watch a movie and make some popcorn. Look who made popcorn all by himself!
And a majority of it landed in the bowl! All in all, it was a great day. Ready for Monday!
After loading up on fruit rolls, raspberry bear claws, a copy of the Financial Times, and a bouquet of tulips, we were ready to head into the International District. During the time that the book takes place, there was no ID, just China Town and Nihomanchi - Japan Town. Now of course, there are Vietnamese, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, even Slavic and Mexican shops in the ID. Our first stop was to Uwajimaya for some staples like seeing the fish in the tanks, picking up some pocky, rice candy and wasabi peas, and looking at all the beautiful dishes. Our next stop was to Viet-Wah. This store is on the other side of the freeway from what I would call the “American-ized” ID. On this side of the freeway, nothing is in English and you had better know what it is you are looking for because there won’t be any sort of indication to help you should you get lost or confused. I’ve been to this store several times with my dad. They have an amazing pharmacy - complete with a relic of a medicine man. He sits behind the counter with apothecary drawers full of herbal supplements, resembling very much a yard waste bin. He also has a very large book in which he looks up his remedies. I can’t get enough of that. My dad has been coming here for years to get a special type of ginseng and for bee pollen “shooters.” Our final stop was to the Tea Room. When we got there, I was surprised just how packed the place was. After ordering a glass of White Peony Tea, we sat down and took in our surroundings. Turns out, the owner was there giving a tour - to about 20 people - and that’s why it was so crowded. I have to say I was a little bummed to A) not be on the tour and B) not have the place more to ourselves. This just means that I’ll need to go back. I did manage to snag a few pictures, including one of the original wall paper which is still exposed at the top half of the walls, a photo of a layout of the old Nihomanchi District, and my dad got a picture of Mack enjoying the ritual that surrounds lose leaf tea.
Back in the car, we realized we were pretty hungry and decided to head out to Alki for some lunch. Mack kept calling it dinner, which I suppose is fair given that he had breakfast at 6:30 and lunch at 8:30. No trip to Alki would be complete without a walk on the sand (even if it is drizzly and grey) and the chasing a few seagulls, ahem, pigeons. 
After the long drive back home, we settled in to watch a movie and make some popcorn. Look who made popcorn all by himself! 
And a majority of it landed in the bowl! All in all, it was a great day. Ready for Monday!
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