---
title: "Return to the USA"
date: 2021-09-29
tripit:
nights: 21
modes: ["air", “rail”]
flights:
  -
    date: 2021-09-29
    number: DL143
    from: AMS
    to: SEA
    km: 7836
  -
    date: 2021-10-05
    number: DL463
    from: SEA
    to: ORD
    km: 2762
  -
    date: 2021-10-12
    number: DL2593
    from: STL
    to: ATL
    km: 777
  -
    date: 2021-10-12
    number: DL1510
    from: ATL
    to: MSY
    km: 682
  -
    date: 2021-10-19
    number: DL2082
    from: MSY
    to: DTW
    km: 1492
  -
    date: 2021-10-19
    number: DL134
    from: DTW
    to: AMS
    km: 6320
destinations:
  -
    title: "Seattle"
    nights: 6
    location: "Pan Pacific"
    geo: [47.61835, -122.33758]
  -
    title: "Chicago"
    nights: 2
    location: "W Loop"
    geo: [41.87973,-87.63314]
  -
    title: "St. Louis"
    nights: 5
    location: "Edwardsville"
    geo: [38.7985,-89.9533]
  -
    title: "New Orleans"
    nights: 7
    location: "Broadmoor"
    geo: [29.94754, -90.10619]
---

Shannon and I revisited familiar places to celebrate being “set free” by vaccination.

## Seattle

Seattle is both comforting in familiarity and surprisingly different. Pioneer Square is even more full of tents and even feels dangerous. Downtown retail is clearly struggling, and 3rd Ave is as sketchy as ever. But South Lake Union is clearly under the protective umbrella of Amazon and has plenty of businesses open (most a new location of well-established restaurants from other neighborhoods). New skyscrapers abound and Godfather Bezos is providing security services. The Amazon banana cart pedals around giving out free food in a shiny, sterile corporate city less than a kilometer from tent colonies. It’s gross.

Capitol Hill, though, is very much itself. There’s more street art than before, maybe lingering from the Autonomous Zone. Cafe Flora remains one of my favorite places to eat in the world, and the views on the walk from the Sound side of the hill to the lake are still exceptional.

The US culture shock is intense and I am glad to have left, yet I still love this city and consider it (a) home.

## Chicago

We noticed over the years that Chicago got quieter. There was less honking, drivers seemed less aggressive from a pedestrian POV. That wasn’t true this trip. Coming from Seattle, the urban canyon is less impressive. The river bridges and architecture, though, will always make this city a gem.

The reason for our stays here have always been the convenience of visiting grandma Betty along the train route to St. Louis. This first visit without her is sad, and I wonder if we’ll ever have cause to return.

## St. Louis

We had a pleasant stay with Shannon’s parents out in Edwardsville, and visited the city for two days. We brought along gear and rented bikes from Big Shark so we could [ride with Ryan and Charlotte](https://www.strava.com/activities/6089549753) on the Riverfront Trail we once knew so well. It surprised both of us how short it now seems.

## New Orleans

Day drinking and nice dinners, as usual. Somehow it feels like we weren’t away for long.

Wednesday: Preservation Hall - fun tourist fodder
Thursday: DJ Bird and [The Stooges](https://stoogesmusicgroup.com/) at [The Well](https://facebook.com/thewell1600/) - amazing NOLA experience with great music, as a king I felt like a celebrity, even among members of Zulu. Then Le Bon Temps Roulé
Friday: [The Broadside](https://broadsidenola.com/) to see [Sweet Crude](https://www.sweetcrudeband.com/) - a very different amazing local experience, an outdoor venue with…neo-cajun?
Saturday: House party and porch concerts in the Milan neighborhood, then [Tipitina’s](https://tipitinas.com/) where Bobby did his thing and took to the street to secure tickets to the sold out [Galactic](https://galacticfunk.com/) show. The opening act, [Jarekus Singleton](http://www.jarekussingleton.com/), was amazing in person though I’m not getting the same vibe from their recordings.

