I got pissed in Vancouver.

While there's nothing off-the-wall or even remarkable about this, it does show that I have finally started to love this place.

My first time here, I admit I was a bit disappointed. I expected another Toronto, a city so full of life you can just feel its energy just by walking
down the street. On Vancouver's streets, about the only thing I felt was pressure from people asking for money. I passed not outdoor cafes
bathed in sunshine, but tall buildings and crowds.

Eventually, though, Vancouver began to wear down my resistance. It's tough to stay mad at a place too long where the people are so great and
the beer is so tasty.

The real turnaround began when I began to discover its really cool bars, like The Jolly Taxpayer. It's an authentic English pub with wood tables,
leather chairs and a bookcase for a wall. It's exactly the kind of place I had unsuccessfully searched for in London with Lorraine "That's it!"
I exclaimed when I walked in, although Lorraine was not around to hear my words. (Read about The Bartender in London by clicking on
the link at left.)

So, I headed to Vancouver and Seattle with great anticipation for an eight-day trip in the Pacific Northwest. I started at the Taxpayer, but the
real fun turned out to be down the street at a rustic and friendly sports bar called Malone's. I went seeking only a pint or two but wound up
having a quite a few of them, plus dinner, plus a few more pints. I met a fellow alumnus from the University of Alabama - the odds of which
I cannot calculate - and some rowdy locals who insisted I join up with them. By this time, I had turned from ordering pints to pitchers.

I'm sure it took hours, but it seemed like only minutes, for it to reach closing time (for the bar as well as my body). I didn't fully recover until late
the next afternoon. It took a solid meal and couple of hours admiring the views from Stanley Park to bring my senses back to life.

That evening, in a more mellow frame of mind, I visited my bartender friend Oran at The Element Sound Lounge. This is an upscale yet friendly
dance club. I also rediscovered the raucous Fred's Downtown Tavern. This place really goes off. It combines a pub attitude with the
energy of a club. It's located on Granville Street just below the much more snooty Fred's Uptown Tavern). Fred may not be there in
Toronto, but he's sure rocking in Vancouver (inside humor for Torontonians). Had I known about a crazy pub called Carlos & Bud's at the
time, I would have gone there, too. It's located in an old Shell gas station and the staff asks that you holler at them to get their attention for
another round.

I finished the night at an after-hours party. Oran had given me an address, which turned out to be in the back of a pizza joint on the other side of
town. It was interesting, but VERY local. Not knowing anybody (Oran had gone home to his wife) didn't make it worth staying for much
more than an hour.

The next day, I was off to Seattle. I was going there to get my toes wet (so to speak) we can eventually add the city to our PubClub
destinations. With Portland and Vancouver already on the site, we would have the entire Pacific Northwest covered.

I never bothered checking a map for the drive down, so I was anticipating a leisurely Sunday afternoon three-hour trip on some oceanside road
with breathtaking views of a rocky coastline. Yet this was not the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It was a rural highway to the
border that led to stalled traffic waiting to clear customs. This was ridiculous. It's not this bad at the San Diego border coming back from
Mexico. I went through the entire Leonard Skynard "Pronounced" CD waiting to get through - and it contains "Free Bird!"

Four hours later, I arrived in the Emerald City and it was sparkling. It's a fairly new place to me, and this is about all I know about it (besides
Pike Place Market and the Space Needle, of course):
• When the sun it out, Seattle is one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S.
• Seattle goes through more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the country. It's the same reason why L.A leads the nation in umbrella
sales.

• While it's often wet here, Atlanta actually receives more annual rainfall. That's because the rain is a mist or light drizzle.
• Belltown is where the young and single play. During an overnight visit a few years back, Belltown Billiards was the top pickup place in town.
• Kurt Kobain started a grunge movement and there's a lot of drugs here.
• Ducky's Furniture, one of the city's most recognizable landmarks, is owned by the brother of a friend.
• The Seahawks drafted former Alabama running back Shaun Alexander to eventually replace Ricky Watters (go Shaun!).

Now, after my visit, here is now know about Seattle:
• Weather permitting, Seattle is an excellent walking city.
• That misting stuff is all PR. For two days, it poured and I got soaked (granted, the media reported it was record rainfall for August).
• Drugs are more prevalent than I had imagined. I passed two deals going down on an otherwise pristine street in broad daylight.
• Despite the drugs, walking in the downtown area is perfectly safe, even at night. Seattle prides itself on tourist dollars and goes to great
lengths to protect its visitors.
• This is a young city, having only been founded in the mid-1800s. It's had several nicknames in that time, though I'm still unclear on why it's now
the Emerald City.
• Belltown Billiards is STILL the top pickup spot in town.

Belltown is is one of the Emerald City's shining jewels - especially on nice days.

There's more, of course, but those are the statistical highlights. From a personal perspective, I like Belltown. It's clean, attractive, has dozens of
restaurants and good bars. Biff Winderbaum, Ducky's owner, suggested I try a place called the Flying Fish for dinner. It's the best
restaurant in this part of town; several of the city's pro athletes eat here. Now, I don't mean to imply that this place is popular, but I arrived
at 9 and was told there would be a 45-minute wait for a table. This was on a Monday.

Fortunately, a spot opened up at the bar. This is where I encountered Carter, a bartender who all but ignored me, yet went well out of his way to
introduce himself to every girl that passed into view. "Hi, I'm Carter," he would proudly announce while ignoring my empty wine glass
(which I kept slowly pushing closer toward his side of the bar). Turns out Carter's not such a bad guy. He spent six months working in
Mexico City, an interesting spot for a guy from Seattle to settle, if only temporarily.

The other bartender, the one who originally took my order of grilled salmon and chardonnay, was now on the other side of the bar, having
turned in his apron to meet up with a girl named Del Rey.

Del Rey proved to be interesting character. She's one of those agonizingly attractive women, the type who is pretty enough to make you want
to be around but whose mood changes with each flicker of the candle. This was playing havoc with the bartender's plans.

Eventually, my attention was directed to a new seat neighbor. He happened to be from my home state of Tennessee. Now, what are the odds
of running into someone from the University of Alabama and the state of Tennessee in two different Pacific Northwest cities in the span of
three days? Maybe I should have been in Vegas.

My last night in town was a Wednesday. A friend of a friend had e-mailed, inquiring if I would be interested in meeting out for a drink. After
contemplating this in about the length of time it took me to read the question, I suggested Belltown. She said sure, though there was a
catch. She lived outside the city and would have to ride a ferry for an hour to get to there.

To me, this seemed an incredibly inconvenient situation, even a bit outlandish. But I guess it's no big deal in Seattle, for she did it without
hesitation. Cari's her name, and she met me at Belltown Billiards. When I went there at about 9, the place was lively. By the time she
arrived at 10:30, it was out of control. We soon evacuated to Axis, a martini bar across the street.

Cari's a world traveler and likes remote places like India (as opposed to The Bartender, who prefers party spots like Mykonos).It was
interesting to compare travel notes, to hear a different perspective about what makes travel so diverse and wonderful.

It was an interesting evening, in fact, a perfect conclusion to a great eight days.

The Bartender can be reached at bartender@pubclub.com