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. 

Seattle

I had couple of days in Seattle, but my main objective here were to see a few friends.  I had a great time catching up with friends I haven't seen in years.  I also spent about 6 hours trying to catch the sights in downtown Seattle.  Although I thought I hated cities, I actually liked Seattle.  It's a different feel from DC, and also from NYC.  Not sure how to describe it, but I could see myself living there.  Maybe someday I will try a West Coast city.  Who knows. 

My 6 hour whirlwind tour of Seattle started with a monorail ride from the Space Needle and a short walk to the Central Library.  It was a very nice library.  Then over to Pioneer Square for the highly recommended Underground Tour.  For those who did not know, the city of Seattle was once an underground city.  This tour gives you the history of the place and how it came to be underground.  It's a pretty neat tour.  Afterwards, my friend & I headed over to Pike Place Market.  It's an indoor market with lots & lots of shops, but neither of us needed to buy anything so we left after getting suckered into buying smoked salmon.  We headed back towards the car via a sculpture garden, and then headed over in our car to see the troll before heading over to Bellevue for the night.