Law, Partially

Highlights of Seattle include the Thompson hotel and Sushi Kashiba. Highlights do not include the Pike Place Market. The Pike Place Market is definitely big, but I'd call it a better tourist trap than a market. Most of the market's multiple levels are given over to stores selling arts and crafts and knick knacks. Christine bought some used books. It's funny that the market is famous for fish because we only saw two stalls selling fish. There were a few other food stalls as well, but this is not really a fresh food market. It used to be. Just nearby Pike Place Market is the Thompson Seattle. Christine and I are fans of Thompson hotels, and we've stayed in Thompsons in several cities. Each hotel is uniquely designed to take into account unique elements of the location. I liked the Seattle craft beer stocked in the minibar. The rooftop bar offered a great view of Puget Sound. On top of the Thompson Seattle But we also needed to eat, not just drink. When yo...

Continuing our comparative American and French wine journey, we traveled to the Walla Walla Valley AVA, famous for grapes grown in Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) and the Rhône Valley (Syrah). In particular, we wanted to visit L'Ecole No. 41 , my dad's favorite winery. His cellar is still well-stocked with their wines (and I'm drinking and restocking). Tasting the wines and talking to the winemakers at L'Ecole was a transcendent experience as we remembered my dad and what he liked so much about this place and these wines. The L'Ecole No. 41 Tasting Room. It's actually a repurposed old school building (hence the name, L'Ecole, French for the school). The Walla Walla Valley features some unique geography, which is how we get this wine region tucked away like this so far from the famous coastal regions. Found in southeastern Washington and spilling over into northern Oregon, the valley is like a dry lake bed with ridges, hills, and mountain...

Christine and I love wine because of how the drink is so wrapped up with the place and time, and we travel because we are interested in time and place . Pinot Noir is one grape variety that can be experienced on an axis stretching from New Zealand, to northern California, to northwestern Oregon, to Burgundy, France. Pinot Noir is also the varietal that Paul Giamatti famously lusted over in Sideways because of its mercurial nature . The Willamette River flows in northwestern Oregon between the Oregon Coastal Range and the Cascades. Along the hills of the western bank are vineyards famous for their Pinot Noir grapes. Thousands of miles away, Burgundy, France, is the spiritual home of Pinot Noir, where monks grew grapes for centuries. The monks discovered where the  terroir  (i.e., combination of soil, slope, sunlight, and climate) was optimal for Pinot. The methods and organization of Burgundy wine making and marketing are constrained by these centuries of traditions. Findin...

Portland is famous as the city where the dream of the 90s is still alive: a city where young people go to retire, working in coffee shops and restaurants, forming bands, wearing flannel, and generally just foregoing professional ambition (see music video below). While this city probably generally exists, Christine and I went to the established, easily-accessible, sell-out neighborhoods, stocked with fresh food ingredients, creative recipes, craft beverages, Pinot Noir, coffee, theaters, and higher prices. This urban living trend made Portland famous, but since then, it appears to me that many cities across the country are following Portland down a similar path of quality of life renaissance. Willamette running wide and deep through Portland. The Willamette flows from south to north, through the heart of Portland, and upriver is the Willamette River American Viticultural Area (AVA), famous for Pinot Noir. Before heading up the Willamette Valley, we explored Portland. We stayed i...

Christine and I headed to the northwest in search of Pinot Noir and Bordeaux-style blends. American explorers headed to the northwest in the nineteenth century in search of gold, timber, and animal pelts. Neither of us contracted dysentery on the Oregon trail, but we did lose a fortune (and in exchange gained some excellent food and drink and many, many bottles of wine, most of which will be delivered in the future). Here's the itinerary: May 3: explore Portland, live the dream of the 90s; May 4: search for Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley; May 5: drive up the Columbia Valley, stop to see a fish ladder, head to Walla Walla, Washington, participate in a comparative single vineyard tasting of Bordeaux blends at L'Ecole No. 41 ; May 6: wine tasting in Walla Walla wine country; May 7: drive to Seattle, stopping at Mt. Rainier on the way; May 8: explore Seattle; and May 9: explore Seattle and then head back to Cedar Rapids. Earlier voyagers to the northwest from the...