I'm in Beijing now, but I wanna write about Seattle before I forget some of details (I have given you more details than a normal person can stomach, but that's my style.) If you get really bored, skip to the end, there's a picture! :)
Brad had to work (from home or wherever) while I was there, so I was able to sleep late and that was exactly what I needed. However, I'm finding that recently I am not as skilled at sleeping late as I used to be...I can force myself to keep trying til about 9, but that's usually the latest now. Sad day.
The weather was AMAZING when I woke up-breezy and cool, sunny, blue skies-so I sat on the back porch for a while just soaking it in. (I had just come from the Alabama heat.)
After a while, I got ready, and we went to watch the US Team play in the World Cup at a sports bar called Berkley's I think (great atmosphere for cheering on the US of A). This is also where I got to meet a couple of Brad's friends- Jake (knows way more about sports than I know about everything...literally ask him anything, he knows) and Jessica (Jake's lovely wife who is one of the sweetest people I've ever met). It's always fun when you put real people with the stories that you've heard.
After the game was over and a few tears were shed, we headed to a cute little coffee shop close to where Brad had lived before. We sat outside while he held a phone/video conference with a coworker, and I read a few more chapters of Sophie Hudson's book "A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet". (By the way, I love that book!)
When we were done with that, we took a walk towards the Seattle Center ( I think) and hopped on the monorail which would deliver us downtown. The monorail was a good way to see lots of the cool things in Seattle in a short amount of time. When we were downtown, we first went on a short hunt for these things called Spirit Hoods. There are lots of imposters, so you gotta know your stuff to find the real ones, right Brad? We weren't successful with that adventure, but because of the search we got to explore cute little stores and alley ways (the journey is sometimes more important than the destination).
We walked down to the waterfront, walked through Pike's Place Market, and saw the original Starbucks. Oh and we also walked by a giant wall of gum, already chewed gum. It was...very colorful!
( I have pictures of all of this, but right now I'm having some difficulty with how to get them posted here...I'll figure it out eventually.)
Then we took the monorail back to where we had started, which happened to be right by the Space Needle. Obviously, this is a Seattle staple so I felt like I needed to do it. Brad has probably done this several times, but was such a trooper.
So we went up in the Space Needle to the observation deck where we were able to see all of Seattle. Did I mention that the skies were sunny and clear that day?...Apparently you can only see Mt. Rainier about 120 days per year (I've heard that might be a high estimate). Well that day was one of the 120! I also got to see, from far away, where parts of Sleepless in Seattle were filmed...The view from the observation deck was amazing! I've got some pictures, so don't worry:)
At this point, you are probably thinking 'whoa that's a lot of adventuring'...That was just the first day!
Tuesday night we packed everything and headed for their family cabin which is located on Hood Canal. Oh and I also got to meet Brad's roommates, Nate and Brad Duncan. They were lovely too! (in a manly way of course) After we had packed the car with all of my stuff and all of his stuff, we made our way to the ferry!!! This was one of my favorite parts for sure! A ferry ride at night time!!! The Seattle skyline is pretty amazing at night (and in the daytime), so it was really cool to see it from that perspective!
Day 2! Their cabin on Hood Canal is pretty amazing! Lots of space for lots of fun! I woke up to really cool windy weather (like 60 degrees) and cloudy skies...This is what I had been expecting from Seattle however, it didn't last long. By mid morning, it was sunny blue skies and progressively getting warmer, it didn't get hot though.
That day was the laziest of days...Brad's dad cooked breakfast, I went outside to soak up the sun, read a little, finally got a blog posted, and really just relaxed most of the day. That afternoon, when Brad was done working for the day, we played this game called Ladder Golf-I LOVE Ladder Golf. I almost beat him...then we played his parents and they beat us...Brad's mom cooked us dinner and then later we (all 4 of us) went upstairs to their game room and played tetris on a Nintendo 64 (I think) while listening to old songs from a juke box! There was definitely lots of laughter, and a constant reminder to not get "box greed"..."box greed" will cause you to lose at tetris every time.
Brad's parents are some of the kindest, most generous people I have ever met. I actually hadn't met them before this trip, but that was hard to believe because I knew so much about them. ( I had spent a whole year hearing stories about them. I did meet them via skype once I think. They stayed in my apartment in China while I was in America. They sent us lots of jelly beans; jelly beans work great for making a bad China day better.) So as you can see it would be hard to think that we hadn't actually met...So when I met Brad's dad that morning, his greeting was 'Nice to see you again'...Brad quickly reminded him that we hadn't actually met, haha....So later the boys (Brad and his dad, Joe) decided they would see how things went with Brad's mom Sally. I was instructed not to let her know that we hadn't met, and just to wait and see what she said. She of course didn't play quite into their hands...She greeted me with 'nihao' and didn't say anything else...With some coaxing and some awkward pauses, she did say 'nice to see you again'...SO, neither of his parents remembered that we hadn't actually met, lol...They had seen lots of pictures of me from when we were in China and after some time (5 years) it just seemed like we were old friends:)
Every Fourth of July, they (Brad's Family) host a large gathering and it usually lasts a couple of days..like I said lots of space for lots of fun... So the first of the guests began arriving late that night. I got to meet several more of Brad's friends and let me tell you they were lots of fun! They also helped me to stay up into the wee hours of the morning (I had to fly out the next day and was trying to make myself tired so I could sleep on my long flight from Seattle to Korea.)
I did sleep a little and then got ready for my flight. Brad's mom made an amazing breakfast, and after that we went to catch the airport shuttle...goodbyes are never fun.
If you knew me when I was in China before, you know that Brad was so important to me. He walked with me through some of the hardest times I have ever experienced, and continues to be such an encouraging friend even when we don't talk for years at a time. I thank God that He put us together in China, because I know I am a better me because of our time together.
Much Love from Beijing!
Cari
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