Seattle Days 1 and 2
Saturday, December 02, 2006
We arrived in the evening on Thanksgiving Day, ready for 40 degree weather. Like the last time I visited Seattle, I brought the sunshine with me. Thanksgiving weekend was the first time the had clouds parted in over a week.
We stayed at Peter and Karen’s condo in Bothell, which is about half an hour from the city. It’s a charming one floor space with an inviting design. The kitchen, dining area and living room feel like one big room. There’s a gas-burning fireplace and wall to wall mantle filled with pictures like this —
Off to the left of the living room is a study filled with the kinds of books you’d expect a pastor and marriage/family therapist to own. It was quiet and calming. I managed to catch Peter and Karen in such a moment —
We had a homecooked dinner and watched “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” on DVD, a surprisingly redemptive movie about a woman who picks up the pieces of her life after her verbally abusive attorney husband throws her out of his mansion for another woman.
The next day, we woke up to great weather, “great” in Seattle meaning not raining and occasional rays of sunshine. Being in vacation mode, Dave and I slept in and watched a little TV before heading out. I was quite amused by Judge Mathas and am considering adding it to my cable DVR list.
Our first stop was Snoqualmie Falls in a very pretty and mountainous area outside of Seattle.
This overlook provided an awesome view of the falls, but the wind would have blown the mist straight into our camera lens, so we took our photo from a distance —
We hiked down about a mile to the foot of the falls. There were lots of odd looking moss-covered branches on the way. I’d never seen anything like it (creepy, if you ask me) —
The most grotesque tree I have ever seen: roots, ferns, moss, and branches all growing out a rock —
View of Snoqualmie Falls from the bottom —
Then it was off to downtown and Pike Place Market. We drove through some busy streets and glimpsed the very first Starbucks that ever opened. The sign is brown because Pike Place laws forbid them from changing it —
Blue skies!
Too bad the flower market only had dried flowers, not fresh flowers. But the hanging pepper stand was there like I remembered —
We went to the famous fish market where they throw the fish at each other. Unfortunately, our camera wasn’t set in the right mode so we didn’t get shots of them throwing them. We got tired of waiting (they seemed mainly to throw fish when people actually make purchases) so we left.
Dave likes this picture of me for some reason —
As the sun set, the weather became more like itself —
We returned to Bothell and went to the mall for dinner and a movie. I was famished, so the halibut fish and chips I had sure hit the spot —
Dave and I watched Casino Royale. I quite enjoyed it. I think the last movie we watched in the theater was Pirates of the Caribbean 2. We’re more TV and DVD people now. Having already watched the latest Bond movie, Peter and Karen watched Happy Feet. We all went home happy.