Joshua Goes to Seattle Chapter 1, Where Joshua Sleeps and Drinks in Various Places

If you ever forget your drivers license, you can still get onto a plane without it. With an expired passport, apologetic smile and a charming personality, I was able to board my flight to the northwest. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I was able to fly for free, albeit with a convoluted tour of every time zone in the United States. I left NOLA for Atlanta, departed Atlanta for Salt Lake City and fled Salt Lake City for Seattle.

The best money spent? $50 for some decent earphones for my ipod. The 4 hour flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake had lots of kids and other undesirables I was forced to travel with. With the dulcet tones of Flogging Molly, Morphine and Every Time I Die, slumber was easily found. Runner up on expenditures? The Beam and coke in the Salt Lake airport. It's my traditional Fall saturday tailgate drink and it was the first one of the season, in Mormon land no less. Sweet, sweet booze. Worst expenditure? The damned cab ride from Sea-Tac to the Queen Anne district downtown.

The Queen Anne district is a charming neighborhood that boasted a remarkable landmark, the hotel containing my bed. Oh, and the Space Needle was there as well. Also present were LSU fans on every block, like repeatedly spawning characters in a Grand Theft Auto Seattle landscape, as was a nice Irish pub who offered the usual succulent brews and comestibles. Not present were women who cared one iota for their appearance. I was saddened and offer that as the reason I returned to the hotel and fell asleep till midnight, when a partner in crime arrived.

My partner in crime is a terrifically intelligent fellow who also managed to leave his wallet in the cab. One Beam and RC made for travel later and it was tally ho for the airport to get the wallet. Upon our 1:30am return to our stomping grounds to meet other accomplices, we found that despite the 2am closing time we were not to be admitted to any bar as they were done serving at 1:30am. This completely mystified everyone from Louisiana.

So our merry band returned to the hotel. Drinking and planning ensued. Followed quickly like the restless sleep of a child on Christmas Eve.