Seattle, WA

Seattle is kind of out of the way but of course it had to be a stop since it was my home for the summer when Daniel and I were first dating. We drove straight to the temple on Sunday and walked around the beautiful grounds. The flowers were gorgeous and it was the perfect sunny day. I think Hydrangeas are my new favorite flower of all time and I just want them to spring forth from my garden when we have a house of our own.

            Then we headed over to the Allreds. Keith was Daniel’s dad’s old roommate from college and he and his wife were nice enough to give us food and shelter for our time in Seattle. We were starving when we made it to their house and they had the most delicious Mexican chicken salad/ burrito all ready for us. After dinner we went out on the back porch and talked and talked and talked. Again I had never met them and the only thing Daniel remembers about them is one time when he was little Keith asked him to recite the first article of faith out of nowhere and he froze. Don’t worry he can recite it now J. It was very enjoyable to sit with the Allred’s and talk to them. They had a trait I do not believe many people have these days which made our time with them great, and that trait is they made you feel interesting. For an introverted girl like myself it is easy to ask the questions I hear all the time, what’s your major, where are you from, what are you doing. Since I don’t have great or interesting answers to those questions I often feel like people leave me and think I am pretty boring, and since I am kind of shy I often don’t know how to expand on my kind of boring life. Well with the Allred’s I just felt interesting and like my comments meant something to them and that my life had more than just what I did in college and what I will do in Pittsburgh. They asked about interests and ideas and quite frankly posed some hard questions that I didn’t really know how to answer and yet they allowed me to give it my best shot. Overall it was just a wonderful time to talk and get to know each other.

            So our trip could have been complete just spending time with these great people but I also needed to show Daniel Seattle. We started out at Pikes Place Market because it is awesome! The flowers were gorgeous we tried a few tasty treats and just enjoyed the atmosphere of this great place. 

           Then we headed to a beach that I had been to and just relaxed. It was pretty cool because this guy was windsurfing and it was amazing to watch. When he hit the wave just right he could get some serious air with a good amount of hang time. 

          After getting our fill of the waves and sunshine we drove to the place I lived that summer and I showed him my apartment. Then we decided to get some ice cream at Molly Moons since it has some interesting flavors. I got strawberry balsamic ice cream and Daniel got salted caramel. Mmm it was tasty. I took him over to Gasworks Park to get a nice view of the city. We hung out on the grass and decided we would go to Ivars for dinner that night. It was not to far away and we sat on the water. I had a piece of salmon and Daniel had a little salmon, halibut and a crab cake. It was good to taste a little fish while we were in Seattle. 

         Finally we headed down to some shops on the water and grabbed a little chocolate from Frans to end our day. It was the perfect little treat. We drove past Pikes Place on the way home and it was so interesting because it was totally closed up and deserted. It is amazing how everyone comes and sets up every day.

            Seattle was more fun than I expected and I am so glad we made it a stop on our trip!