Viaduct Farewell

Nate and I took a little cruise over the viaduct last weekend after having breakfast with a friend at Hudson. I took a video so I would remember the views from that drive I used to take every morning when I worked on Capitol Hill. I was content with that being my last run on the "nostalgic deathtrap" as my friend Heidi called it. Then I thought about the boys. They don't remember living in Seattle and I wanted them to have a memory of driving on this iconic structure; so, even though we were exhausted, we loaded up the boys for a final, final drive.

The questions started as we ascended the Spokane Street on ramp to the West Seattle bridge. The boys were asking, "is this the viaduct?" and "are we on it yet?" G asked questions at his normal rate, like two or three for the whole trip from West Seattle to the end of our northbound drive. Likewise, Mr. T, asked questions at his normal rate, like two or three per thirty seconds.

How old is it? Why are they shutting it down. What if an earthquake happened at 10:01 pm? Why, why, why, how, why, how, who, where, why, why, why..... Nate pulled up the Google machine and answered as many questions as he could.

We got off at Mercer and snaked our way down to the waterfront to eat at Red Robin. After shared mozzarella sticks and the rest of our dinner we were all dragging. G was talking about how he was looking forward to resting in his bed. Amen, young man. Amen.

We were only steps outside of the restaurant when we heard the honking. T asked why was everyone honking. Everyone is saying goodbye. As we crossed under the viaduct he looked up at me and kind of giggled and said, almost shyly, "it kind of sounds like music." I thought about it and agreed. It did sound like music.

I looked back at Nate and mouthed, "southbound?" He nodded. At least I think he did. It's what I wanted to see. Now was my turn to be giddy, "who wants to go southbound and honk our horn?!"

To get from Western by the Art Institute to the end of the viaduct took about thirty minutes. It was the happiest I've been just crawling along in traffic.

Nate was giving new Seattle/viaduct lyrics to old songs. The boys were cracking up and joining when they could. At one point Nate was dramatically saying goodbye to the viaduct and he turned the camera on Gavin and asked for his best theatrics in his farewell. After a moment he turned the camera on Theo and said, "okay, Theo. Your turn to fake cry."

"I have real tears," said a little voice with no shame. Seeing the Great Wheel, the cranes, downtown in all of its sparkling glory and all of the smiling faces in the cars next to us tugged on his heart strings.

When it was my turn I just waved to the camera and blinked back my real tears. I felt silly being so nostalgic over a hunk of elevated concrete that was a quake away pancaking and killing everyone on it.

Nate leaned over and layed on the horn much to the boys pleasure. I did a call and answer with the horn like you do when you knock on a door - and someone answered back! It really shouldn't have been surprising that someone answered but I was pleased with this weird little bit of camraderie we were experiencing with other motorists.

People were pulled over on the shoulder, standing outside their cars, taking pictures and just reveling in the party atmosphere. Gavin saw the people leaning over a guard rail taking pictures and he said, "that's dangerous. What if they dropped their phone?" Kid has his priorities straight. 

When I was tucking Theo into bed he told me what a great day today was. It was way past bedtime and he was still glowing. It's so much fun to see them understand the significance of something even if it was just a silly nighttime drive. I hope tonight becomes a treasured memory for the boys - the party on the viaduct with strangers who felt like neighbors.