In the early nineties, there was a television show called Northern Exposure. It was about a New York doctor moving to a city in Alaska, and having to adjust to his new lifestyle. The show was filmed in Roselyn, Washington, right outside of Seattle. The reason any of this is relevant, is every year, in Roselyn, they have Moose days, which is a yearly gathering of diehard fans of the show. My Grandfather is a diehard fan, and in 2003, he took me with him to attend Moose Days.

My grandfather refuses to fly, because it “just tears him up”, so he insists on driving long distances. At the time, I lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming which is in the middle of the country, so a drive to Seattle takes a few days, 2-3 days to be precise.

At this point, I could write minute details about the long hot day, the endless road, and the changing of scenery from prairie grass to forest to dessert then to forest again. I could even give you an hour by hour synopsis of the car ride. However, I’d rather spare you the details, and move on to Roselyn.

Seattle was originally, and still somewhat is, a lumber city. It was founded by lumberjacks. Roselyn, a town not far from the outskirts of Seattle, is like a small lumber/miner camp that never closed down, but doesn’t do anything with Lumber, nor mining, anymore. It has a population of less than 1000, and is has a very small town USA feel. I remember seeing Roselyn for the first time, and was surprised, that a city as small as that existed. I had grown up thinking Cheyenne was a small town, even though it has a population of roughly 59,000, so my shock to the actual size of the small town was large.

I couldn’t believe that somewhere like this existed, much less people wanted to live here. The Moose Days seemed to double the population of the small town for a few days, which meant that most hotels and motels are fully booked, with a lot of people having to come from hotels and motels outside of town.

Everyday had an intinary, which was very loose, and at times, strange. They set up their own mini golf course, themed to the show, have a parade, and even a gala. I remember setting up the mini golf course, and I really did set it up. There were adults around, but for some reason, they let a nine year old build a mini golf course, out of pipes and pieces of green shag carpeting. It actually turned out quite well, and they, the Moose Days committee, congratulated me.

Only three days was spent in this small little town. The other four days were in the city of Seattle. My grandfather, at the age of 17, with his parents signed permission, entered the US Navy, and later in life, the US air force. During his stay in the navy, he was stationed in Seattle, and actually fell in love with the city.

He took me to the top of Seattle most famous landmark, the Seattle Space Needle. It was erected in 1962 for the World’s Fair, being held in Seattle. He told me that, in 1965, at the age of 18, he was on top of the Seattle Space Needle during the only recorded earthquake the building has been through. He said it was like standing on top of a spinning top that had begun to loose speed, slowly wobbling until its complete stop. The building survived with no damage, and still stands today. It remains earthquake proof, because 30 feet below the surface, the Needle is anchored in the grand using steel and concrete.

While a lot happened during that trip, I can’t really recall everything I did. I went to Pikes Market, a very old market place, saw a large half-dome fountain, and went to a carnival. I don’t really recall a lot of the details, just the very gist of what happened. I will, however, always remember being on top of the space needle with my Grandfather.