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| The Space Needle and Mount Rainier |
Downtown
Seattle features a historic 1930s hotel I fancied; it was full of Art Deco digs
and is an easy ten-minute stroll from the University of Washington’s campus. It’s
called The Graduate Hotel, and when I walked through the front foyer, a huge
room greeted me, complete with plaid-clad sofas surrounding a communal coffee
table by a cozy fireplace, and seashell mobiles hanging from the ceiling dancing
over my head. I thought I entered a beatnik coffee house from the 1960s!
The
Mountaineering Club rooftop bar at the Graduate Hotel sits atop the Graduate
Hotel, so I took the elevator up to the 16th floor and enjoyed
an incredible panoramic view of Mr. Rainier, Puget Sound, and the downtown area
while sipping its “90 Miles of Paradise” cocktail signature drink. The drink
was named after a famous hiking trail that begins at the base of Mt. Rainier.
I
sat at a comfortable padded barstool and gazed out the large showroom-sized windows
at the beautiful mountain ranges flaunting themselves in the distance outside. The
best panoramic views of Seattle can be enjoyed from this rustic-chic rooftop
lounge.
My
stomach growled at me, so I checked out the menu. It smacked of the Pacific
Northwest. If you like to experiment with colorful foods, you can chow down on
oysters on the half shell, clam chowder, smoked salmon delivered in a tin with
toast, an upgraded wagyu hot dog with heaps of Dungeness crab on toasted
brioche, and much more.
It
was relaxing to sip a drink while gazing out at the stunning views of the
Olympics and the Cascades. The patrons weren’t the frat-boy, PBR-guzzling types;
paying $14 for a cocktail or $50 for a craft or bottle of red wine did not seem
to bother those around me. Don’t fret, the bartender had a good-sized mug of draught
beer on hand for $7.
In
my THE SHADOW WAR spy thriller, a few scenes inside the Mountaineering Club bar
take place. Here’s a snippet:
CIA
spymaster Corey Pearson strolled into the Mountaineering Club and sat at the
bar. Large picture windows lined all the walls, including the one behind the
bar. Mount Rainier and the Cascades appeared like large portrait paintings,
even though they were sixty miles away.
The
barkeep fashioned a couple fancy cocktails at the end of the bar and served
them to a middle-aged businessman who was laughing it up at a table with a lady
at least twenty-five years his younger.
The
bartender asked Corey what he wanted. That was Ana’s cue. She was sitting alone
at a table on the outside patio, glancing occasionally into the bar through a
sliding glass door. She entered and laid her empty glass on the bar. “I’ll take
another ‘Meany Ski Hut’.” That was the ‘all clear’ sign. She arrived a half
hour earlier to case the place out. If anything looked suspicious, she would
have ordered something else, and totally ignored Corey.
End of Snippet
Lastly, I picked out this video for you about the Mountaineering Club: Sky-High
Views, Cocktails and smore’s at the Mountaineering Club in U-District.
Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and enjoys writing about the U.S. Intelligence Community. He authors the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series
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