What Visitors Think of Seattle – Utah (28 F)

E(Female-28) was from Salt Lake City, Utah. E was a health coach(nutritionist) taking some courses here in Seattle and needed a place to stay. I ended up meeting her at the ID Link Light Rail station. It was her first time couchsurfing and her mom up until the very instant she got off of the Light Rail, was trying to convince her to get a hotel.  We didn’t see much of her during the day while she was at class, but we hung out at night and she was able to do some sightseeing with some of the people she met during her courses.She said she was a democrat, not Mormon and grew up in SLC her entire life, which makes her an anomaly. She knew who Shepard Fairey was when she saw my framed prints, complemented my furniture and brought a 22oz Odin’s Gift Amber Ale. This gained her a lot of points in my book. The only real travel she had ever done was a one month work study in France.  Our dog had an accident in the house twice(I believe she was sick) and E cleaned it up without me knowing both times. She was an awesome guest! Once of her hobbies was roller derby. 

E’s Questions/Observations about Seattle: 

• She was shocked how much our sales tax is. 9.6% sales tax(6.5% for Washington and 2.7% for Seattle). Utah is only 3%. 

• She said the roads in Seattle are curvy and in some areas there are no lines on the street, only reflectors.  
• She thought the faucet water was some of the best drinking water she ever had. 
• She thought Seattle was a very walkable city compared to Salt Lake City. 
• She thought the 99 tunnel was really cool 
• She thought Seattle drivers were “unusually courteous” 

My observations of E/Learnings from E: 

• She informed me that Utah has no helmet law, just implemented a seatbelt law and has no cellphone law.  
• She’s a voracious reader of books, but she felt guilty about all the trees that died to feed her reading habit. 

• I thought this was really interesting. On Monday, a local bar near my house has karaoke. I went there to get a burger and E contacted me. I told her I was at the bar and to come and join me. She did and was so happy that they had karaoke. She told me there are only 2 bars in Salt Lake City that have Karaoke. I found this odd for such a big city. She said the reason is bars don’t offer it because they’ll lose money. Huh? She went on to explain that Mormons love to sing, so they will pack a place that has karaoke. The issue is that Mormons don’t drink, so you’ll have a packed bar that will make no money. She said she has never done karaoke for this reason. I goaded her into singing a song. She asked which one and I said, “Total Eclipse of The Heart” as a joke thinking she was too young to even know the song. She just said, “ok” and put in her request. Since she had never done karaoke before I figured she would just fool around and chalk it up to having a fun experience when it came her time to sing. I was flabbergasted when she went up and belted out the song. She was a really good singer and knew the song without having to look at the words. I asked how she knew it since she’s too young to know it. She said they had the song on Glee. That’s how she knew it.  

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