Vacay Day 4: Seattle

Our morning started off here...

The views from the top of the Space Needle were amazing! When we booked our trip I really didn't think that I would see blue sky like that.

As I made my way around the observation deck I noticed that you could see the mountain range across the bay. I believe those are part of the Olympic Mountain range.

In Seattle you are also able to see the Cascade Mountain range which is home to Mt. Rainier (the highest in the range). The sun was really bouncing off the clouds that morning so it was hard to get a picture of the mountain, but you can kind of make it out just right of downtown Seattle. If I ever get a chance to go back, I would really like to take a trip up to Mt. Rainier.

The next part of our day was taking a tour of Safeco field where the Mariners play ball. If you can believe it, this was only my second ballpark tour. My first was this past spring up in Arlington at Ranger's Ballpark (I know what you're thinking, but don't worry I will eventually tour Minute Maid)

Oh yeah! I was on the field! We got to sit in each dugout and then go into the visitors locker room! The field has a retractable roof (makes sense since it rains a lot), but it does not seal itself like Minute Maid. It acts more like a giant umbrella.

These are my favorite pics from the tour...Clockwise: 1. A famous picture of the team making it to the playoffs (I think don't...quote me on that) 2. Safeco is the only ballpark to serve Sushi and Sake (the Mariners have a huge Japanese fan base and the majority owner is the Nintendo guy) 3. A cyclone of bats at the entrance a birds eye view gives the effect of a cyclone and looking up from underneath it's every motion a bat goes through for right hand and left hand hitters 4. Lastly the patio area where on a good day you can once again see the mountains

Vacay Day 3: Seattle

First stop of the morning was to Pike's Place Market!

Classic tourist shot as you can see by the other tourist in the bottom of the photo also getting his very own

The fish market area! Sadly we didn't get to see the flying fish...boo Oh and we went on Halloween in case you noticed the leg on ice and the hand hanging from the top

This isn't just any old Starbucks...

it's the ORIGINAL Starbucks! Oh and of course I had to get my soy hot coco no whip and it was delicious!

Next item on the agenda for the day was a trip around Elliot Bay aboard the Argosy Ship where we saw...

The Seattle Skyline

Sea Lions napping on a buoy that usually sits 3 feet out of the water

And last but not least a Naval ship that was used in one of the Transformers movies!

Next stop was the Aquarium (the Argosy tour and the Aquarium were a package deal)

Since it was Halloween the Aquarium showed their skills at carving pumpkins (some mighty large pumpkins) And I got to see a ton of starfish...I heart those little guys!

Last stop of the day was to Funky Freemont (a little neighborhood full of tree huggers interesting people)

First up was our tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory. It's an organic and fair trade chocolate company with some pretty interesting staff and chocolate (not your typical Hershey or Mars)

and finally The Freemont Troll! This is what I wanted to see all day!!

You see that car? That's a real VW Bug! Troll under a bridge...love it!

Vacay Days 1 & 2: Mt. St. Helen & Snoqualmie Falls

2 weeks ago Barrett and I headed off to the Northwest to visit Washington and Oregon (knocking those states off my bucket list!!) I will try and make my vaycay recap short and sweet by posting just my favorite pics (I took over 500 pics!!!!). Hope y'all enjoy!

Day 1: Mt. St. Helen (on our drive from Portland to Seattle...spur of the moment trip because it was such a pretty day)


In the bottom pic that black spot is an airplane flying over the volcano!!

Our first stop of the trip was to Mount St. Helens Visitor Center which is as close as we thought we could get...oh were we wrong!



We were able to twist and turn our way up the mountain to the Johnston Ridge Observatory! Clockwise: Side of the observatory indicating we actually made it woo hoo, Mount St Helens and what has been left behind from the eruptions, Close up of the volcano with steam coming out of a vent (not clouds), And lastly the snow covered peak is Mount Adams.

This is my favorite picture from the day...the sun setting on Mount St Helens resembled lava to me (granted it would be Hawaiian lava, which is not the type that comes out of this volcano...as explained by Ranger John)

Day 2: Snoqualmie Falls

Day 2 was a rainy day, but that didn't stop us! We went to the very popular Snoqualmie falls (just outside of Seattle). The falls are famous for being a part of the cult television series Twin Peaks and the falls are more than 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls (crazy!). We weren't able to hike down to the bottom since the trail was closed due to construction, but we were able to get some good shots from the observation deck. The lodge in the left corner is the Salish Lodge & Spa (looked pretty fancy and expensive to me)

On our way back into the city we decided to stop at a mall to explore (they had and H&M!) and the best thing I found at the mall was this hot pink tree!!! LOVE it!

Our last stop of the day was back in Seattle for dinner at the Crab Pot. This restaurant was featured on the Travel Channel's show Man vs Food. We didn't get the dish the restaurant is known for (the Seafeasts), but we did get their strawberry rhubarb yellow cake and it was ahhhmazing! Too bad our hotel didn't have a mini-fridge in the room or we could have snacked on it all week (it comes in a loaf pan so it's a little much for just two people)

Vaction Pic Teaser

I got to drive this beast around for a week! Don't get me wrong the Dodge Charger is a cool car, but I will forever love my zippy little accord (she's still chuggin' along, but I know her days/months are numbered). Anyways, the rental kicked off our trip and away we went...

Green Lantern

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After watching this movie, I am now ready to see the Avengers movie...woo hoo. This might have been my least favorite super hero movie. To me it was kind of slow, but I heart Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively and it did have it's good parts, plus it was the most interesting thing to watch on the plane, so I finished it (truth be told I would have finished it anyways just because I'm that obsessed with movies if you haven't noticed).

p.s. In case you are wondering why I was on a plane...get ready those posts are coming!

Thor

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I totally forgot to review this movie! We rented this movie back in September. It looked corny to me in the previews, but I actually really liked this movie. Natalie Portman was a little strange to me in this movie, but I guess she's kind of quirky in all her movies. I also liked how the cast wasn't full of A-listers...sometimes it's nice to see new abs faces.

Zookeeper

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I didn't give this movie a chance when it was in theaters, but we decided to rent it after friends told us they liked it. This movie ended up being pretty funny. It was definitely worth the rental. We even have a favorite new phrase that can work in many different situations. "I have four words for you, I. Want. Dessert. Go. (point finger)".  Of course if people don't know what you're talking about, they will probably look at you weird and with a "did you seriously just say that" face, but to us it's funny...ha ha.