Seattle

With the July 4th holiday being smack in the middle of the week, I managed to make a five day weekend for a much needed get away. I flew to Seattle since I had couple of friends there (Sue & Jaime) I wanted to see, and it turned out to be a great few days. I did some sightseeing around Seattle, but also got introduced to Season 1 DVD of Game of Thrones. Can't wait for the Season 2 DVD to come out. Sue's husband, Mike, was also into Skyrim, and I got a few pointers on him that I've been trying out since getting back.  Sue also took me to lots of great restaurants.  To top it all off, it was sunny everyday and a pleasant 70 degrees :)

As for the sightseeing, here's what I did:

Mt. Rainier National Park

Sue had to work & was preggo but Mike and I drove down for the day to Mt. Rainier.  We initially planned to do some hikes around Paradise, but seems the snow is lingering longer this year so they were all snow covered.  So much for seeing wildflowers :S  We did a short walk around the area, and then moved onto Box Canyon, which was a very short walk to a cool overlook of a canyon.  Much recommended spot.  We kept on and did another walk to Silver falls, and then onto White River campground.  Here we hoped to do another walk but ran out of time before having to get back to Seattle for dinner. 


Japanese Garden

I've been missing Japan a lot lately, so I decided to get my fix at the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum.  We got there first thing when it openned, so it was a nice peaceful stroll through the gardens.  Few other people were there, and couple kids feeding the koi and turtles.  More people were visiting by the time we left.  It was a short visit, but it will have to do until I get an opportunity to visit Japan again.

Harbor Tour

After the Japanese Garden I met up with an old Coastie friend, Jaime, for lunch and afternoon.  It was such a gorgeous day I thought it would be great to spend some time on the water, so we hopped on an hour long harbor cruise.  It was a bit more like a tour, since the narrator gave a nice history and overview of Seattle.  We also saw the two Coast Guard icebreakers Polar Star and Healy.

Aquarium

If you don't have time to take advantage of the City Pass, the Aquarium and Harbor cruise combo pack for $35 is a good deal.  Turns out my friend's Microsoft Passport card got me a better deal though.  Both, the harbor tour departure and aquarium are near the new ferris wheel in downtown. 

Even though it was a Friday, everyone was in town and the aquarium was a little packed.  It was still nice seeing all the fishies and other marine animals.  I especially enjoyed watching the otters, who just happenned to be feeding when we got there.