It isn't raining here (yet)

Seattle isn't exactly what you'd call a city that never sleeps -- more like a city that lightly slumbers for a few hours. At least that's what I've observed from my 12th-floor window early each morning.

My bladder has been waking me up each day around 5 a.m. Apparently my body doesn't believe in the Pacific Time Zone.

Nicole and I definitely picked a great town for our fifth anniversary trip. Not only are we in a place brand new to us, we are getting an experience completely foreign to our day-to-day life in small town Indiana.

I'm not sure the last time I went a week without driving, but that's what's happening this week. We are walking around downtown and it's liberating.

I saw some poor sap looking for a parking space yesterday and I was so happy when a few lines from an old Jerry Reed song popped into my head.

If the Lord that made the moon and stars
Would have meant for me and you to have cars
He'd have seen that we's all born with a parking space.

Besides all that, hotel parking is $45(!) a day. "Lord, Mr. Ford" indeed.

As for the city itself, so far I can't tell you much about the iconic sights we've all seen on TV and movies. We went to Pike Place Market on Monday, but no one was throwing fish. We will be going back.

The Space Needle is set for Tuesday, provided it's clear enough to be worthwhile. They call this The Rain City, but fog seems to be more prominent.

Seattle actually only gets about 35 inches of rain each year, which is nothing compared to the Midwest. The difference is that between November and May, it may drizzle almost every day. All those drizzles never add up to too much total precipitation, though.

We've also stumbled into the good fortune of being in Jimi Hendrix's birthplace on his 70th birthday. I'm not sure if that means anything, but I hope we get to celebrate in some way.

That's about all for now from the Left Coast.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.