We went to Seattle!
We were all so excited at the airport, most travelers are sluggish but we were bursting with joy!
*photobomb*
I haven't been back to Seattle since I left there after my time as a missionary in 1998. I sincerely thought I would have gone before now, but better late then never!
Here's the story of why we took the kiddos out of school for 4 days and headed to the Northwest:
As some of you may know, Greg has been studying for Actuarial Exams for years. We knew that when he passed the last of them he would be need/be able to go to a conference to receive training as well as a certificate of accomplishment. Each year we would look at the exam and conference schedule and dream about where we would go if/when he passed the last of those stinking exams. Occasionally Seattle was one of the locations of the final conference. Wouldn't that be great?!
Well... it happened! He knocked out the last exam with his last bit of strength, and we started planning our trip. I had pages of ideas of where we would go and visit.
The plane trip washed us out! We were now the weary travelers we remarked about earlier. The kiddos did their best, but by the time we reached SeaTac airport it was past 1 in the morning according to our inner-clocks.
We got in the rental car and passed out at the hotel....
*****
The next morning we hit the touristy things in Seattle that I was so excited to show my little family. I hadn't remembered the plethora of hydrangeas that are all over in Seattle! We saw so many and we were there at the right time to see them in bloom -- How lucky!
Here's the Seattle Center. (built for the World's Fair in the 1960's)
Although it's a tourist thing to do, it was also just a family place. There were tons of locals enjoying the sunny day.
From there we got on the monorail. It's a fun way to see the city.
We headed to Pike Place Market for lunch and people watching. This place was CROWDED!
Below is me in front of a restaurant called "Sisters"
And this is me with a few other "sisters" in front of the same sign nearly 20 years ago.
There is the Puget Sound behind us, but the sunlight was so bright we simply couldn't get a good photo. There were cruise ships and a million boats out there too.
doughnuts...
Back on the monorail to get our car. We also visited the EMP museum full of Seattle stuff & pop culture.
That night we drove around my old mission, looking for apartments and anything I would recognize (of course I left my list of addresses at home!)
One place we found was an apartment that I had vivid memories of and had no trouble finding. Lots of water damage, and mold all over that place. But good memories too!
And here I am with my mission comp. and our roommates just before we moved out--it was simply an unhealthy place to live!
*****
The next morning was Sunday we found a few of the church buildings, we were late for each church start time, ugh. So we just kept going to the next one. It was nice to see so much of the beautiful scenery.
We went to Everett and a lake that I actually went fishing at once. This little lake is right across the street from one of my apartment where I lived during my only 4th of July while I was there. There are places in the area where you can get LOTS of powerful fireworks. Back in 1998 I spent the evening talking into a tape recorder telling Greg about all the BOOMS and smoke that filled the air around this lake.
Then we headed north to Camano Island, one of the most beautiful places I've been to... and then the back-windshield of the car flew off. It was nuts.
We spent over an hour with the rental car people trying to get it fixed, replaced, anything. Nothing would be done so far from the airport on a Sunday afternoon. So we sadly bagged the rest of our plans and went back to hotel to relax and figure out what to do about our new situation.
On our way to the hotel (with no back windshield in heavy Seattle traffic) we decided that if we didn't visit the temple right then, we probably wouldn't make it there at all.
One last flashback photo of me in the same location :)
*****
The next day Greg needed to be at the conference all day and we didn't really see him again until the whole thing was over--which was the reason we were there after-all, so we tried to be ok with it :)
The kiddos and I rested that day from all our adventures. They had
homework to do since they were missing so much school. I think we went on a nice walk, found a couple parks and this fun pedestrian bridge, I dreamed of being rich enough to live in Bellevue, and we swam at the hotel pool the rest of the day.
*****
Still with me?
Good for you!
*****
Tuesday-- our 4th full day in Seattle--we decided not to get another rental car--my nerves were too wrecked. So we continued to explore Bellevue on foot. MOD pizza.
Cupcakes... whenever possible!
And I got in touch with a family friend and her kiddos. They were kind enough to come and get us from our hotel and feed us a yummy salmon dinner. We walked around their neighborhood and dreamed some more of being able to live in the Northwest.
Our kiddos got along great, because there was stuff to climb on and roll down.
*****
Our last day my good friend Wendy came to visit us and swim at the hotel pool. We all went out to lunch (at MOD pizza again) and we all had such a good time visiting! Again I wished we could live in this wonderful place. We also got Toppot doughnuts, the guy at the store was super nice and gave us extra doughnuts when I mentioned that we were visiting from out of town.
That night the kiddos settled in for movies and rest while Greg & I got dressed up (or as dressed up as I get) and went to the fancy dinner.
There were speeches and they called up each person one by one and handed them their giant certificate.
And here we are with a random, yet nice couple that we happened to be standing with when the professional photographer took our picture. They were also from Ohio and had come early for a cruise.
The meal was amazing. After that there was a DJ and it was fun to see all the nerds getting down--mostly it was the younger, single ladies, but lots of people were dancing. I love to dance and I love to dance with Greg, but I couldn't stand the music that the DJ was playing so we headed to bed. A few people commented that it was awesome to see a happy couple dancing :)
The next day we gleefuly let a taxi drive us to the airport. We were "swimming in time" at the airport--meaning we had tons of time to eat breakfast, chill, watch planes take off and land, and take selfies.
(Things we sadly didn't do, maybe we'll go back in 20 years...
Seattle Art Museum, Jimi Hendrix' resting place, the troll bridge, the Peace Arch, Issaquah plateau, more mission sites, Mount Rainier, Anacortes and the islands, a ferry boat ride, the list goes on)
PHEW...
OK, so now on to the party... When Greg passed his final exam we decided we wanted to mark the occasion with a party. We would have loved to fly-in anyone that I have ever complained to about the exam process!
It was a beautiful (but windy day).
Lots of goodies--baklava, cannoli, doughnuts, cupcakes, buckeyes. Some bought, some I made.
I made decorations out of old study materials.
Congrats to anyone who made it this far. It was a long journey! Thanks for coming along :)
