Seattle!

Ryan and I spent Monday in Seattle.  We dropped the kids off with Ryan's parents and were FRRRRREEEEEE!  We don't go on many dates or anything, so we really relish Grandpa Camp time.  

We started off at the Seattle Center, where we parked the car.  At those prices, we were not moving the car for anything until we were done for the day!

We looked at the map Seattle Center provided and decided we could easily walk to Pike Place Market.  So we did.

On the way there, some random guy stopped Ryan and asked if he was a Vandals fan (as Ryan was wearing a Idaho Vandals polo shirt).  Ryan said, yes he was.  The random dude proceeded to kick off one of his flip flops and show us the Vandals logo on his flip flop.  Hm.  Thanks for sharing?  Go Vandals!

(Can you pick me out of the above picture?  I've got my arms folded.  For some reason, the whole world didn't stop so I could get my picture taken.  Sheesh.  How rude.)

Then we walked down to the waterfront, and had lunch a lunch of halibut and "chips" (the french fry kind) at the Crab Pot.  It was really yummy and really hot!

We had papers to sign with the mortgage company for the house we are buying.  They are in Seattle, and we figured- hey we can walk there.  Our agent said it was just a little past Safeco Field.  Well, we could see Safeco field; the walk couldn't be too bad....

Well, there's Safeco Field.  Evergreen Mortgage is just a little past that if you are driving.  It's more like a half mile past, and you definitely notice every step when you've been walking that far in flip flops.  Obviously I do not plan ahead very well.  We spent about 45 minutes signing papers and asking questions.  Afterwards, our lovely agent offered to drive us back to Seattle Center, and we gratefully accepted.

(Funny story- as we were walking to the mortgage place, we walked past a couple of Green Peace kids who wanted a couple minutes to talk about saving the rain forest or some such thing.  My high school Environment Science Teacher spouse refused to talk to them.  I sensed a little irony.  But hey- we were already doing our part by walking instead of taking the car, right?)

The King Tut exhibit is currently at the Pacific Science Center.  I wanted to see it, and Ryan wasn't against it.  He'd never been to the Pacific Science Center, so- we went!  It was really cool.

I thought this guy had the most distinctive face:

And I had to take a picture of this guy:

"Man Eaten By Chair"  (Ok, that's not really what it is)

Our couch is getting old and has lost much of it's "umpf."  Nearly every time Ryan sits on our couch, he always complains how his feet feel like they are higher than his rear, and how he sinks in, etc. etc. etc.  The "Man Eaten By Chair" dude just reminded me of Ryan.

One of the many "Shabti" found in King Tutankhamen's tomb.

A lid of a container that once held some of King Tutankhamen's mummified organs, with his likeness on the lid.

He had gold finger and toe covers on his mummy, with real gold sandals.

After we were done with the King Tut display, we checked out the exotic butterflies.

And then wandered around the rest of the Science Center until it closed at 6 pm.

Then we hit the road again.  We stopped for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Bellevue.  Neither Ryan or I have ever had Indian food before, but we didn't have the children with us and were feeling adventurous.  When we opened the menu, we kind of wondered what we had got ourselves into.  How do you pronounce that, and how on earth do you eat those extra thin cracker thingys they give you as an appetizer?  I'm sure our bumblings made us stick out like a sore thumb, but the food was soooo good.  Ryan, who had been especially apprehensive, left enthusiastic to come back.

We got back on the freeway to head home.  And found this on the pass:

Rock blasting closed the roads for an hour.  Ryan got out of the car and chatted with a partially toothless, Spanish speaking truck driver.  The truck driver (who also spoke some English) had told some hot-shot Camero driver that the road closure would last 5 hours, and was laughing to himself when Ryan came along. But then this truck driver found another truck driver preparing his dinner, and was bragging about how he was cooking up some rice and beans and tortillas in the back of his cab.  Turns out, all he had was a bowl of Cheerios.  Truck drivers are an odd group.

Eventually we got home.