Wow - today was a L-O-N-G day! We woke up early so we could have time to get ready, eat breakfast, and be on the road by 9:00am. It is now 9:30pm and you can see I am just now getting to blogging. I am tired.
The morning started with a delicious room service breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon/sausage, hash browns and juice. Brandon was so ecstatic about having room service delivered, that alone made the whole morning fantastic. I love seeing him glow.
On the road at 9:00am, we were right on time and ready for our four and a half hour drive into Seattle. My trusty Garmin GPS led us onto I-84 West, to I-82 West and into Washington. All was merry until it led us off I-82 West and onto back highway roads through the countryside. My GPS is programmed to take us the fastest route first, so this must have been the better option, however, it freaked me out and left me feeling like we were being led down some strange out of the way path. I found myself cursing at the GPS like it was person who was certain "this is the way, just trust me!" and I think Brandon was a little worried I might be losing my mind. As we were driving through the back country, which by the way was really beautiful, I noticed a rather large vineyard which of course caught my attention. I explained to Brandon that we were in "wine country" and showed him how large a vineyard could be. He was impressed, and I was too when I noticed that this vineyard belonged to Columbia Crest. Not my favorite wine, but a label I instantly recognized. It made me long for a road trip with my girlfriends through Napa Valley... something I think I'll convince them to do with me very soon.
Anyway, this wine country detour eventually led us back onto I-82 West and my concerns and cursing subsided. On our way into Seattle, we drove over Snoqualamie Pass, which was absolutely beautiful and one of Brandon's favorite parts of the trip. As we were driving, he asked me in a rather matter of fact tone "And why aren't we living here?". I replied... "We could be - let's do it!". I mean, it has been a secret agenda of mine to check out real estate on this trip, just because, you know, it would be truly amazing to live here. Don't be surprised, if sometime in the future, my carefree soul packs up my Utah self to become a Washingtonian.
Ah, Seattle... what a gorgeous place! I love it here.. the green... the green... did I mention the green? Yes, it was cloudy today, but isn't it usually? It didn't rain though, and the temperature today was in the low 70's. Perfect. I texted Jenni to let her know we arrived safe... and mentioned how much I love it here. She replied "Aw! I am so excited!" So are we Jenni - so are we :)
To the hotel, hoping they'll let us check in early. They won't, but they do allow us to check our bags so that I can make room in my not so roomy MINI Cooper to accommodate a third passenger for the day, John. John is Brandon's dad... his real dad... and he just so happens to live here, in Kent. We made arrangements to spend the first two days of our trip with him, so that he and Brandon could get some visit time in with each other. To give you an idea... the last time Brandon saw John was in September 2006, and before that... sometime in 1998. It's a long story, but I will say I am glad they finally have a chance to get to know each other. I think it's important for both of them.
We met up with John at his apartment and then went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Lucky Brandon... it's one of his favorite places. I of course ate too much, and Brandon at a steak that looked like it was still mooing. Ick... but he loved it. Afterward we went to a mall which had an indoor glow in the dark mini golf course and we played two rounds in black lights and neon flourescent painted walls. It was actually really fun and Brandon, even though he's a little cheater (yes... and he can't deny it!) dominated over John and I and our non-existant mini golf skills. Many laughs were had.
Back to John's apartment, they played HALO for a while on XBOX while I sunk into their heavenly couch and relaxed. A long day, but fun and very memorable. We said goodbye for the evening just before dark so I could get us back to our hotel with the remaining daylight. The hotel is nice, and I am ready to crawl into bed for a hopefully decent nights sleep.
Tomorrow - all day with John in downtown Seattle... Pikes Place, EMP, Aquarium, Space Needle, etc. Should be a lot of fun. Stay tuned...
Brandon here:
K so this day was full of tons and tons of fun. We started the day by waking up at seven thirty in the morning and we got ready then the time finally came with three knocks on the door, my first time with room service. We chowed down on the best food ever for breakfast, then we hit the road. As hours passed we passed the border line of Oregon and Washington. Then we hit the BACK ROADS!!! and my mom was absolutely freaking out about how the gps was retarded and that it was... well lets just say I shouldn't type what she said. Then as she was about to say some more horrible words that I should not type we drove by the biggest vineyard ever. If you say you've seen bigger, well then you can go buy three kittens (or dogs,fish,etc.) because this was Columbia Crest! Man was that cool! Then a few more hours passed and we got to the most beautiful canyon ever. Some of the pictures you'll see below were taken by Moi. Then we ate ate at Cheesecake Factory. So you might have heard that I was a cheater at mini golf but in truth I'm not a cheater, I'm actually pure talent that is only seen as cheating. My mom just says I'm a cheater because she is 100% JEALOUS!! I'm a au' natural. Then we went to my dads house and played Halo 2 and then went home. See you tomorrow!!!!! (=^.^=)cat. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment