"There are other things to do in Seattle than Football?"

Until the 4th of July weekend, I had only gone up to Seattle to watch NFL games. I would drive up there with friends, park the car, walk to the stadium, watch the game, walk back to the car, and drive back home. I had always heard that there were fun things to do in Seattle but never believed it. So Andrea and I decided to give it a shot and become tourists in Seattle for the weekend. We spent quite a bit of time up there, from Thursday, July 2nd thru Sunday, July 5th. It was a lot of fun. We were able to see many many attractions.

Andrea was a trooper. Our hotel was in the heart of downtown, we stayed at the Hyatt on 8th and Olive. We were able to walk to the majority of the places and attractions we wanted to see, unfortunately for Andrea. She did a great job though - we did have to walk MUCH slower than our well established "Disneyland" pace which was a little brutal for me. I'm sort of the type to get to the next place as quickly as possible. My thinking is that whenever we get to where we're going, there will likely be a line, so the faster we get there - the shorter the line. I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to things like that. However, we walked pretty darn slow and Andrea was quick to remind me that I needed to get used to it with the little one on the way. I just had to keep telling myself, "We're not in a hurry. We're not in a hurry. We're not in a hurry." We persevered and Andrea had the aching feet and back to prove it. Poor thing.

We left work at 3pm on Thursday and after battling through Portland traffic got to Seattle at about 7:15 or so. We checked in and then took the monorail to the Space Needle. Being on a monorail and not headed for The Happiest Place on Earth, or Tomorrowland, or California Adventure just seemed wrong and a little confusing, but we got through it alright. We had reservations for dinner at the Space Needle and got there just in time for sunset. It was a great time. Luckily, we had a family about 3 tables away from us to keep our future in perspective. They had a number of small children with them who were at different times during the dinner, excited, angry, sad, really-really angry, and just plain loud. And they didn't have any trouble letting our side of the restaurant know about it. You would have thought they were trying to warn incoming planes not to hit the Space Needle itself. With that said, it was still a great time and a great way to start off the Seattle weekend.

On Friday, we had breakfast at Pike's Place Market at a restaurant called Lowell's. We could look over the water and just relax. On the way we saw the "Inn at the Market", and also the "Athenian Inn". Both places can be seen in the "Sleepless in Seattle" movie. It was pretty cool. From there we walked down to the ferry. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island where we walked and shopped for the better part of the day. By the time we got back to "mainland" we (Andrea) were pooped. So we had some dinner and turned in for the night.

On Saturday, we were able to do the Seattle Underground tour. This was really interesting to see. There was an original Seattle that was built about 10-16 feet below the Seattle we know today. We were able to go underground and see what it was like back in the day. Andrea was making the tour guide a little nervous. Everytime we stopped, Andrea would do what she could to alleviate some of the pain in her back (no, not me) and start stretching, or leaning on the railing, or squat down. I'm pretty sure that the tour guide was thinking she was going to faint on his tour. He kept looking at her to make sure she was still "with it". Anyway, that was a really good time. Again, Andrea was a trooper for walking around underground on the 90 minute tour.

After the underground tour we went to the "Experience Music Project" next to the Space Needle. This was a good time. There was a huge concrete open area before the entrance and there were hundreds of chalk sentiments in tribute to the late Michael Jackson. We took a picture of an especially memorable one. "I will grab my crotch and spin everyday in your honor". We were also able to play some intstruments and learn about the history of music in Seattle and elsewhere.

Saturday evening, we shopped around a little and had some dinner and then called it a day. We did however, visit the hot tub at the hotel. It was a very long day of walking around and it was so HOT in Seattle. A good soak is what both of us needed. I was a little afraid that we would boil the baby, but after questioning some friends I was assured that it would be okay for Andrea to sit in the hot tub for a few minutes.

On the last day, Sunday, we didn't do a whole lot. We went to breakfast at a nice little place called CJ's. Then we walked down to an Olympic Sculpture park or something like that. Walked back along the waterfront, and then grabbed a cab for the rest of the trip to the hotel. Andrea had clearly had enough of walking for the weekend, I can't say that I blame her.

Now we're back in Sherwood and the Seattle trip was just one of many, many busy weekends we have for about the next 2 months. Yikes! It was a good time though. If you're still reading this crazy long post - thanks!