After writing for this rag for this long, I completely understand that I’m only supposed to write about things that happen in the South Sound.



I’ve strayed a couple of times and told you about my adventures in Ellensburg, but there’s another city that I love and I need to tell you about right now:



Seattle and the Owl N Thistle.



I don’t care if you fire me from the Weekly Volcano for doing so. This bar and its people mean more to me than many other things in the world.



I first started going to the Owl after I ditched a deadbeat Central Washington University boyfriend and moved back to the 206.



I had lost touch with many of my high school friends here thanks to the boyfriend, and I was really in need of a social boost.



Very soon after I moved to West Seattle, my CWU gal pal took me to the Owl, a place I had only visited while on break from school.



Within this reuniting adventure, she introduced me to Colin (his family owns the Owl). As soon as I laid eyes on this bird, I knew he’d be my best friend for the rest of my life, and my initial instincts were quite correct.



To this very day, Colin is one of the most important words to me, and I really can’t express all that he, his family and friends have done for me.



Unfortunately, when I was living in Seattle, my amazing mother passed away, and I was broken beyond all belief.



All of my friends had abandoned me because they thought someone else was handling the situation, and they were so close to my mother that they couldn’t handle it.



Instead, what happened was that Colin and his best friend (and mine), Pete (both originally from Newburyport/Boston), came over to my house, packed my things up, and moved me into their place to help me heal. Beantown loyalty at its finest.



They fed me, consoled me, and held me until I fell asleep for several nights when I was completely and utterly lost. After enduring the very worst pains in my life, and following the way these friends cared for me, I’m eternally indebted.



I’m sure this is way more information than you’ve ever wanted to know about me, but whenever you’re in Seattle, I really do hope that you’ll stop by the Owl N Thistle.



It’s an amazing bar, authentically Irish (Colin’s father, Jack, is originally from Galway), full of incredible people, and I’ll be quite honest, the Owl N Thistle and Colin and Pete are what saved my life after I had lost so much.



So wet your whistle at the Owl N Thistle.



[Owl N Thistle, 808 Post Ave., Seattle, 206.621.7777]