Anniversary Trip Day 1: Seattle

Zack and I were blessed to be able to take a trip to Washington State for our 7th anniversary this year. We left our little town on august the 13th and made it to Seattle LATE that night.

We had a direct flight from ATL to Seattle. the plane ride was 5 hours and after a while you can start to feel a little stir crazy. I was trying to study for my recertification test..but you can only read that kind of stuff for so long before having your mind shut down. Zack was using his computer to nail down some final details of our trip. I was able to sleep a little on the plane and I had brought a novel to read on the plane as well, which helped to pass the time.

I had had a slight cold before we left home and I had been taking airborne and ricola cough drops hoping to ward it off. As we started our descent into Seattle, I started feeling pressure around my right eye. As we got closer to the ground, the pain intensified and I thought that my right eye socket was going to explode! I was in intense pain. Thankfully, shortly after we landed, the pain subsided...but it was not a pleasant experience!

Once we got off of the plane, Zack and I headed to baggage claim to get our 1 checked bag. The poor thing gets a little more beat up anytime we go anywhere. Now it is missing one of the legs and it won't stand up straight..guess it is time for a new suit case.

After getting our luggage, Zack and I went in search of a shuttle to Fox rental cars. We had to wait a while before they finally came and got us. Then, the car that they had us in was a PT cruiser...Zack did not like that idea. We ended up upgrading to a Nissan Altima, we had rented one of those on our last trip out west and it had worked out well for us.

We were staying at a Hampton Inn near the airport, but we had to go rent our car before going to the hotel. We ended getting to the hotel REALLY late. While waiting for our room to be assigned, I grabbed some complimentary coffee...I was in Washington state home of Starbucks...I had coffee literally everyday we were there. :)

Something had happened to the hotel's computer system and they were not able to check us in...they couldn't tell what rooms were available and of those available which were clean. Several people waiting were starting to get upset. i thought that it was all part of the experience....although, I was pretty tired and would have like to get to sleep...I figured worse case we would sleep on the couches in the lobby.

I made Zack stand so that I could get a picture of the poor desk clerk to remember our first night's adventure.

Finally, the manager and desk clerk started going through a list of rooms and knocking on the doors to see if they were occupied. If they weren't then they opened the door to see if they were clean.

While waiting, I struck up a conversation with a middle aged couple from South Washington, and they were in Seattle for the Mariner's game. When asked about things to do in the area, they suggested San Juan Islands and mount Rainier.

Zack and I were finally assigned a bedroom. We were a king suite which was clean and comfortable... and thankfully no one came knocking on the door in the middle of the night.

Sunday morning, Zack and I woke up at about 8 and got ready for a day in Seattle. We headed to the lobby for a continental breakfast....which I thought was pretty good as far as continental breakfasts go.

After a big breakfast, Zack and I headed back to our room packed up and headed into Seattle. We had talked to a couple people to get some ideas of things to do while we were there. We parked near Pike Place Market and headed down to the water front. We walked along the water for a while.

We went into a little place called Mariner's Landing which was a group of stores and an arcade right on the water front. Zack was REALLY thirsty. So, we were searching for some water when we stumbled across it. On our way our of Mariner's landing, we noticed a grouping of tents with a totem pole in them. These totem poles were the first to be carved in Seattle for about 70 years. They were being carved in honor of a master craftsman and Native American who had been accidentally shot the year before. We went down and looked at the totem poles for a while. They really are amazing craftsmanship.

After looking at the totem poles, Zack and I headed to the Seattle Aquarium, which aunt Kay had recommended.

They had lots of aquariums with interesting fish and sea life in them, but they also had birds and sea mammals common to the area.





It was a really nice aquarium and they had several shows that you could watch and learn about the animals/fish. The divers had special equipment that allowed them to talk to and hear the audience.

We got to see an octopus feeding. She grabs the fish and takes them into her mouth were she licks at them until they are gone.
There were lots of exhibits to touch fish/sea creatures or interact with the exhibits in one way or another. Zack and i both enjoyed it and we ended up spending a couple of hours there.



After we left the Aquarium, we headed to the famous Pike Place Market. It is HUGE. I could have spent all day there. It is several levels of shops. There are sops down under the road and at road level they have the fresh market. There local farmers and fisherman bring their fresh produce/flowers/fish to sell. There is so much to see and experience...and it is FILLED with people. There were beautiful bouquets of flowers for 5 dollars there was great looking fresh produce and I am sure if you liked fish that you could not ask for much fresher fish and seafood than you could purchase at the market.




Zack and I wondered around the market. We got Rainier Cherries...which were delicious, thanks for the tip aunt Kay.

Zack also got a shrimp and Scallop ceviche at one of the fish markets. He said that it was good, but he thought that there was a little too much cilantro in it...which was kinda overpowering.
We also went to the famous fish market where they throw the fish. I had had to sit through a whole video about that market at orientation for work a few years ago, and so, I thought that I might as well see it while we were there. No one was really buying fish while we were there. So, I think we only saw 1 maybe 2 fish thrown, but it was still fun to see.

We walked around the market for a couple of hours. We went passed the 1st Starbucks, but the line was SO long that we did not get any coffee.

We did stop at a little restaurant called Mr. D's to have some authentic Greek food for lunch. Zack got a traditional felafel, and I had a gyro. They were really good.

As we were walking around the market, we also saw a sigh advertizing Turkish Delight. About a week before we left for our trip, we had been talking with Zack's dad about Turkish Delight. So, we decided to try some. It was disgusting. It was the sweetest, chewiest, gelatin-y thing I have ever eaten. I hope that I never have to eat it again! Yuck!

The other thing that we noticed as we walked around the market was the number of street performers that there were....literally every street corner had one or more performers on it. Some were more colorful than others.

After walking around for a couple hours, we headed a few blocks away to the catch the Monorail to Seattle Center to go to the Space Needle. We bought a round ticket and hopped aboard the next available train. The Monorail dropped us off basically at the foot of the Space Needle. There were several museums and attractions in this area, but we had limited time and thus, were only able to explore the Space Needle.

Zack and I waited in line to go up to the top of the Space Needle. The wait was worth it. we were rewarded with spectacular views of Seattle.



We stayed up at the top of the Space Needle for about an hour and then headed back to our car. We had to drive about 1.5 hours to the little town of La Conner to our hotel for the night. We were staying at the Queen of the Valley Bed and Breakfast. We got to our hotel at about 8 o'clock, went up to our room and then headed into town. We needed to get some dinner, but the town basically shuts down at 9 oclock. So, we ended up going to a little convenience store to get some food for dinner. Zack had a lunchable and I got a turkey sandwich and some pretzels. We took our dinner back to our hotel and headed up to the balcony off of our hotel room to eat our dinner. It was pretty cold. So, I ended up wimping out and finishing my dinner in the room where it was a little bit warmer, while Zack braved the cold.













We had a full day planned for Monday. So, we headed to bed early so that we would be rested for the day ahead.