Adventure to Seattle, Washington

with my friend Hilary, her husband Nic, and his friend Luke.

One white mocha
One mindbending crossword puzzle
Three sets of FREE HEADPHONES (courtesy of the airline, thank you)
One connecting flight
.... And we were in Seattle, Washington

We drove about 30 minutes north of the city and stayed at the Autry home located in Everett, WA for 3 nights.

I saw many unique things downtown Seattle and it seemed like a mini-New York City. One of my favorite things was all the street musicians in Pike Market square. They were similar to hippies, i like hippies. Sometimes I wish I was one...or a gypsy. (According to gramps, wearing rings on every finger I was destined to become a gypsy- but somewhere along the way I stopped wearing that much metal on my hands. Messed up my chances real good.)

We saw the crazy fish-flinging fishermen and lots of seafood for sale. I ate a sample of some raw salmon. It was so delicious- you'd never know it was uncooked.

We also visited the first Starbucks store ever...it was not as I had pictured it. But still fun to see. It's just an old brick storefront coffee shop squeezed in between everything else on the fishermens wharf. Decorated with alot of wood and neutral colors. Reminiscent of it's simple beginnings. I'm sure the original owners never intended for it to go national- or corporate. blah

We went on this underground tour of the city of Seattle. Apparently a fire burned the whole city down at the beginning of the century and so they just rebuilt on top of it. Underground is also referred to as Sin City because of all the brothels and moonshine that was exchanged for money down there. The sidewalks above have these cool lookin' squares of glass- skylights into the underground city alleyways.

Nic's friend Luke is a chef here in the Twin Cities and was very eager and willing to make us a Seafood Feast on Friday night which included: mussels, crab, halibet, shrimp, and salmon. It was SO GOOD! My first real seafood experience and all I can say is I am not that crazy about the texture of the mussels, but other than that- DELICIOUS! Seafood is especially good with a glass of wine or champagne.

The view...breathtaking! Pictures don't do justice. But I took them anyway. We did alot of walking around and I loved being there. We went to The Taphouse one night and got sushi & drinks...very delicious and upscale.

Loved it, but I learned that I am a Midwest girl at heart.

ROADTRIP

Seattle, WA --> Minneapolis, MN

1664 miles

Left Saturday morning @ 10AM EST. 29 hours of driving (31 hrs after the time zone changes). We ran into a snow storm in the mountains, but we just went slow and used the 4-wheel drive to blaze a trail through it. The mountains are SO BIG! I'd def call them majestic, and it made me want to downhill ski. (Maybe on my next adventure) Montana is def big sky country...and ENDLESS. There were lots of deer crossing the road in the middle of the night. Crazy deer must've been mating because they could not be controlled...all that street crossing!

North Dakota..well- not much there. Everyone at the McD we stopped at was over 60 and missing at least 1 tooth. Interesting breed of people out there.

The Minnesota border never looked so good...even though it was 4 more hours after that. We pulled up to my flat about 4pm CST on Sunday...and I quickly showered and scurried off to church.

Annoyed that the guy in charge of getting volunteers for running the espresso machine double scheduled. I decided to let the other couple handle it and I stayed for the young adult's Last Sunday which was about NOISE and how all the chaos in our lives distracts us from listening to the Lord's voice. Just turn it all off and listen to the silence. Finally got back to the house around 7pm and forced myself to stay awake until 9pm.

My dark, warm, quiet bed never felt so good. *happy sigh*