Diner Food

RantWoman has been collecting light rail adventures. Upon idiosyncratic consideration, she thinks she may write them up individually, and not necessarily in the order they occurred.

There have been many upheavals at the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing; RantWoman actually hopes they will unfold with many new opportunities and old connections, but today they were just unfolding in excellent Baptism by Fire mode. Traveling Buddy came today on one mission she was unable to accomplish but she and RantWoman watched in curiosity, amazement, amusement as other events swirled about. After hours of such exhausting labor, Traveling Buddy and RantWoman had the brilliant idea to go for Diner Food!

Well, is it diner food if one's veggie scramble from the breakfast all day menu comes with avocado slices on top? Never mind: RantWoman found herself surprisingly hungry and made short work of pancakes, hashbrowns... and veggie scramble with avocado on top. But RantWoman is getting ahead of herself.

A quick poke at the interwebs revealed one national chain supposedly with a restaurant near the SODO Light Rail station, just the perfect destination during one of Seattle's rush hour monsoons. Except for the weather and the general ambiance of large motorized things--buses, trains, light rail, semi trucks and tractor trailers--rumbling loudly in those parts, the trip there was basically uneventful. Knowing of Traveling Buddy's many thrills and spills travelling in her large wheelchair on uneven terrain or any kind of terrain with much grade, RantWoman found herself appreciating the fact that, although it seems like a hike from the middle of the train platform to Lander St, the entire route to our destination diner was basically flat and even except for one driveway.
Despite indications on the internet, the destination diner turned out no longer to have the national chain's name attached. It also was nearly empty with the sort of attentive but slightly sketchy waiters that, if RantWoman wanted to think very hard about the question, might cause her to wonder how the place keeps its doors open. As diner food goes though, the menu definitely hit the spot. RantWoman will not need to eat anything involving cholesterol for days, but the lingering hints of peppers, onions, mushrooms are still making her smile.

By the time we had dined to delightful satiation, it had quit raining. RantWoman and Traveling Buddy assessed our transit priorities and both opted to ride the Light Rail downtown, Traveling Buddy to catch her bus out of the tunnel and RantWoman to stand around a bit, let her supper settle a bit and catch a bus that goes straight to her back door.

RantWoman thinks this is the first time she has been at the SODO station when it is dark enough to appreciate the GIGANTIC red letters spelling out SODO along the top of the building that houses the post office. The sign is striking in its own right and really the perfect scale for everything else that is so outsized and rumbly coming and going from that station. SODO definitely ranks low on RantWoman's list of places she might hang out at, but she finds herself singularly appreciative of the scale of what is there.

Next stop...University Station. Travelling Buddy showed RantWoman how she and RantMom had walked right past the entrance to the tunnel inside Benaroya Hall. RantWoman laughed for a good ten minutes as soon as she figured it out; look out late night light rail!

RantWoman admits her ride the bus decision was eccentric in the extreme. The direct to RantWoman's back door route is consistently replete with colorful characters willing to cram themselves surprisingly tightly onto trolley buses. RantWoman could perfectly well have gotten onto the Light Rail, and gone pleasantly home to walk off at least some of her repast on the rest of the way home. Instead she knowingly, willfully waited on the street, doing some of her library of bus stretches to keep middle-aged twinges at bay in order explicitly not to have to walk a step further than necessary. Oh Well!