Next stop on my travels is Seattle. This trip happened two weeks after San Francisco. My family headed back to the West Coast to visit my brother. He recently moved from Orlando to Seattle. Talk about opposites! I guess they do attract. My parents and I love that he is in Seattle because it is a lot closer to us. Plus I love Seattle. Ever since I graduated from High School I said I wanted to move to Seattle. I even looked at attending the University of Washington. Who knows? Maybe I will end up there after all! Enjoy the travelogue and pictures.
Mom and I met up with Dad in the Seattle airport. He flew in from Anchorage, Alaska. We got our awesome rental car for the weekend: a minivan! I had two whole rows to myself! We drove to our hotel which was very close to the Space Needle. We got the Jacuzzi suite! I had the pleasure of sleeping on the pull out sofa sleeper. Lucky me! (I guess that beats sleeping in the jacuzzi!) This was the view from our hotel room.
I spent the rest of the day with my friend Adam. (Adam and I performed in the Christmas Spectacular together. We had the comedy bit of our scene and, if I do say so myself, we brought the house down! Just sayin'. He was the best pillow a girl could have.) He took me to a street just off of the University of Washington campus. We ate dinner at Samir’s Kitchen, one of Adam's favorite places to eat. After dinner, we walked up and down the street giving each other a running commentary on every thing (and everyone) we saw. There were a lot of people out and about. We saw some cops busting some people. We saw the law school where Adam is about to start his third (and FINAL) year of law school. We walked through the bookstore. We tried on hats in a store but Adam’s big head didn’t fit in too many of them. (See pictures below.) Adam tried to get his hair cut but the barber was closing.
When we got tired of walking around, we drove to Manhouse (the name he and/or his roommates gave the house where he lives). When we pulled up to his house, I thought I was in a third world country. We drove up to the house from a back alley. All the houses were right next to each other and they were a little run down. I told Adam it looked a little third worldish. He just told me to shut up. I forget how many men were living in the house when I visited--maybe four (?) and 1 dog. I ended up only meeting one roommate while i was there. We let the dog out to have some fresh air because the poor thing had been in the house all day. Then we played Angry Birds on Adam's cell phone. I had never played Angry Birds before but now it is my latest guilty pleasure! We got through all the levels on one game so we started playing a different edition of Angry Birds. Adam passed most of the levels because he had me go first. I would show him how to do it by my trial and error and then he would get the job done! Just before I left, I remembered I wanted a picture. I told Adam to take some pictures of us. This is what I got:
The next day, my parents and I picked up Chris and Allen. This is where the mini-van came in handy. I still had one row in the steerage compartment all to myself! (Don't be jealous!) We drove to the ferry close to their house and took the ferry to Vashon Island. On the ferry, we got out of the van and sat in the seats upstairs. The ferry ride seemed like it was all of fifteen minutes. We drove all around Vashon Island. It was a small island. There were a lot of trees just like everywhere else in Washington! We went to the Farmer’s Market and walked around the less than twenty booths set up. We didn’t buy anything. People were selling caramel, fish, flowers, and other plants. We saw a lighthouse on the end of the island toward the ocean. We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Hardware Store. Why was it called The Hardware Store? Before it was a restaurant, it was a hardware store. The food was pretty good! We rode the ferry back to West Seattle. We stopped at Chris and Allen’s house and picked up Alis. We all went to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard. We watched boats, yachts, Kodiaks, etc go through the locks. It was fun! The locks are still my favorite place to go in Seattle.
We drove to Kerry Park. We took a few pictures of the family at the lookout point before we were overrun by teenagers going to prom.
We dropped off Alis at home and then went to dinner at Zeek’s Pizza. The pizza tasted delicious! We dropped off Chris and Allen at their house and the rest of us went back to the hotel. Mom and I wanted to go swimming but there were a LOT of kids in the pool. No thanks!
The next morning Mom and I slept in. Dad left before I woke up because he had to teach a class that morning in some nearby town. While we waited for Dad to get done teaching his class, Mom and I made good use of our time. Mom swam in the pool. I was going to swim with her but there were three kids that seemed like 30 kids flailing about with water going everywhere but in the pool. No thanks, I opted for the stairmaster instead. I also sent some emails for work. (I am such a dedicated employee! I hope my boss reads that!)
I met up with my friend D Scott. (D Scott and I worked together with Radio City. The poor guy was in charge of helping me sing! He sure earned his money trying to do that! I am grateful we're still friends! He was on tour with Mary Poppins which happened to be touring in Seattle. Perfect timing!) We grabbed some food from Dick’s Drive-In and then drove to a nearby park at Westlake. It was a gorgeous day in Seattle. We talked and watched the seaplanes land in Lake Washington. I had so much fun talking with him. At one point, he asked me if I was dipping my fries in my shake. I said Yes. He thought it was strange. I figure it must be a Utah thing.
After lunch with D Scott, I met up with my parents at the hotel. Chris didn’t get off work for a few more hours so we headed to the waterfront. We ate clam chowder from Ivar’s outside at the tables they had set up. We watched as people fed French fries to the seagulls. The seagulls would get so excited and start screeching! It was quite the sight and sound! Ivar’s clam chowder is the BEST EVER! (Unfortunately I was still full from my Dick’s Drive In fries and shake that I could only eat half of it. Mom was the lucky one who got to eat the rest.) We went in a few shops on the waterfront.
My parents and I drove past the building where my brother worked. Then we drove to Chris’ house in West Seattle. Chris and Allen bought a nice three-story townhouse. It had an amazing view of downtown Seattle from their bedroom deck on the third floor. I finally met their dog, Alis. (They have had her for at least four years.) She was crazy!
Allen was at work so we spent some time talking with Chris after he gave us a tour of their house. Then we went on a short tour of West Seattle.
When we got tired of walking around, we drove to Manhouse (the name he and/or his roommates gave the house where he lives). When we pulled up to his house, I thought I was in a third world country. We drove up to the house from a back alley. All the houses were right next to each other and they were a little run down. I told Adam it looked a little third worldish. He just told me to shut up. I forget how many men were living in the house when I visited--maybe four (?) and 1 dog. I ended up only meeting one roommate while i was there. We let the dog out to have some fresh air because the poor thing had been in the house all day. Then we played Angry Birds on Adam's cell phone. I had never played Angry Birds before but now it is my latest guilty pleasure! We got through all the levels on one game so we started playing a different edition of Angry Birds. Adam passed most of the levels because he had me go first. I would show him how to do it by my trial and error and then he would get the job done! Just before I left, I remembered I wanted a picture. I told Adam to take some pictures of us. This is what I got:
The next morning, my parents and I attended church near the hotel. We spent the rest of our time in Seattle with Chris at his house. (Allen was at work all day.) Chris played us a song on the piano (at the insistence of Mom). He was getting annoyed with the paparazzi (Mom) at this performance.
I had a great time in Seattle hanging out with my family and friends. I can't wait to go back!
