So I'm no snake charmer afterall

But we DID have a great time in Seattle. We went with the mindset of relaxed, no-frills, spontaneous weekenders and I think we accomplished just that.

We landed in Seattle around noon and checked into the Hotel Vintage Park - which I highly recommend if you are ever staying in downtown Seattle - and they gave us a complimentary upgrade to a suite! Then we went down to Pike Place Market for lunch and ate a great cafe called Matt's in the Market. Kevin talked me into a fried oyster sandwich. Not my favorite, but I was happy to try it. I'm a far different person than I was as a kid 20 years ago, who wouldn't touch anything but macaroni and cheese.

We also went to a wine shop and did a wine tasting for regions in Italy, and ended up buying a bottle of one of the samplings. Then we saw THIS GUY

It was Halloween, but I'm not sure this guy dresses differently on any other day

We walked down the boardwalk for a while and watched the cargo ships come in the harbor and push the tiny tugboats around like they were rubber duckies. After some walking, we stopped at Fisherman's for some steamers. I'd never had steamers, but wowzers! They're good, simple and fresh.

musical genius

The binoculars that stole Kevin's quarters. He was so pissed!

That night we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We had to sneak beers on in coffee cups...apparently if you don't wave it in front of the guards, they really don't care. It was so peaceful to stand at the helm of the ship and stare at the Seattle skyline.

The picture doesn't do justice to the view

Speaking of a view, Kevin gave the camera quite a pose

Do they all dress funny in Seattle? Again, it's Halloween, but I'm not so convinced otherwise

Okay, I know you're all dying to know about the snake. I'm normally TERRIFIED of creepy crawly reptiles who slither in coils, but I was feeling extremely ballsy and gave it a whirl to hold one. These teenagers had their pet python on the ferry on the way home and I insisted on holding him...several times. He crawled all around my neck and wrists, and never once made me feel threatened. Maybe snakes aren't so bad afterall.

Again, take note of the strange outfits in this city

I don't think I'll become a snake charmer anytime soon

Because of the time change, we got up really early both mornings and went to bed early both nights. Saturday morning we found a great "gourmet greasy spoon, without the grease" breakfast place in Queen Anne called 5 Spot. Then we walked back, which was a couple of miles, but we got to see a GREAT view of Seattle on the way back to the hotel.

The waiter at 5 Spot steered us to a nice break in the rolling streets of Seattle

We made our way back down to Pike Market for lunch and to see the actual market part. Very touristy, but we enjoyed lunch at Lowell's and bumped our way through the crowds. I might as well have put on my fanny pack and bought a Christmas ornament of the Needle, but I resisted.

That afternoon, Kevin noticed a wine bar on the map we had that sounded good. So we decided to check it out and spent several hours at Purple.

At Purple, getting to know the bartenders as shifts changed. Yep, we were there that long.

That night we watched the rest of the Tech game from our room (wreck 'em Raiders!) and went downstairs to Tulio. But that didn't work out, maybe because the menu descriptions were a little blurry for me, so we found a sushi place instead and were asleep by midnight, Pacific Time.

Sunday morning we went to breakfast at a coffee shop/cafe near the hotel and read the paper. Just before leaving town, we grabbed some last-minute clam chowder in Pike Market and hopped on our flight that afternoon.

Happy birthday sweetheart, I hope you enjoyed your birthday trip!