How can you NOT love a city with that has this store:
Actually, there�s more than monkey love to this city. I always had a feeling I would like Seattle and I was right. It seems to be a very clean city (all the rain?) and even though it�s a big city, there weren�t the same crowds that you see in places like LA or NYC. It was fairly easy to navigate and was surrounded by beauty � water and forests. And also all this artwork around the city:
Our first night there, we just sort of drove around and looked at the sights, stopped for dinner but they didn�t open until 5 (no early dinners here!) so we went for some coffee (how clich�) and walked around a little bit. For dinner, we went to the Melting Pot for fondue:
Friday morning, we got up early and drove up to Canada. This was my first time across the northern border:
We stopped for lunch in this little fishing village called Steveston (or maybe it was more of an �area� than a city, but still�.)
After that, we drove through downtown Vancouver (nightmare � way too much traffic, too many people, thousands and thousands of high rises) to this place called the Capilani Suspension Bridge. It�s a pedestrian bridge across a gorge and then you can walk around a rain forest. This was amazing and so beautiful. It�s so hard to believe that something like this is minutes outside of a major city.
After walking around the rain forest, I married a canadian mountie in a small civil ceremony:
And then was adopted by a family of indians:
We then embarked on the tedious journey back through downtown Vancouver in rush hour traffic and returned to our hotel where we crashed.
Saturday, we decided to sleep in. We left the hotel about 10, had breakfast at a place in Queen Anne called The Five Spot and then headed over to the Space Needle. No trip to Seattle is complete without pictures of the space needle:
And a view from the top:
of course, the most cliched moment of the trip was when we sat in a caf� at the top of the space needle and drank our starbucks coffee!
After we came back down to earth, we did some souvenir shopping (I�m currently lounging in my new �I Love Seattle� pajama pants and space needle t-shirt) and then I enlisted in the Seattle Police Force:
Who wouldn�t when you can work with guys this cute:
Saturday night, we went out to dinner with my first college roommate:
It was so good to see her, it�s probably been about 11 � 12 years since I�ve seen her in person. I�m so glad that we�ve stayed in touch all these years. I�m also glad she survived my insanity and helped me survive it too. I got to meet her kids and husband and then we went to dinner at the Palace Kitchen. There�s a famous Seattle chef named Tom Douglas who owns a bunch of restaurants in Seattle, so she wanted to take us to one of them. The food was really good too!
After that, we cruised over to the original starbucks and (surprise) had some coffee.
Sunday morning, we got an early start and headed off to Pike Place Market for their farmers market. We were actually rather surprised to be some of the first ones there. We got there at about 8:30 and the vendors were still setting up. This seemed so strange to us. In Los Angeles, things get off to such an early start. A farmer�s market would be in full swing by 8, but this place was barely opening it�s eyes. Well, at least we got to see the place before the crowds. We had breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the Puget Sound, then wandered around looking at all the beautiful fruits and veggies.
These avocados were bigger than both my hands put together:
I loved all the colors or the produce:
And when I tire of my career as a police officer, I can marry this fishmonger (this is the famous Pike Place Fish Company, they chant and throw fish and have made motivational videos for businesses):
After the market, we took a tour to Blake Island to see Tillicum Village where we had a traditional salmon dinner and watched a show on indian dances. Truthfully, the dinner was so-so and the dance show was more than cheesy. I�ve seen better. But the boat ride was nice and the island was gorgeous:
After the island, we drove back to Pike Place market. Char dropped me off and I gathered items for our dinner. She circled the block a few times while I shopped, then we met up again and I hopped back in the car. Our dinner that night was one of the best that we�d had. We bought some brown bread from Tillicum Village, then at Pike Place, I bought 2 sweet and juicy honeycrisp apples, a red pear, a cinnamon apple piroshki, and then some gourmet cheese. One of the cheeses is by a company called Cowgirl Creamery. They are located in the bay area here in California, the cheese is called Mt. Tam and I swear, it was one of the tastiest cheeses I have ever had. The texture was in between a cream cheese and a brie. But it was very mild and creamy. Oh. My. God.
Monday, we packed out suitcases, checked out of the hotel and then drove south. We stopped at the Des Moine city beach park to walk around:
Then we drove down the coast a few more miles to Saltwater State Park:
It�s really hard to take in all the beautiful scenery in the Seattle area. There are forests and beaches and it�s so amazing. But our trip was coming to an end. We drove back into Seattle, had lunch at the Rockbottom Brewery then headed for the airport.
It was an amazing trip, I can�t wait to go back. It�s nice to have some distractions from the crap here in SoCal that pulls me down. But it was good to sleep in my own bed again last night. Back to life.
