Seattle!

Our trip to Seattle was so much fun, R has been telling people he wants to retire there.  I think a key ingredient was the weather.  After living in East Asia for 3 years grey and rainy doesn't bother us at all. As the clouds descended, nostalgia settled in with it.  Yet Seattle's fog is a little different than CQ's "fog" which is mostly smog.  It was cool (not warmer than 68 the whole time!) and clear and GREEN. Just the right amount of outdoors for city-dwellers like us!

Day 1: We arrived at SEA-Tac and went straight for an espresso bar! Then we ate some tasty chinese and headed to the saturday night service at Mars Hill.  We were spent after church due to the travel & time change.
Day 2: Seester took us and her boyfriend to hike Mount Si.  It was great to be out in the fresh air but after 4 miles up into the clouds and back, I groaned the rest of the week whenever I was forced to use my legs.  So much fun to be out and hike some!  We came home and ordered pizza which was incredible (as all food after a hike is).

yes we ARE holding hands in an effort to stay warm- it was definitely in the 40s at the top of the mountain.

they say there's a beautiful view from this mountain but we wouldn't know- it was all clouds.

you wouldn't have guessed I was threatening to piggy back down the mountain with my smile but it was an intense hike :)

Of course the biggest highlight was time with Seester!  My sister and I are only 16 months apart, and while we can still get after each other at times there's no one I laugh harder with.  She moved out to Seattle last July and has been committing more and more to it each day.  She was a great hostess and tour guide.  

Day 3 was our big sight-seeing day.  We braved the city bus system and easily navigated our way to Pike's place market.  After piroshkies & wandering the stalls we made our way (gingerly due to my sore muscles) to the docks and took a ferry to Bainbridge.  The ferry ride was full of beautiful vistas and a faint glimpse of mount rainier.  We made it back to the market picked up some flowers before heading home to make dinner for one of R's groomsmen who is a Seattle native.  

I wore flannel and thought it was fitting.

nothing like good russian pastries

we took a ferry to an island

navigating the bus system with our market flowers in tow

Day 4 we strolled over to the local donut shop across the street from the local coffee roastery in gorgeous green lake. It's seattle so even the donuts are healthy.  Ok maybe not healthy but as harmless as possible :)  And the coffee was incredible.  We then did our own tour of some incredible parks- the Ballard locks where ships and sailboats alike go from salmon bay into puget sound and out to the Pacific. It was fun to watch the salmon swim upstream using the fish ladder!  

visiting the locks & salmon ladder

love this girl!

We grabbed the most delicious falafel & lamb shewarma at this adorable Egyptian woman's "Hummus Cafe".  Too cute.  We went home and relaxed before enjoying beverages and appetizers at maybe our favorite stop on the culinary tour: Brouwers cafe.  How could it not be our favorite when we ordered frites, pretzels & sausage?  Oh seattle- you are too much!

pre-libations & snacks

Day 5 was the fourth of July and we stayed close to home and enjoyed the festivities in Greenlake from the rooftop.  R & I trekked back to the coffee shop to grab a pound of their tangletown roast to take with us.  It's not often R buys someone else's coffee so you know it's good! We met up with Seester & boyfriend at home.  They made the perfect grocery trip and we pan-seared our own pecan crusted salmon and put together a lunchtime feast to share with R's friend & new girlfriend.  The afternoon was low key and ended with American hotdogs in the evening.   

Seattle is a fabulous city and I hope we get to visit seester there again someday! I was quite honestly sad when we got home to ATL and it was 103 degrees.  Thankfully I had the weekend to recover.   

best view of Rainier thanks to the weather!