Sweet Seattle & Surrounding Scenery

[WARNING: This post is on photo overload!]

On Thursday I enjoyed another solo day downtown Seattle since Josh was again working at the plant on the southside.  I LOVE water ways and boats, so I decided to walk to Lake Union.  I didn't follow any specific course and instead let my sense of direction lead me there.  It was a pretty good little hike (my route was close to 2 miles) and fortunately, my internal navigation led me to the right place although I did have to make some detours due to sidewalk and road construction.  While walking to Lake Union I was really close to the Space Needle:

Lake Union

A view of the city from Lake Union:

The natural explorer in me wandered to this place:

And I enjoyed simple and quaint views like these:

I walked back to the downtown area where I had started out that morning.  This picture is for my Dad:

After all of that walking and exploring, I had worked up an appetite!  So I returned to a French bakery in Pike Place Market where I had wanted to dine. 

The yummy smells of walking by this restaurant brought back many great memories of the May 2003 trip to France that my friend LL and I enjoyed.  During that trip, we ate quite a few of these......so naturally, I had to order one again.....for nostalgic reasons of course. 

A thin sliced ham, with butter, on french bread.  Super yummy!

And then I decided to top it off with a healthier local treat, an apple (Jazz variety, so sweet and delicious!) from this produce stand:

 

Since I pretty much used all of my energy at the beginning of the day, I enjoyed taking it easy for the afternoon before Josh picked me up and we enjoyed oysters on happy hour at Elliott's again. 

Later that evening we met some of the other Charleston engineers for dinner at Red Hook Brewery where we decided the food was not very good. 

We called it a night so that we could get to bed and get ready for a touristy day on Saturday.  

On Saturday morning we drove to Mukilteo where we boarded the ferry to Whidbey Island.

And by "boarded," I mean we drove our car onto the ferry.

The cars were all parked in lines bumper to bumper.  I was thankful that we had an outside spot so that we could see the water and islands outside.

It was only about a 20 minute ride, but I really enjoyed it!

We turned our GPS on and I thought this was really funny.....our car in the middle of the water!  That's not something you see every day!  :)

Fortunately we lived to tell about it! ;)  It wasn't long before we were released off the ferry and we were greeted with this sign:

We were also greeted by these petitioners!  (Seriously, it was just a group of people holding signs and flags - there was no violence or action taking place....at least we are not aware of any.)

The drive was beautiful!

And then......the moment we had been waiting for......we made it......to Deception Pass!

How beautiful!!!

 

We had a low-key Saturday night where we stayed in, ate snacks for dinner, and watched the UK game.

Sunday morning delivered the moment I have been waiting for!

Since we arrived weeks ago, this sign was in place of the attraction I most wanted to see:

I was sad that I couldn't see them from the moment we first visited Pike Place on our first weekend.  However, I was so thankful that we would still be around when they reopened!  

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, this is the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market!  

For a little history about how I learned about this place years ago......in the midst of my leadership studies I read the FISH! Philosophy book.  It remains my favorite today!  The book is based on "boosting morale and improving results" and it uses this particular fish market as the model.  The fishmongers have a great time and are always looking for a way to make someone's day.  I had seen many video clips of the fish throwing in action, so you can see why I was so excited for the opportunity to witness this event!  

We were there pretty early Sunday morning so it wasn't very busy.  The fishmongers were really nice to chat with us, answer questions, and take our picture!  They also gave me stickers (is it weird that stickers are just as fun at 26 as they were at 6?)  I was thrilled and seeing this site with my husband made my day!  I was so thankful for Josh who got up early on the weekend to take me downtown on what started out as a rainy day & I was thankful that the market was open and I could see them in action! 

I brought my book again for the photos, which led them to introduce me to another book written about the market: "Catch! A Fishmonger's Guide to Greatness" (the tag line is: 'stop floundering and become more effective in your life and work').  Of course I bought it.....because I wanted it and because we weren't buying any fresh fish to bring home and they autographed it for me! ha!  I haven't started reading it yet, but will update when I do.  Until then, enjoy these photos from our time at the Pike Place Fish Market!

 

(Yep, that fish above is airborne!)

 Josh and me in the midst of the fishmongers behind the counter!

And since we were at Pike Place (for what we figure was our last visit during this Seattle trip) we enjoyed some homemade donuts:

We may have grab some cheesecake to take with us to enjoy during the big game:

And there was one last trip to the original Starbucks:

Before we left downtown, we did one last tourist attraction.  We headed down post alley to the Market Theater Gum Wall:

On our way back to the hotel in Lynnwood, we grabbed a pizza [to go with our cheesecake, of course] and took it back to the room for the Superbowl!

Last night we went to dinner and a movie with a couple other Charleston engineers.

And tonight we have big plans that I can't wait to post about!!  

Here's a little hint:

Let's Talk Technology!

This post is not about some fancy new pieces of technology that I'm wanting.  And it's certainly not a rant about malfunctioning technology, rather a statement of my gratitude and contentment with what I have.  

Sometimes it's hard to be content with you what you have, particularly with the appealing advertisements that are constantly in our face every direction we turn.  I saw a headline today that if you have a smart phone, it's already an outdated dinosaur.  Honestly, the attempt at persuasion didn't even phase me.  Even though I was resistant about trading in my old school cell phone for a fancy touch screen with [stop. the. world.] internet access, I have become quite fond of my device since we got them late August.  In fact, I resisted change like it was nobody's business but had fallen in love with my new device practically before we left the Verizon store that evening.

Lately I have been particularly aware of how cool technology is.  Without trying to sound like someone much older than my made-in-the-80's-self, I am amazed at the things that we can do and the rapid advancement of such technology.  And to beat all, we think of these things as simple and have come to rely on their functioning for our daily lives.

• Blogging/Scrapbooking: Mom and I caught the scrapbooking bug when I was a freshman in high school.  We printed photos, cut paper, embellished with stickers and other trinkets, and bound everything in an album.  While scrapbooking is still a very popular activity, it too has evolved from the early days.  The possibilities are endless, as my sweet mom is the proud owner of some of the latest and greatest equipment.  I have taken a preference for digital photo albums and blogging.  I LOVE and ADORE BLOGS!  I can keep up with old friends, share updates with our friends and family, as well as learn about people and topics that I didn't previously know.  And not only can I do these things, I can even do them from my phone.  Two particular bloggers that I follow are friends in real life too (Jess & Carly) and they are both going through their first pregnancies carrying precious baby boys.  I have not seen either girl in months (sad face), yet I have had the joy of following their blogs to keep in touch and see their growing bellies!  In fact, I am missing a baby shower this weekend (sad face again) because we are currently very far from home.  So thanks to technology (and a sweet mom), I will be there in spirit, which brings me to my next point.
• Online shopping: When I realized that not only could I not make it to the baby shower, but also mail from the Pacific Northwest takes forever to get to the Southeast, I started thinking what I could do to avoid shipping gifts and chancing them not arriving in time.  That's when I came up with an idea......so I contacted Mom (through my cell phone's text feature, of course) and she was kind to offer to help in any way.  Long story short, I checked out both girls' baby registries online, chose available items I would like to give, was able to check if they were in stock at the store closest to mom, then I emailed her all details of the gifts, then she went to the store, and I received a text a couple hours later that the shopping was done and she was wrapping the gifts.  [Side note:  technology is great, but let's not give it all the credit.  This plan would have never worked if it weren't for my mom who was sweet enough to sacrifice her time and energy for my needs, and then deliver them to my friend Lora who is sweet to transport the gifts to the shower this weekend.  Technology makes things easier, but people are the real driving force.] 
• Live streams: My previous post was about tracking my husband's first test flight for his job.  The opportunity to do that was really comforting since I was praying for a safe landing.  Additionally, it helps me better understand his work and how they test (not the technical stuff, just the very basics).  So this afternoon he contacted me that he would be taking another test flight to begin late afternoon/early evening.  All I had to do was ask for his flight number and within seconds I was tracking the status.  However, that's not all.  I also wanted to participate in our church's First Wednesday service.  Josh's flight and the church service were happening consecutively, but I didn't fret because I was able to do both at once:

 

 

 

You can see I was able to have live updates of Josh's flight and get the live stream for the church service.....all from the comforts of my west coast hotel room.  I even had the church service streaming on my phone for a while.  In the midst of all this, I would save some screen shots to track Josh's flight patterns (it was crazy tonight!) as well as the final worship service led by our beloved Martin Chalk (he and his wife are moving their family back to Europe to help lead a revival there....we will miss them greatly). 

This post doesn't even touch on my digital camera love and how easy it is to directly insert the SD card into the laptop, which can then be uploaded to the blog (among other things), which can be seen immediately from anywhere in the world!  And that is in part to my faithful laptop, which Josh and I recently discussed is four years old this month (thanks Mom & Dad!), and thankfully it still works phenomenally!  

My next adopted technology is not so new, just one that I haven't yet jumped on the bandwagon....Skype!  However, I did set-up an account last week.  Actually, my phone has the capability for it - I just haven't utilized it yet.  My Dad should be glad I finally made an account since he proudly informed me at Christmas that he already had one!  :)

My challenge is to be content with what you have - be happy in your home, your car, your gadgets, your clothes, and all other material things.  Let's be thankful for what we have and maximize the way that we use such things.  That might seem like an odd way to end a post about technology, but I believe it's a lesson in which we all could use a reminder.  Lately I've really tried focusing on eternal values, so I've felt a contentment that is very deep.  A peace and contentment in my "right now."  A thankfulness for the season of life I'm in, although uncertain, yet so full of blessings.  Join me and take some time to enjoy the moment without looking for the next best thing!  :)