Thursday: Tarmac Turmoil
So we get to the airport all excited and then we sit on the tarmac for 2.5 hours!!! So not such a great start, but I was so excited to get there and feel a cool breeze, since those never happen here in Texas, in late august, early september...actually I'm pretty sure it's unheard of. Kyle kept telling me, "you don't need winter clothes" but I really wanted to put on sweater, I'm so tired of 100% humidity and upper 90s and 100s! We got there and it was 65 degrees...perfect...
We checked into our hotel, The Arctic a Doubletree, and it was awesome. Luckily Kyle was a VIP and we got a room with a balcony downtown!
Couldn't have been better. The first thing we did was sit down our luggage change into jammies and sit on the balcony with our hotel supplied robes. I was in heaven. Even though it was dark, and I had only been from the airport to the hotel, I was in love with Seattle.
Friday: Seeing Seattle
The next morning we woke up, of course way early Seattle time, put on the robe and made some coffee. Once again we headed for the balcony. Now that we could see Seattle, we were both thinking "alright, it's kinda like NYC, they have tall buildings.."
We then went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and it was so yummy!! I had an omelet...My aunt Charla then came to pick us up, and I have to give her big props for being able to gracefully drive a stick shift in Seattle. Those streets are steep and she was really impressive. Kyle and I learned that Seattle is way different than NYC. It's so laid back and beautiful. Of course we love NYC, but you just can't stick them in the same category. We then headed to check out her awesome office. She has a view like none other, right there on the water. You could see Mt. Rainier too...gorgeous...After we met some new friends we headed down to Ivar's for fish and chips and to meet another new friend, Bob...He is probably the most knowledgeable person I've ever met. He knows everything about everything. I didn't even know that was possible.
After we finished lunch with our new friend Bob at Ivar's , we went to feed the Seagulls. They are loud and I'm not gonna lie, a little scary. They will dive bomb you for a french fry, for real. When you are holding up a french fry in the air
and 3-6 Seagulls see it and smell it and want it, you'll understand why I just drop instead of getting attacked by wild Seagulls...Kyle was really good at it, although we had a few scares when Seagulls would come off the roof from behind and about whack you in the head, all in all, I like seagulls!
And just a little FYI seagulls are not "dainty eaters." So after seagull feeding we headed somewhere in the city (can't remember the name of the neighborhood) to do the local Duck Tour, for info go to the website: http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/ It was a lot of fun. The best part was taking our amphibious landing craft out on Lake Union. Lake Union is the coolest lake I've ever seen. The house boats were out of this world. They also had home that just floated on the water, but they weren't boats, they were real homes. You've seen some of them in movies and TV shows, like Sleepless in Seattle, Tom Hanks has a floating home, and on the Bachelor Jason Meznicks home, which is not where he really lives, but filmed the show there. Also Gas Works park was there, movie snippets of it were used in 10 Things I hate about you.
Later that night we went to the Mariner's game. I'm pretty sure us Texans are good luck up there. That was a really fun day!!
Saturday: Also known as "Bob Dylan Day"
Kyle had been waiting for this day his whole life. It was the day he'd see Bob Dylan in person, from 3 rows back. But first, the morning. We went down to Pike Place Market to check it out. Everything was so fresh. The flowers were like nothing I'd ever seen before! They were so beautiful. I have never seen Dahlias be so full and look so fresh. They were breath taking. I had one mess up at the market though. There was a stand that made different types of olive oil. They had toothpicks out and bread to dip in the oils. Well stupid me who doesn't pay attention to anything when food is involved, decides to dig in. But what I didn't notice was that I pulled my toothpick from the designated "used and dirty pile" of toothpicks. GROSS... I literally wanted to eat my mini Bath and Bodyworks hand sanitizer. Disgusting. So anyways after that, I decided that I needed to change out of my cute outfit and in to something more practical for standing at the concert. So tom's and a sweatshirt it was. We took the monorail to the Bumbershoot Festival going on at Seattle Center ( I think that is what it was called) We got there and we decided we should check out the line for Bob Dylan since he was playing on the main stage. We get there and the line guy said if we stood in line now we'd be about 10th row. So Kyle made the executive decision to get in line now. So the show was at 9 p.m. and we were in line at 2:30. They opened the main stage at 3:30 and everybody took off running toward the stage. It was a Bobby D stampede. What was crazy though was that we didn't run and still got in the 3rd row. So we saved some much needed energy. At 4:30 the event staff made us all stand and that's when it got a little crazy, everyone was pushing up to the front and what was bizarre was that there were little kids running and pushing. Like 11yrs old little. They were crazy, and where were their parents? at 5:00 the Decemberists were on stage. I had never heard of them, but they were really really good. They surprised me. Next was Neko Case, and with no disrespect, it was like a slow death. My legs hurt from standing 3hrs and to listen to her was like torture. There was no room to squat down and bend your legs, you had about 7 inches of standing room and the last thing I wanted to hear about was her 3 legged cat named Wayne. I will not be buying that album. After her. we lived through the longest 30 minutes of our lives waiting for Bob Dylan. But when he did come on stage, Kyle's eyes lit up so big. He was in his happy place, and I was miserable but happy for him. I am not a stander. When I go anywhere, if there is sitting room, I sit. So after 7 hrs of standing I wanted to be out of the mosh-pit-like center and park my booty on the monorail, and then take a cab to the hotel. We were so sore and so tired.
Sunday: Funday!
We woke up barley able to move our legs due to the excruciating stand still the day before. But we started Sunday off at Top Pot Doughnuts. The donuts were delish, but about the size of a small personal pan pizza, seriously. They were so yummy! Eric, my uncle had to leave us after that, so it was just Kyle, Charla, and me. Next we did a little shopping!! Seattle has some good shopping like H&M! Oh how I love H&M. We ate a great lunch at Ram's up by the University of Washington. The campus was really cool! After we'd spent lots of money and walked Pike St. once again, Charla decided she was pooped and needed to take a nap in her own bed. Kyle and I were pretty tired ourselves so we headed back to the room. Before long we received a call from Kyle's friends that live in Seattle to meet up at Hula Hula, a local Karaoke joint. I just want to say this, I had never karaoked before, but it was AWESOME!!! I sang a little Pat Benatar, and some Reba before the night was over. I made a lot of friends there. I don't remember their names, but I remember the high fives and the rescue from the women's bathroom (that's another story).
Monday: Tacoma Treasures
Eric and Charla picked us up on Monday morning and we headed to their homeland. Tacoma is so quaint and pretty. The mountains, the water, the parks. Everything was beautifully breathtaking. Now I can see why so many people want to take care of the environment. I'm not saying I'm a converted greenie-weenie but I would want to preserve that scenery too. Here in Texas, it's not the prettiest to some people. I guess It's just different up there. I had the yummiest cupcake I think it was vanilla with butter-cream. Kyle had carrot cake and Charla had red velvet. We even got to have lunch with my cousin Mike, who I haven't seen in like 10 years. Tacoma is quaint and has the prettiest houses. Charla's house was really cute too! I really enjoyed meeting her pup Max. He has the sweetest personality and is such a lover!! All in all Tacoma was really cool to see and I'm glad we made the trip there. After that we were dropped off and on our way home to Fort Worth! I'm pretty sure we were a little sad waking up at home the next morning, I think Kyle is ready to pick up and move there...hahaha
We had such a great time, and Charla and Eric I cannot thank you enough for making our trip so enjoyable. You are such a blessing in my life, Charla. I have always admired you and I'm so glad I was able to see you more than once this year. I couldn't imagine our family without you in it. Love you
PS. sorry pics were limited, but they weren't cooperating with me the longer the blog got...they are posted on facebook
