Seattle!

Sunday July 24th - 


On Sunday morning we said goodbye to the Hammond's and traveled about 4 hours north to Seattle for the day.  Dad and Beth had to be at the airport by 4pm for their flight so we only had time for a quick visit to Pike's Place Market.  We enjoyed some awesome Clam Chowder, although we've decided that San Francisco's chowder was much better.  We also savored the most delicious smoked salmon we've ever tasted.  Nate said he would go back to Seattle just for the salmon, and I don't think he was joking.  Seattle is also apparently a hub for flower production, so Pike's Place Market was packed with people selling gorgeous bouquets of flowers (which would cost $60 and up here) for only $10 to $15.  If we were staying longer, it would have been awesome to pick up some flowers.  With Seattle having one of its first sunny days this summer, we lucked out again with a wonderful view of the Puget Sound and sailboats out in the harbor.  Sadly, 4pm came too quickly and we had to say goodbye to Dad and Beth.  We had a wonderful time with them and wish they could've stayed with us longer.

For the evening, we headed up towards Redmond, WA, which is Northeast of downtown Seattle, to visit our college friend Cesar Ruiz.  Cesar is from Monterrey, Mexico, but after graduating at the University of Illinois, he now works in Seattle and lives with his Aunt and Uncle.  Cesar's sister Ana and his fiance  Ale were also there, as well as Ale's sister Roxana and her son Rafa.  It was a full house, but we really enjoyed visiting with them!  Before we arrived, Cesar and his family has picked up some of the biggest marshmallows we had ever seen, and so we spent the evening roasting fist-sized marshmallows and eating giant s'mores in the gorgeous evening weather while catching up on life.  An excellent evening to say the least.

Monday July 25th-


Ale, Roxana and little Rafa flew back to Monterrey in the morning, so Cesar took the rest of us on a grand tour of the Seattle area.  Our first stop was the Snoqualmie Falls.  When we were first planning our road trip, our friends Rachel and Sam George recommended that we check out Snoqualmie so we were glad it was on Cesar's list of must see's as well!  It was a rainy, dreary day, but the falls were still beautiful.  

At Snoqualmie Falls

 For lunch drove back towards the city had bagel sandwiches at Blazing Bagels.  We loved their slogan "Best Bagels East of New York"!!  I can attest, it's not an exaggeration.  (We went back on our way out of Seattle to pick some up for the road)

Downtown seattle was our next stop with a view of the Space Needle!  We were considering taking the elevator to the top, but quickly realized that our only view would be of the inside of a cloud, as our sunshine quota had run out and the weather had returned to its natural state of a perpetual mist.  Instead, we hopped on the monorail to get further into downtown.  Cesar and Ana were our tourguides as we meandered through the shopping district and down to Pike's Place Market a second time.  More smoked salmon was a must!  (And they really do throw the fish when someone orders one.  It was pretty funny to see people standing around the fish stands with their cameras at the ready, hoping for someone to buy something.)

At the Seattle Space Needle with Brian

This time with Ana and Cesar!

The best Smoked Salmon EVER!

Since we were in Yosemite for the premier of Harry Potter 7 Part 2, Cesar and Ana reintroduced us to society by taking us to see it at the IMAX 3D!  After the movie we headed to the airport again, this time to say goodbye to Brian, who had been traveling with us for the last 2 weeks.  It was great to have him along on the adventure as well!