Seattle--Days 5 & 6

On Wednesday, we just relaxed at Gail's house and spent some time together as a family, which was nice. Gail had to work, but since she works from home, it was nice to be able to chat with her during her breaks and when she didn't have to take a call. Then on Thursday, we went to the Seattle Art Museum, because the admission is free for the first Thursday of every month. You can't beat that! We had a great time looking at all of the exhibits. My favorite, of course, was the European art; we saw some great pieces, both religious and otherwise. None of us really cared much for the Modern art; some things, like a blank canvas--yes, BLANK--with a black border is something that any of us could do, no matter how artistically inclined we are or are not. Kate loved the kids' area the best, of course! We met two other couples who had children (both girls) who were almost the same age as Kate. One was only four days older than Kate is! So it was fun to see them interact.

That night, we went to Salty's on Alkai, which is a great seafood restaurant my mom had recommended. We went on a night they were having a fish fry special, and it was amazing. We all had the two-piece fish dinner, with one halibut and one salmon, although the salmon was way better. Their desserts were amazing, too; Gail & I shared the white chocolate mousse cake, and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds.

And, as a fun little twist, we got to take the Salty's limo back to the pier to catch the ferry. We had taken a cab to get to Salty's, but we were a little hesitant to use the cab again, since we felt like we had gotten taken advantage of. We asked the cab driver how much it would be to get to Salty's, and he said $20. I had mapquested it, and I knew it was only five miles away, so I thought he was just estimating. We noticed halfway through the ride that the meter wasn't running, and then when we got there, he said it was $20. Hmmm. Even though the posted rate was $2.50/mile, and we only went five miles, so shouldn't that be $12.50 or thereabouts? But, stupid me, I was too shy to say something, and Dan and Gail hadn't noticed, so we paid our $20 and went to dinner. But I definitely didn't want to take a cab back (at least not a cab from the same company!), so while I was in the restroom, Dan talked to the manager and asked if there was an alternative way to get back to the pier. The manager had been fawning over Kate all night (and really, can you blame her? haha) so she was incredibly helpful, and just offered us the use of their limo. How nice! And, as a kicker, the driver was from Lake Geneva and had family in Madison, as well as Buffalo Grove & Lake Zurich, IL. What a small world!


In the kids' area of the museum






Thrilled with her balloon from Salty's!




Mad that Daddy actually had the audacity to hold her, instead of just letting her roam free in a moving vehicle.

On the ferry ride home, she seriously entertained herself for most of the hour-long ride back by putting a piece of paper in this cup holder, then getting off the bench to fetch it from the floor, getting back up on the bench, and doing it all over.




My happy girl!


Can I just tell you how much I love this beautiful, sweet, precious girl? Isn't she adorable??

Seattle--Day 4

On Tuesday, Dan, Kate & I went to the Experience Music Project in Downtown Seattle. It was so amazing; their showcase exhibition was called "Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses". As you can imagine, for lifelong fans like Dan & me, it was absolutely fabulous to see. We saw Kurt Cobain's actual guitars, shirts, handwritten lyrics... I know it sounds corny, but I actually got a bit teary-eyed seeing all of his personal belongings.

After we saw the Nirvana exhibit, we went to the sound lab on the third floor. You can do all these cool things like record a demo tape, play instruments, mix different songs, do vocal recordings, etc. We had a blast; I love music, even though I'm not the best at it!

Afterward, we went to the Space Needle, which was right across the way. We had gotten these things called City Passes, and it gave you access to six different attractions (the zoo, the aquarium, a harbor cruise, the Experience Music Project, the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center) at a price that was half off, compared to paying for the things individually. The Space Needle isn't something that I would pay for on its own, but since it was included in our City Pass, we figured, why not? The view was very beautiful to see.


Relaxing at Grandma's before we head out




She absolutely loved this chair and always wanted to climb up in it. We just had to be sure that there wasn't a cat or dog tail nearby; I don't think they'd be too happy about that!


On the ferry ride over to Seattle.


Pretty girl!


Quite possibly one of the greatest musicians of our time, Mr. Kurt Cobain






The shirt Kurt Cobain wore on the cover of Spin magazine


The blue guitar that Kurt played throughout most of the In Utero tour


She doesn't want to hold still to take a picture!


In the sound lab


My angry rock star look






Little music mixer!


Watching music videos on the sound stage






Crazy how many guitars there are!


The ticket to the last show they ever played, in March (I think?) of 1994


The shirt Kurt wore in the Smells Like Teen Spirit video


The guitar that he played in the Smells Like Teen Spirit video


A cardigan that Kurt always wore.




At the Space Needle


The view from the observation deck of the Space Needle




On the ferry ride home. Luckily, Gail lives just a ferry ride across from downtown Seattle, so it's quite convenient to get around, even without a car. Gail let us use her car whenever we wanted, which was nice, but the ferry is only $7.oo roundtrip for walk-ons, whereas it's $15.00 each way if you bring your car, not to mention parking downtown, which is expensive! So for the most part we just got around by foot, which was fun because it allowed us to see the city, and not to mention it was fantastic exercise!

Seattle--Day 3

We had a great time in Seattle visiting Dan's mom. I love that city so much, and it was so nice for Gail to be able to see her granddaughter. She was surprised at how much Kate had changed since Thanksgiving!

On our first full day there (Saturday, May 28), we just kind of lounged around at home, since we had gotten in so late the night before. That night, Gail watched Kate while Dan & I had a belated anniversary dinner at Anthony's, a seafood place. The view was beautiful; from our table we were able to see the marina, the mountains, and the beautiful green trees. The food was pretty good, too; their coconut shrimp was amazing, and of course the clam chowder was good. I was a little disappointed by the main course; I had tempura cod, and I felt like the batter was a bit too heavy to be considered tempura. Oh well, what can you do? I'm just glad we were able to get a night out!

On Sunday, we went to the Pacific Science Center with Gail, and we had a blast. I will have to post pictures later, however, since I foolishly forgot my camera that day, so I had to buy a disposable, which means I still need to get the pictures developed, uploaded, yada yada. Which is why I'm starting my chronicles on Day 3....

On Monday, we all drove to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. It was so much fun; by far the best zoo I have ever been to (even better than the San Diego Zoo, and a lot less expensive!) The enclosures the animals were kept in didn't even look like enclosures; it looked so much like their natural habitat, very spacious with lots of room for them to roam. Some of our favorite things we saw were the elephants, the lion and lioness, the tropical rainforest, the grizzly bears and the sea otters. For the grizzly bears, you could actually go in this little "cave" with a window that looked out onto the bear's enclosure, and I actually was nose-to-nose with one (except for the reinforced glass, of course!) It was so cool! Kate really enjoyed the sea otters. With those, it was the same as with the bears; we were in a large room that was kind of set down a bit, so all the windows (and the whole room was windows) looked into the water. Kate was just squealing with laughter as she saw the otters diving in and out of the water, over and over. She probably could have stayed in there forever!


Outside the elephant area


The twins


Such a happy girl!






Outside the recreation of the wolf den. Some of the older kids actually went in there, but I thought Kate was too little for that, so I sat outside with her




Inside the "cave" where you could look out on the bears


Glad there is some glass between us; that thing is huge!






I thought these poison dart frogs looked cool






In the recreation of the African Village; she loved playing the drum. She actually kept the beat quite well; people were commenting on what a good musician she is.