Seattle! Our first major US city in the Lower 48! First things first, we make a beeline to Touratech USA, birthplace of Neda's Touratech F650GS...  TouratechGirl right at home! I hid the credit card before she walked in the store... The folks at TT were awesome, there were a couple of issues with some of their parts that we encountered on the road - a windshield spoiler that popped off on the highway and got run over by an 18-wheeler, as well as a locking GPS mount that wouldn't lock. They solved both problems and let us advertise their store for free by giving us these TT Seattle stickers that you can only get by visiting their store!  More advertising for Touraratech. Seriously, when does that cheque arrive again? I put one on my Givi topcase... heheh Yaw contacted me on our website a couple of years ago and we've traded vacation pictures back and forth. Him and his girlfriend, Hélène, are avid sportbike riders and love traveling, so I knew we had a lot in common. Last summer, I told him we were going to hit the west coast on our RTW trip and he offered to show us Seattle and put us up for the night.  Yaw and Hélène, our hosts in Seattle - Super awesome biking couple! Yaw and Hélène took us to the Pike Place Market downtown and we had a great time talking bikes and travel over our seafood brunch. They recently got engaged!  Peddling our bikes through Pikes Place Market  Yaw's Monster takes centre stage, Hélène's Ninja is hidden behind our ginormous GSes and Neda is txting all her girlfriends back home...  They clean all carbs for free? Will they do fuel-injected bikes too?  We heard they throw fish at the Pike Place Market, but it was a slow day - no fish throwing... Here's a picture of us instead...  Hélène is quite the geek - she pointed out the fractal cauliflower. I wanted to follow up with a Mandelbrot joke but decided to reveal my inner geekiness a bit later  Colourful peppers at the Pike Place Market  Local Seattle artist Whitney Monge performing outside the first Starbucks. Killer voice!  We're rolling with different motorcycle gangs all over the continent! Seattle chapter of the RideDOT.com Riders  Lookout out over Seattle from Gas Works Park  Pretty colours on Lake Union, Space Needle in the distance  Hanging out with the remains of the old coal gasification plant in the background. Very Steampunk! It was a pretty action-packed day, Yaw and Hélène were perfect ambassadors for their city, taking us riding around all of their favorite spots, and we ended up eating dripping Cuban sandwiches from Paseo's on the shores of the Golden Gardens beach, watching the sun set over the waters of Puget Sound. Super awesome!  Kite fliers on Golden Gardens beach We thought the day was over, but Y&H invited us to a party they were attending that night. It was packed with really bright UW grad students all working on technologies to make the world a better place. There was a lot of passion and excitement about what they were doing which was very contagious as we talked shop throughout the night. We are experiencing such different slices of life as we travel from place to place, and I can't help feeling so enriched by everyone we've met.  Seattle triptych from Y&H's apartment The next morning was spent trading geekisms with Y&H over a comfortable breakfast at home. The chatter was so easy that I felt like we've known them for a long time. There's so much warmth and brilliance in this fun couple, Neda and I are so glad to have them as friends and wish them much joy in their life together! :)  "There's absolutely nothing wrong with iOS6 Maps! Sometimes those reddit guys just make me so... argh!" "I know, Yaw. I know..."
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