Okay, so after much insistence, Devin finally convinced me to take a trip to Seattle, to see the greaty city that he grew up in. First of all, I apologize for the hard time I always gave him, because it turns out that Seattle is actually an
awesome city. And, despite how many days it rains there, we actually got a beautiful weekend, so I had nothing to complain about. We were super busy, but unfortunately we forgot a camera, so all I have to report is in words:
Day 1, Thursday: This doesn't really count as a day, since we were scheduled to fly out of LAX at 9pm, but it turns out that all the flights were way overbooked (imagine that - overbooked flights on the 4th of July weekend). So, we decided to give up our seat to get a free roundtrip ticket on Alaska Airlines, and we were able to get on the next flight up to Seattle, which left only 45 minutes later! So now we're going to go to Alaska or Mexico, which will be sweet...
Day 2, Friday: We got up early Friday morning and drove up to Anacortes, which is about 80 miles north of downtown Seattle. From there, you can take a ferry to the San Juan Islands, but instead, we decided to go whale watching. Turns out the orcas were about as far as you can get from Anacortes, near Victoria, Canada actually. So we had to spend about 2 hours on the boat just driving out to their location, which wasn't so bad since it provided me a nice tour of the entire San Juans. We finally arrived at the location of the orcas, and it was amazing!! There must have been at least 40 orcas out there, since there were two pods that were crossing paths (which is highly unusual apparently). I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, but it was definitely worth the trip to see them. After watching the orcas swim around for a while, the ferry made its way back to Anacortes. Devin and I then drove back over Deception Pass (instead of driving back down I-5), and stopped for dinner in a cute little town called Langley. We then took a car ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, and drove the rest of the way back to Seattle.
Day 3, Saturday: This was our whirlwind tour of Seattle day. We were going to get an early start, but after missing both World Cup quarterfinal games the day before, I couldn't stand to miss both on Saturday as well. So we watched as Italy beat England in penalty kicks (I sure was glad I didn't miss that game!), and then headed out. We first went to
Pike Place Market, which is an amazing farmer's market right on the Seattle waterfront. We bought some fresh raspberries (yummy!) and then had piroshkis for lunch. We walked around some more, and then headed up to see the Space Needle. We then drove over to the University of Washington, Devin's alma mater, and got some more food in the U-district. Next was a stop at Gas Works park, and finally a trip over to see the Hiram M. Chittendan locks, complete with a fish ladder so that the salmon can still swim upstream. Finally, we headed back downtown to see a Seattle Mariners game at Safeco Field, which happened to be an amazing game (Mariners were down 7-2, and ended up coming back to win 8-7). I even bought a Jamie Moyer Mariners shirt (see, I told you I was becoming a Mariners fan)!!
Day 4, Sunday: Sunday was a bit more relaxed. We slept in a little later, and then went to church. We stopped at the original Whole Foods in Bellevue for lunch, and then went to the Boeing Museum of Flight for the afternoon. Devin's parents then took us on the
Spirit of Washington Dinner Train (along with Devin's brother and sister), which travels from Renton (where Devin lives) to the Columbia winery for a tour and wine tasting, with dinner on the way. This was a really fun way to get to see the beautiful scenery and eat some yummy food. When we returned, Devin and I met up with two of his college friends to play some pool.
Day 5, Monday: We were pretty exhausted by this point, so we slept in pretty late, and then went out for a short day hike in the Cascades. On the way back, we stopped at
Snoqualmie Falls, which are actually about 100 feet taller than even Niagara Falls (although much less volume)!! We then went over to Devin's sister's apartment and cooked dinner and watched the Mariners game.
Day 6, Tuesday: Our last day in Seattle!! Well, it being the 4th of July, we figured we might as well do something patriotic, so we went down to a park in Renton to hear Devin's parents and brother play in the Renton Community band. We were so exhausted after our busy weekend that afterwards we just headed home for a nap and to pack our suitcases. We then went to Devin's college friend's house for a little while in the evening, and then to Gas Works park to see the fireworks. I have to admit, it was one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen, especially right over the water and with the Seattle skyline in the background.
We left for L.A. on a 6am flight Wednesday morning (that was a tough day at work!)...no free ticket this time though. I had a great weekend, and absolutely loved Seattle...although the gorgeous weather helped things. But overall, I think it's a great city, and definitely somewhere I would consider living in the future. :-)
