August 19…. Not a good idea

Today we went to Seattle. I had a plan. I researched transportation options. Parking. Where to go, what to see. Until it all came apart.

Easy drive from Gig Harbor up to Bremerton where we caught the car ferry for a beautiful ride to the city.

Drove off the ferry into a nightmare. 😱

Seattle streets are not a place my big ol’ truck needs to be. Small, narrow, lanes that suddenly disappeared and reappeared, or turned into “bus only” lanes, turns and curves and hills. Maneuverability is never a description to be used about my truck on the best of days, and Seattle certainly put it to the test.

We made it to the parking lot I was headed for, pulled in off the street, and immediately bonked the roof of the truck on the hanging bar giving the garage clearance. 😢 It “said” 6’8” on it, but that was a lie. My truck isn’t that tall. Right? Is it? 😳

After blindly easing out backwards across an active sidewalk into a busy street, we took off in search of another place to park. Found one, but it was full, and that set us off on our odyssey across downtown Seattle.

Arriving in the vicinity of the Space Needle, we landed in a very sketchy looking parking lot. Trash, broken buildings where the attendant used to be, the lot is now automated. I used the machine and was told 6 hours would be $65, and up to 10 hours for $80. Uhhh, no thanks.

Did some more google searching, and found an alternate lot kinda nearby, and best part, the pictures of the entry showed 12 ft clearance! AND, all day parking was only $27!! Score!

Off we went, back through those tiny ever-changing streets to our new target. Sure enough, 12ft clearance, we turned off the street and immediately went DOWN a very steep and very narrow entry drive to the underground garage, where right at the ticket machine, the hanging clearance bar said…. 6’8”😳

Oh crap, now what, I can’t back all the way up that crazy downhill tunnel! So again, I said “there’s no way my truck is that tall” and forward we rolled, clearing that bar by a narrow margin. See? I knew it all along, that first one lied.

Only now, we are in this deep dark cave, searching for a place to park. And this was no ordinary garage. No nice even rows, cars were parked every which way. Sticking out into what should have been the lanes. Super tight turns, with huge concrete pillars, I had to back up multiple times just to get around in there.

By now, Susy and I are both nervous wrecks, and we still haven’t even found a place to park. Too much stress, we decided to call it quits, get the heck out of there and go home.

Our first foray into the biggest city we’ve seen on our trip was an epic bust. Let’s make some better plans and try again tomorrow.