August 11, 2005 Issue

It is amazing how your perspective on a variety of things can be enhanced through travel. This past week,my sons Eddie and Chatham and I began a western jaunt in Seattle that would include stays in Sandpoint and Clark Fork Idaho, Livingston, Mont., and Aspen, Colo. The week in Seattle would be spent eating and visiting friends, with some light sightseeing,prior to two weeks of trout fishing in Montana and Colorado.

Seattle is a charming, livable city that has a variety of attributes lacking in Destin.It is a city of promenades and parks; boulevards lined with trees and, at this time of year, flowers of every type and color.One evening, after a beautiful dinner at Monsoon, a classic Vietnamese restaurant owned by Eric Banh, we looked around for a taxi for a ride back to our hotel.

The restaurant is located high on a ridge overlooking Capitol Hill. Since we had a downhill start we began walking half-heartedly looking for a taxicab. Six miles later, after passing dozens of live music bars, smoothie and juice bars and coffee shops on every block, independent grocery stores that had produce sections seemingly out of a Cezanne painting, and more art galleries, book stores and alternative clothing shops, we made it back to the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.I'm not sure when I last finished a dinner in Destin and walked six miles to my home, but it couldn't have been pretty.

We must have walked 50 miles during our five-day visit. Wesaw almost no corporate chain dinner houses, or fast food joints, no strip centers, and certainly no monolithic discount factory outlet centers. Seattle is a city of trees and flowers, and pedestrians and cyclists. It is a very densely developed city with no parking problems.It is incredibly clean yet you never see anyone cleaning it. There is very little crime, and at the same time, we saw only two police officers in almost a week.

Seattle is well aware of its natural resources, and those resources are protected.It has taken years for the people in Destin to reach anything close to an agreement on protecting our single most precious resource—the beaches. Developers were reluctant to push for beach re-nourishment until it became obvious that buyers weren't interested in gulf-front property on a non-existent beach.They were faced with being a part of a more obvious con game than the old swampland scam.

Seattle is a place with a politically astute and environmentally pro-active citizenry.Everything revolves around the outdoors, from rock climbing, cycling, and kayaking, to sailing, camping, and hiking.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Craig McGraw, and Howard Schultz make their homes here. They are self-made men and vigorous philanthropists, who understand that by making their city a better place to live; everyone benefits.Microsoft was recently named the best employer in Seattle.The award was not given based on the number of jobs Microsoft creates, rather it was based on the quality of employment and environment that they promote and provide.Wal-Mart won't be challenging them for that award anytime soon.

Seattle is home to Nordstrom, North Face, Filson's, REI, Starbucks, Boeing: and is almost a second home to Ventura-based Patagonia, a company with a commitment to our environment unlike any other.

Our hosts enhanced the visit. Peter Lewis is a writer who, fortunately for us, specializes in food, wine, and travel and lives in West Seattle. Russell Chatham, America's greatest living artist from Livingston, Mont, seemed to know everything and everybody in Seattle worth knowing. Russ,who primarily paints landscapes around the Paradise Valley, has been making lithographs in Seattle for more than 20 years.

Dinner the first night was at the Chinese restaurant Sea Gardens on Seventh Avenue.Upon entering the restaurant we could see that it was aptly named.Tanks of live spot prawns and Dungeness crabs and sea bass greeted a primarily Asian clientele. The prawns were simply cooked with salt and pepper in a sizzling hot wok.They more closely resembled lobster than shrimp.The Dungeness crab was wok seared also; but with a black bean and garlic sauce that was amazing.

The Pike Place Market is a top tourist attraction but we limited our dining there to the incredible bounty of fresh fruits.Three kinds of cherries (Rainier's were the best), blackberries, raspberries, and huckleberries (in pies, ice cream, on French toast, and by themselves) made for nice snacks between meals.

The most spectacular of our dining adventures was without question, Salumi, on Third Avenue in Pioneer Square.Armandino Batali, after more than 30 years at Boeing, chose to follow in the footsteps of his son Mario. After studying in New York and Tuscany, he opened this tiny, yet overwhelming salumeria. He cures his own meat and sausage in the ways of the old world—slowly and with great care.We had three kinds of salami and four different prosciuttos made from lamb and pork—the best of which sells for $120 a pound.Breads, figs, and a platter of chanterelle mushrooms, complimented more sausages and meatballs.

Italian wines sit on the table to be consumed honor-style.You simply try to keep count of how many glasses you consume.We sat at a table for 12, the only table in the shotgun style, 8-foot wide by 100-foot long foot restaurant.After three hours of ridiculous hospitality and prodigious amounts of food, we were literally in a daze. Salumi is only open from 11 a.m. to 4 p. m. from Tuesday through Saturday, further proof that Mr. Batali knows what he is doing.

We stumbled throughUwajimaya, a sprawling market in Chinatown, and marveled at the number of Asian foods that we could not even begin to identify.Before heading back to our hotel to sleep off lunch we stopped by Mutual Fish Company, as much a work of art as it is a seafood market. Operated by Harry Yoshimura,a member of the third generation of his family to own the market, it was a bit more complex than the gulf coast markets we are used to.While many of the exotic seafood items from the Pacific were new to us, one thing was obvious; to the Yoshimura family, everything is about quality and care of the product.

As our stay in Seattle drew to a close, I couldn't help but reflect on our good fortune in having as tour guides Russell Chatham and Peter Lewis.But I alsowas aware of how grateful I was to be traveling with my two sons.One never knows how many experiences like this will be available.

When traveling with my children I have always attempted to try to help them learn how to deal with different situations: how todeal with doormen and front desks and the concierge and difficult airline situations.I have encouraged them to look beyond the obvious and try to find local restaurants, markets, and cultural events as opposed to the tourist oriented ones.But as hard as I strive to steer theirtravel adventures, they invariably teach me more about our wanderings than I teach them.

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