Started Friday night when I met my friend Korri at a local eatery in Port Orchard to celebrate (belatedly) her 39th birthday. Thankfully, I've been able to spread the message of and win followers to the concept of "Birthday Season", which means you can stretch the celebrating out a good long while without too much hassle. We visited over burgers and martinis for a couple hours on the restaurant deck overlooking the Bay - very pleasant way to kick off gal-pal weekend!
Saturday morning, DH and I caught the 9:20 ferry (after he got back and cleaned up from an errand to get a truckload of beauty bark for Sunday's project) to West Seattle with the goal of meeting my "long lost" friend Marybeth and her family in Seattle at 10:30. MB and I met at ages 18 & 17 respectively when we were selected to participate in Sound of America Honor Band and Choir in 1983. We became fast friends over the 3 week tour of Europe and were roommates for a summer when I graduated high school in 1984 and moved to Sacramento (during what was possibly the hottest summer evah. I moved back to Washington after only two months and until Saturday, we hadn't seen each other since 1984! Though we clearly stayed in touch.) She and her family were in Seattle for the weekend on the return end of a family cruise to Alaska. They'd gotten in from Alaska on Friday and we spent the day together on Saturday.
Here we are on the ferry, off on our adventure!
We met up with MB and her family at Westlake Center in Seattle at 10:45 and here they are, waiting for the first part of our Reunion Adventure, Ride the Ducks, which was a TON of fun! I see these amphibious craft all the time touring the streets of Seattle, and this was the first time aboard, thanks to the Oddos enthusiastic willingness to try something different :) After the first 10 seconds with MB, I knew it was going to be an AWESOME DAY!!
Here's our Duck Captain, "Roman Free", giving us the safety talk before we hit the streets and then the waves of Lake Union. He was a hoot!
Now he is wearing the proper "taking to the water" attire - note the hat and sword...Thar Be Pirates in Them Waters!!
It's a Duck Train! Gotta shot of the duck behind us entering the water. Seriously, you got company this summer and need a fun activity, go Ride the Ducks! It was a blast!
Gorgeous day for kayaking or "ducking" on Lake Union!
My camera batteries died so I missed a lot of Lake Union Duck shots. Here are MB and me on the Monorail after lunch at Westlake Mall Food Court, heading to the Seattle Center.
The monorail cruises through Paul Allen's Monstrosity, EMP (Experience Music Project) and SciFi Museum.
Here's my new boyfriend, greeting me at the EMP/SciFi Museum - the Tall, Silent type...oh, wait, I already got me one of them :) hee!
EMP's "Sky Church" Exhibit
We enjoyed the Jimmy Hendrix Exhibit.
DH tries his hand at drumming, in the Sound Lab
Paul Allen is a huge SciFi fan, particularly, Star Trek - warms my heart, I tell ya!
After EMP, we grabbed sodas and a snack and chilled out in the shadow of the Space Needle (literally, that's the Space Needle's shadow) until it was time to head up for dinner.
After checking in and surfing the gift shop, we finally took the elevator to the top for 7:15pm dinner reservations. MB and I take it all in with smiles :)
DH studies the menu.
Lake Union from the Needle - where we spent time earlier in the day on the Ducks!
Happy diners :) We had a GREAT waiter who made our experience that much more fun. That's Mount Rainier in the far distance beyond the cityscape below...
Better city shot, with downtown, both sports stadiums Qwest Field and Safeco Field, and Mount Rainier in the distance, overlooking it all...
Elliott Bay with the West Seattle Bridge in the distance, and crossing Washington State Ferries (Bremerton and Bainbridge Island) in the foreground.
The building in which I work, City Centre, is in the middle left, looking like it's wearing a little brown hat :) I work on the 39th floor, and we can see the Needle from our office.
Sunset was gorgeous, adding the perfect touch to a fabulous dinner!
After dinner, we took some time out on the observation deck to get evening shots as the evening wound down. We hugged our farewells at around 10pm, as we had to get back to the parking garage in downtown via the monorail, both of which closed up shop at 11pm. The Oddos stayed at a hotel about 3 blocks from the Space Needle, so they stayed and enjoyed a bit more of the views.
DH and I got home about 12:30am, exhausted but having thoroughly enjoyed the day with friends old and new. Marybeth's family is simply delightful and it will definitely not be another 25 years before we see each other again :)
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