We walk into Parliament

Parliament, Seattle (Admiral District of West Seattle), Washington

We planned to talk to people at Parliament, honest. We went in curious about a lot of things that we hoped to ask about. The bar has owl decor* throughout; they're a music venue; there's a very different bar next door and several others within a block or two.

But when we arrived, the Seahawks were battling the Packers on all the screens, and we couldn't find seats at the bar. The bartender was attentive and got our drinks quickly (a hopped apple cider for Dean and a sour cherry cider for me), and we sat down at a table to watch the game and the bar.

As we sipped our ciders and took stealthy photos, it was pretty clear that we weren't going to be able to talk to anybody else. By halftime, the first of the two bands who'd playing later in the evening were setting up, and we'd finished our ciders. We took our glasses back to the bar (noticing a few more owls along the way), thanked the bartender, and were on our way.

In spite of only talking to each other, we were glad we'd finally gotten into Parliament.

*A group of owls has been called a parliament since the Middle Ages. But you already knew that, of course.