Seattle Adventures

Seattle was WONDERFUL. It was great to get away from the chaos that DC was presenting me before I left. The night before I left, Mallory informed me that she'd be moving to NC and leaving me alone with Drew and Robby. Kind of hard to swallow.

So, needless to say, a vacation from DC was just what I needed! What better way to face reality than run from it? heh.

My flight to Seattle was flawless. I felt like a character in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as I caught the MACR train from Union Station (DC) to Baltimore on Friday afternoon. From there, I grabbed a shuttle bus to the airport. I sat in the airport for a little over an hour before my nonstop flight to Seattle.

Upon arriving, I met Mike in the airport (who was about 45 minutes behind me on a plane from NC). Mike's friends (Melissa and West), with whom we stayed, picked us up after 12:30 AM (Pacific Time) and took us to their house.

Day One (Saturday) was busy. We awoke and went to a local restaurant for breakfast. The food was delicious and the menu featured a rotating section that had a specific country's theme. June's theme was "Jamaica" and featured dishes cooked with Jamaican spices. Also, the restaurant's decor was changed to fit the menu. There were tropical paintings, signs, and tapestries to enhance the experience. Pretty cool idea.

After breakfast, we packed our overnight gear and fishing snacks and set sail for Bellingham Bay, WA. We had plans to go deep sea fishing the next morning (Sunday) and opted to stay in the beautiful Hotel Bellwether on Saturday night. During the two hour drive to Bellingham Bay, we stopped at Sakuma Bros. Farms and picked FOUR buckets of strawberries! The ripe strawberries were delicious and made a fun "popping" sound as they were plucked off the plant. It's now one of my favorite sounds and ranks up there with snow crunching under my shoes and rain on a tin roof.

After our strawberry adventure, we finished the drive to the Bellwether Hotel. The hotel's view of the bay was gorgeous. We had appetizers and drinks on their outdoor patio as we watched the sun slip lower on the horizon. Since we had to be up early for fishing (read: at the dock by 5:15 AM), we called it an early night. Sunset was close to 10:30 PM.

It arose shortly after 4:45 AM and so did we. We met our fishing guide, Darryl, at the dock for the opening day of King Salmon fishing. The five of us took a twenty minute ride out into the bay and began a six hour morning of fishing. Melissa caught the first and only salmon about 45 minutes into the day. It was over 20 pounds and easily fed ten of us at a later time. The rest of the morning, we caught a few sharks, another kind of fish that was happy to be returned to the water because of his small size, and some sun. Oh, and a seashell.

Our guide felt bad that we only caught one fish that we could actually keep, so he treated us to four crabs once we returned to the dock. Pretty generous guy.

When we got off the boat, we gorged on some fresh hotdogs at the dock and then headed back to Seattle. It was already a full day. After returning to Seattle, West grilled the Salmon on a plank and we had fresh salmon topped with a mango salsa, steamed crab, and a yummy salad that Melissa prepared. Mmm. It was delicious.

That night, we bought jars and necessary ingredients to turn our fresh strawberries into jam. In the course of the next two days, we made over 25 jars of fresh strawberry jam.

Day Three (Monday) was just as busy. We slept in a bit (til about ten) and then went with Melissa and West to the famous Pike's Place Market. It was there that I saw the well-known fish market, tasted some highly suggested donuts (fresh!), saw beautiful artwork, tried "world famous" Mac & Cheese from Beecher's, and delighted in fruits that were the freshest I'd ever tasted (and biggest I'd seen!). It was fabulous!

After the Market, Mike and I parted ways with our hosts and took a bus to the Space Needle. It was one of my requested places to visit. We rode an elevator to the top of the needle and walked around the 520' high deck. From there, we had a clear view of Seattle, Mt. Rainier, and the mountain range that connects the U.S. and Canada. It was breath-taking. City life went on below us, boats and cars went their destined ways, and I even caught a glimpse of the Seattle Ducks! Apparently, those Ducks span from DC to Seattle!

When Mike and I returned from our Space adventure, we had another freshly caught dinner of salmon (tacos) with West, Melissa, and their neighbors.

Day Four (Tuesday) was an adventure too! The four of us loaded back into the car and headed for Mt. Rainier. We spent the day picnicking and hiking close to Paradise, Mt. Rainier. The mountain base had patches of snow that thickened as they continued up the slopes. We hiked on a trail that was over a mile. Some sights included: waterfalls, wild flowers, snow covered meadows, and pine trees that stretched towards the sky. In the visitors center we spied about a dozen climbers through a powerful scope.

That evening, we were all pretty tired, so we stopped by a Vietnamese Restaurant and had pho' (pronounced fuh) for dinner. Mike taught us all how to eat the "make your own" soup. It was tasty and a great way to end the day. From there, we went back to West and Melissa's and relaxed. Our plane left early on Wednesday morning. I was back in DC for the fireworks and excitement of the 4th.