Seattle

Bad news... our Seattle pictures are going to be a little longer than anticipated. Our computer upstairs (which has all the picture software and such) has seemed to died. It will not connect to the internet so we cannot upload our pictures to share. We have to either figure out what is wrong with it or load the picture software onto our laptop and start loading pictures there. We plan to work on that problem this week so you'll get pictures by this weekend regardless. In the interim, here is the Seattle run down...

Friday 8/24
Grandma flew in at 10:30 am to spend the week with Bailey. After I picked her up from the airport, we went shopping, to eat lunch at On the Border, and then get a pedicure. At 3:30 pm, we went to pick up Bailey who was very excited to see Grandma. They spent the rest of the day bonding and having fun.

Saturday 8/25
Today is the day. We are off to Seattle. Our flight left at 9:30 am with Jason in first class and me in coach. You heard me. When we got to the airport, Jason had been upgraded to first class. The flight was full and he was told he could not give his seat to someone else and sit by me so we decided to leave it as is. Luckily, I was able to get his original aisle seat. Had I not, it really would have been bad as I would have been stuck in the middle while he was in first class. We finally got to Seattle around noon. Kathy and Phillip picked us up at the airport and we grabbed lunch at The Rock Wood Fire Pizza. It was so good! We then had a little drive to get to the ferry that would take us to Whidbey Island. The drive was so beautiful. My favorite part of the ferry ride was seeing all the puppies. When we got to Kathy & Phillip's, we spent the rest of the evening visiting. Kathy made a great lasanga and a green stuff desert that my grandmother used to make. It was awesome!

Sunday 8/26
Jason, Kathy, & I went to the Casino. While Kathy & I played Bingo, Jason went to try his luck gambling. Surprisingly, he was the big winner of the day winning $400. Afterwards, we went to Deception Pass. It is a beautiful spot connecting Whidbey Island to the main land. Here is an interesting story about why it is named Deception Pass:
http://www.deceptionpasstours.com/deception_pass_history.php
Once we arrived home, Phillip gave us a personalized tour of the Naval base and the airplanes he flies (P3s). I even sat at the controls buckled into my 14 point harness and headset. It was very interesting and definitely a unique opportunity. Giving Kathy the night off after her wonderful dinner on Saturday, Jason, Kathy & I had dinner at Arby's.

Monday 8/27
Our day started off with breakfast at a most unusual place. Jason and I were on our way to take an Orca whales cruise in Anacortes. Phillip told us that we should have breakfast at the bowling ally in Anacortes since it was on our way. We were very hesitant at first. However, we decided to chance it. From the outside, it looks like a bowling ally. But inside, it looks like a diner with a couple lanes. We were definitely not disappointed. It was inexpensive and fabulous! After breakfast, we headed to our boat and went on a 5 hour hunt to find the Orca whales. Although it was long, it was well worth it. We finally found a transient pod of 5 Orcas. At one point, they seemed to have captured prey (possibly a seal the captain of the ship said) but I have chosen to pretend that we didn't see that. We followed them for about an hour and then headed back to town. Phillip had left for Pensacola this morning so we took Kathy to dinner at Seabolt's Smokehouse (her recommendation of course). It was the first of many meals consisting of great fish we would have this week.

Tuesday 8/28
Our time at Whidbey Island had come to an end. Kathy brought us to the shuttle at 8:15 am which we took back to the Seattle airport. From there, we caught another shuttle to our hotel. After checking into the Westin Seattle (on 5th street downtown), we rode the monorail over to the Space Needle where we had lunch at the Sky City Restaurant. After, we explored the observation deck of the Space Needle and headed back to our hotel to wait for Emily. Emily picked us up around 4 pm and we went to Red Hook Brewery for the 5 pm tour, dinner, and Trivia Night. Although we didn't win Trivia Night, it was so much fun and definitely on our to do the next time we are in Seattle. Emily is awesome at Trivia Night and we've decided she should form a team and go weekly. :)

Wednesday 8/29
Today we went down to the waterfront and did all the touristy stuff down there. We went to Pikes Place Market, the first Starbucks, and had lunch on the water at the Crab Pot. Again, an awesome meal consisting of very good fish. We had reservations at 1 pm to take a Locks cruise. The weather was perfect so it was a really nice cruise. After we got back from the cruise, we headed down to Pioneer Square where we were going to kill time in the shops waiting on Emily & Diane. Emily showed up about 4 pm and we went to have a beer at Fado's. Ok, I was the only one who had a beer but it was a neat pub and we enjoyed visiting. At 6 pm, Diane met us and we did the Underground Tour. That was one of the coolest things we did. Basically, when they rebuilt Seattle, some property owners did not want to give up their land so they built Seattle one level above their property. Thus, some businesses continued to operate underground. Although there is nothing of substance left today, there is some neat remains to see and the guides are great story tellers. After our tour, we all went to eat at Joey's. There were lots of pretty people at Joey's and it clearly was a "meet and greet" type establishment. We felt a little out of place but the food was so good, we didn't care.

Thursday 8/30
Today we took a day trip to Victoria, BC. We left at 7:30 am and got there around 10. It was so beautiful - the weather was perfect. We didn't really have a plan before we got there but we quickly made one after we did. We decided to do a city tour on a double decker bus and get off at Craigdarroch Castle. While waiting on our tour, we explored The Empress hotel which is the oldest hotel in Victoria. It was amazing! Then our tour time came and we hoped on the bus. After about 30 minutes, we got off at the castle. It was really a glorified mansion but still very nice. The weather was so pretty that we decided not to hop back on the double decker bus but to walk and grab pizza for lunch at Ali Baba pizza. I saw someone with two reasonable size pieces of pizza and both Jason and I ordered two each. What I had seen was one piece cut in half. Basically, we had just ordered half a pizza. Needless to say, we threw out a quarter of it but it was really good! We probably could have eaten more but realized we would have been miserable. We continued walking and decided to go to the Royal BC Museum and explore the Titanic Exhibit. We also did the Titanica IMAX and some of their routine exhibits. I'm not a huge museum fan but this was one of the coolest museums I have ever been in. Their exhibits were very well done. After this, it was time to head back to the boat for our 7 pm departure back to Seattle. We got back to the hotel around 10 pm and decided the McDonald's on the corner was our best (and quickest) bet for dinner.

Friday 8/31
Today was our lazy day. Emily picked us up at 10:30 am so we could go to her house and meet Chloe - who is precious. Emily's parents took us to lunch at The Calcutta Grill (at The Golf Club at Newcastle). It was so nice visiting with them. The golf course is amazing! It is on hills and you can see all the way to downtown Seattle. We were going to play the putter course but it was closed for an event. After this, it was time to go to our hotel and say goodbye to Emily. We laid around the hotel room the rest of the afternoon and then decided to go shopping. Trying to decide what to do on our last evening in downtown Seattle, we decided we should see a movie (The Bourne Ultimatum) and have dinner (Gordon Biersch) - things that are hard to do with a 22 month old. It was a great way to end our stay downtown. The only disappointment of the day was Bailey had come down with croup while we were gone and Grandma had to take her to the doctor today. Luckily, she was in great hands so we could rest easy knowing she was being well taken care of.

Saturday 9/1
My Aunt Annabel & Uncle Ron picked us up at 10:30 am and we went to have lunch at Ruby's Diner. They then took us to Chateau St. Michelle Winery and a Kangaroo Farm. The kangaroo farm was another highlight of our trip. We got to feed and play with them. It was great. For dinner, they treated us to dinner at Anthony's. It was a really great restaurant at the Edmonds Marina. We then stayed the night at their beautiful home in Lake Stevens.

Sunday 9/2
After a wonderful breakfast cooked by my Aunt Annabel, it was time to head to the airport to catch our 12:45 pm flight back to Houston. It was so good to see everyone but it was time to say goodbye to Seattle. Our flight was uneventful this time (because Jason was able to turn down first class to sit by me) and we got home around 7 pm. Bailey was feeling better and was so happy to see us as we were her. Ahhh...home sweet home.