Day 11-13: Seattle!!!

Hi all!

Sorry we've been pretty terrible about keeping this up the past couple of days. We have had a busy, but fun, time in Seattle! We were able to spend a lot of time with one our friends' Kaitlin, as well as a bunch of Des' friends (from her Thailand semester: Lindsey and Rachel), who are all moving into Fremont this Monday. The timing was perfect!

Day 11:

After a 13 hour train trip from Montana, Des and I arrived in Seattle on a rainy afternoon around 1PM. We headed over to a Tully's Coffee to have some good Pumpkin Chai and Mocha, and later met up with our friend, Kaitlin, to check out downtown Seattle. Walking through Pike's Place was full of tasting different jellies, nuts, fruits, pasta (chocolate linguini, what?!), as well as shopping for ingredients for dinner that night. We met up with another one of Des' friends (from her semester in Thailand), Rachel, and headed back to Hamilton's parents' house (Thanks Andersons!), where Des, Kaitlin, and I would be staying for the next 3 nights. We made a wonderful homemade pesto with pasta we purchased from the market. Later that night we were able to spend some time with two of Hamilton's siblings, Ben and Sarah (aka: Mr. Toad), and turned in early.

Day 12:

Friday was sunny (in Seattle?)! Kaitlin, Des, and I headed over to Ballard, where Kaitlin had an interview for a nannying position. Kaitlin dropped us off at a little coffee shop, where Des and I were able to hang until heading to downtown. I was able to spend some time in a local vinyl shop called Easy Street Records and it was divine (check it out if you're ever in Seattle!). A little later we headed downtown with Rachel and were able to check out the International Fountain, the Space Needle, as well as Dick's (a Seattle staple - CHEAP BURGERS). Later that afternoon Rachel, Des, and I met up with Kaitlin, Lindsey and her mom and headed to Fremont to sign their lease. While checking out their new house, I was able to walk around the neighborhood. One of the best places I was able to check out was a music shop called Dusty Strings. ATTENTION: If you are in Fremont or anywhere else in Seattle, you MUST check out this store. Our convoy (yes) attempted to head over to Red Hook brewery for a tour, but our plans we're changed after the traffic on the interstate. We later tried to check out the Japanese Gardens, but they were closed! We were able to spend some time in beautiful Volunteer Park as well as a drive through of the Seattle Arboretum. Later that night we headed in to Capitol Hill for some dinner. We headed back to the Anderson's later that night and turned in early again.

Day 13:

Rainy day. We had a slow morning and headed into Kirkland for some wonderful brunch at Olive U. We all decided to attempt the tour again (buck tour AND a free souvenir cup, come on!) and we're able to catch the 3PM tour. We tried to catch the 1PM tour, but due to it filling up so fast, we headed to Columbia Winery for a wonderful wine tasting (nothing like a winery to kill some time). After some good wine AND beer, we headed to small Irish pub outside of downtown Seattle for some dinner. At that point, Des and I were dropped at the Paramount Theatre for our Sufjan Stevens concert. After seeing an AMAZING show, Kaitlin picked us up and we headed back home.

We'll be posting about our time in Portland tomorrow. Till then, goodnight and good luck.

Doug and Des

P.S. Unfortunately, we don't have a ton of pictures from these few days AND Des' camera is currently in Seattle (oops). We'll get some more pictures up soon - Stay tuned....

Day 10: Glacier...

Day 9/10: Whitefish/Glacier

Hey friends,

I just assumed that we would have some time to write yesterday and tell you about the surprises we worked through on our way through Montana to Whitefish, but yesterday turned out to be a bit busy and, unsurprisingly, so much fun! Let me explain...

While we were riding the Empire Builder from Minneapolis to Whitefish, we heard about a storm that was coming, which was going to maybe produce a lot of snow. We have never been out this way, and we were thinking...well, that'd be beautiful but really inconvenient, and it may deter plans to see Glacier. Also on the train, we realized that it was delayed.... by approximately 5 hours. When you are on a train for over 24 hours, you lose track of time (Doug doesn't, I do), and so he connected with the kind people who were going to pick us up from the train station at 9 PM and told them that we wouldn't be getting in until at least 2 AM. Needless to say, it wasn't going to work out that well after all, so Doug and I considered seriously sleeping in the station and figuring things out the next morning. But after a night on the train, we opted to instead to stay in a place called the Downtowner, a three minute walk from the station, and a little more than $30 for each of us. Long story short, we got into Whitefish around 2 AM, I woke up just long enough to get off the train with my pack, stumble through the rain (not snow), find our place/the key under the mat, and fall into the most comfortable slumber.

We had an earlier start, made some plans/checked some car rental prices at a local cafe called Wrap & Roll, sought some advice from a shop owner who sold inspiring pottery and jewelry from Peru, spent a few hours at the local library, and had a late lunch at a really good microbrewery - Great Northern Brews. Everything in downtown Whitefish is accessible and very charming--the train station and especially friendly people and small-town energy makes it seem like out of a movie. There are real cowboys here, too, and I've noticed that everyone wears flannel and boots; we are far from home, and I love it here. I will be back. There is too much in Montana to explore.

We took a walk, later in the afternoon, to Whitefish Lake, which is gorgeous and gave evidence to the suspicion that we are in one of the most beautiful places in the world--all the towering trees are changing color and even in the rain, everything was glowing and bright. After walking back to the downtown area, we opted to spend one more night in Montana (this time in Kalispell) with the wonderful folks who were going to host us--Diane and Bill. They picked us up in their giant truck and took us to their rustic ranch home, where they prepared a late night candlelit steak dinner and introduced us to their college-aged sons (Zach and Marshall) and endearing dogs, Dozer and Grizz. Perfect strangers become friends in hours these days, it seems. Deeply grateful.

So. Now we are doing a bit of needed laundry before we head in Glacier on the Going to the Sun Road, which will be partially closed because of the weather and the season. A half-day in Glacier is only going to whet my appetite for more of this kind of pristine beauty--next time!

Back on the Empire Builder tonight--Seattle in the morning!

Des and Doug