A day in the life of...

Every day here is like a mini-adventure. You never know who or what you’ll see. There are the characters that are always around. There are the cameos that flit in and out of your daily episodes. Sometimes there are big surprises. Sometimes the whole day goes by with no surprises at all. Nevertheless, you don’t worry because tomorrow the adventure begins again.

Today was nothing out of the ordinary for me. I slept in, had a late breakfast and played on the internet. Later in the afternoon I got ready to start my mini-adventure for the day. This included riding the bus downtown to shop for a book, eating lunch at the mall and then catching the monorail for a ride to work. Sounds a tad boring. It wasn’t…

The following is just a sample of the weirdness I encountered on my adventure in the city today:

1. A guy walked past me at the bus stop with a roll of toilet paper in one hand and a large can of beer in the other.

2. I watched a group of young finches gathered around a dying elder. They seemed to be mourning it’s passing (either that or waiting to eat it).

3. The air smelled distinctly of BBQ. I guess it’s because today was the first day to be above 65 degrees in almost 6 months. However, I still found it a tad odd and very delightful at the same time.

4. I saw a large piece of graffiti that simply said “Carry on my wayward son”. What a strange thing to spray paint on the side of a bank.

5. There was an amazing street performer downtown. He was dressed in green from head to toe and playing the violin. His selection when I walked by was “Hey There Delilah” which I found to be strange and beautiful coming from a violin.

6. The guy working the counter at the crepe place was trying to tempt people away from the healthy smoothie place across the aisle from him. He was hanging over the counter waving samples of some sort of chocolate & strawberry concoction.

7. A guy actually smiled and held the door for me! This is highly unusual since they typically just let it snap back in my face.

So, for those of you whom have lived in the city for a long time these sort of things may seem completely normal. I, on the other hand, still find this place strange and exciting. I’m sure I will grow accustom to it eventually.

That will be a sad day.

Then there will be no more mini-adventures to be had.

Mom and Lily 04.09

My mom and Lily came for a visit. It’s been over a year since we last saw each other!

Day 1: I picked them up at Sea-Tac in the morning. After a quick trip back home we drove down to the Seattle Center. After leaving the car behind we jumped on the monorail and rode downtown. They were in awe of the city.

We walked down to Pike’s Market. Lily really liked the flying fish and all the crafts available at the market. My mom loved the flowers and seeing the first Starbucks! I took them to have the best gelato in town. Lily had never had gelato before and fell in love.

In the evening we drove to Lynnwood to visit Scott at his office. We had a great dinner at Claim Jumper’s and then made the long drive back.

It was a pretty busy first day!

Day 2: Scott had the day off to spend with us. We had doughnuts and coffee at Top Pot. Lily had a hard time picking one from all the different flavors.

After breakfast, we drove down to the pier. We spent the afternoon walking through the aquarium. We had a pretty good time despite the crowds.

That evening Scott introduced Lily to the Lord of the Rings movies. She LOVED it!

Day 3: We took them out for brunch at the Space Needle. It was delicious! After we ate we spent time up on the observation deck. It was cold and windy but worth it for the view.

Later we went to “Ride the Ducks”. This is a half land, half water tour of Seattle. It was fun and almost worth the price.

Day 4: We had planned on going to the beach for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was very uncooperative. We ended up spending the day watching the extended versions of the LOTRs part 2 and 3. Lily really wanted to see how the story turned out.

Day 5: I had breakfast with them in the morning while we talked about what they had seen. It was sad to drive them back to the airport. Only this time I know I’ll see them much sooner. Goodbye...for now.

Happy April Fools Day!

The only trick played on me today was the suprise snow storm this morning!