Seattle, WA

We conned our best man into getting up at 4:00am to drive us to the airport, and being the straight up gent that he is, he has offered to also pick us up on our very late return next week! So that was awesome, having a trusted ride in the dark, crikety hours of the morn. Security was easy-peasy (thank all that is holy) and we grabbed a couple of fatty breakfast sammies from Caribou as we waited for our flight. Incredibly, I was able to sleep for most of the flight, and John reports that he also got a few Z's, which made the flight seem very quick.

The views of the mountains front the plane were so glorious that I immediately began talking about relocating here. It is interesting how similar the foliage is here to Minneapolis, and yet because it is so dense even in urban areas it feels a bit alien. They have incredible maples here, massive maples that we rarely see, especially in the city. The mountains are amazing. As if I even need to say that, but they are worth a full exclamation of beauty! I have always wanted to live in a mountainous, coastal landscape. The train ride from the airport into the city limits was a lovely excursion in its own right, though the very second we stepped out of the tunnel onto the street, a couple of scammer guys descended upon us trying to push some CD's on us, one of them snapping a photo of me right away. Pleasant though they were, it is annoying and we brushed them off politely, though I told John if they try to Photoshop my head onto some porn, I hope they choose a hot body.

The city is kind of like a mash-up of San Francisco & Minneapolis. The more I travel, the more I see the similarities in locales and people. It is very arty here, and being coastal just adds that much cool factor to the place, although there are homeless kids and vets here, just like everywhere, and dirty streets with litter and construction dust and closed down shops. We snapped a Schmoopie selfie at the "gum walls" which, as it sounds, are walls completely plastered in people's used gum. It was nasty, but arty and pretty in a colorful-germy kind of way, so I made John pose with me. We stopped for a panini at a cute little shop in the Pike Market, which is touristy and packed as hell. We then made our way down to a water taxi to get to our AirBnB, and it was an absolutely lovely ride across the Sound. The weather is perfect here right now, and we're hoping that lasts thoroughout, particularly the day of the solar eclipse (the impetus for this trip!) Blessedly, our room was ready a couple of hours earlier than expected, so we jumped onto the shuttle from the Sound up to our adorable little neighborhood. This AirBnB is so adorably charming, it is a yurt in this couple's backyard and I really want to just move into the place. It's like the most perfect little escape, and so perfect for tiny home living! They have the most gorgeous Siamese kitty here, and I want to hold him and love him and bring him home! I'll try to remember to snap a photo, I can't believe I haven't yet. They warned us, however, that they get coyotes and raccoons here at night, so they always bring the kitty in for the night, and that we might hear the raccoons in the yard eating their grapes!

We opted to stay on this side of the Sound for the evening, so we went to a nearby theater to see Spider-Man, then grabbed some groceries and came home to enjoy some sourdough bread, herb & garlic cream cheese and tomato-basil soup. We are excited for our fist night of glamping (glamorous camping!)

Ok, I'm super tired, so I'm going to let John try to upload photos. We miss our kitties <3 <3 Love & hugs, R&J