Day: August 20, 2021

We stopped in Seattle and had lunch with our friend Hafidha (and took no pictures) and then checked in at Anderson School. I basically collapsed at that point. We discovered that the movie 10 Things I Hate About You was on Disney+ so I watched that and marveled at the fact I was just standing in the exact same place while Matt played Pathfinder.

We spent Saturday taking a few walks, eating, and generally lounging. I was so tired I couldn’t concentrate on any books, so I went and bought my old plane companion Variety Puzzles and worked on them.

This is a working high school! It was built as a luxury hotel and then converted to a high school when the hotel went bust, and it remains a high school today. You can see why it stood in for the fictional Padua High School. It looks so fancy.

Here we are with a timer photo.

Look at the view!

Look at the stadium! The field is also featured prominently in the film.

This was not far from the Elks Temple, and I recommend taking the walk if you have the time.

I took a few photos of the property before breakfast.

I love the round window and the Monkey Puzzle tree. Those trees take a very long time to grow.

The Spanish Steps are gorgeous. One of my coworkers lives in Tacoma, and when I mentioned I’d recently visited, she said that she had her engagement photos taken on the Spanish Steps 20 years ago.

Little bit of cat art sneaking in.

Because the building was empty for a long time before McMenamins took over, there was a ton of graffiti. Because of that legacy, there is a goodly amount of graffiti art throughout the building. Here’s what one floor looked like before restoration.

Here’s that same floor now. You can see the doorway in the back right of the above picture.

And a picture of one of the artists working on that same lintel.

Our empty ring boxes, the ironing board and iron we somewhat successfully used, and the masks Matt brought along to avoid COVID.

Breakfast, this time with rings.