huh. I didn't notice that they put USD values beside coin values now. That's what was throwing me off. I'm used to only sending coin values, not seeing USD values as an option at all.

I was able to send the coin, but unlike sending bitcoin it wasn't broadcast to the network right away, so now I'm screwed because 5 minutes elapsed without it being broadcast and the transaction on shapeshift expired. So apparently it's not safe to use altcoins from coinbase at all.  

EDIT: yeah, 10 minutes later, the transaction doesn't show up on Blockcypher. Coinbase hasn't broadcast the transaction, so now it will take a few days to get the mess sorted out. When I send coin from my own wallet externally the transactions are instant, even if they don't confirm right away. Now at least I know that I have to send to an external wallet and pay transaction fees twice in order to exchange anything.

https://live.blockcypher.com/ltc/tx/b5c126b212ec670381e50d784571eede6883cf19d86b33d936f40701db8d37d7