Day One in Alaska

August 1, 2008

Today, we traveled to Seattle, WA. It took two flights, but we finally made it. It’s amazing that the amenities that used to be standard on every airline are now “add-ons” that one needs to pay for. If you want food, pay; a seat with more leg room, pay. We got lucky and were moved to exit row seats on one of the flights without having to pay the extra fee. Yay!

Once we reached Seattle and got into our hotel room, we were ready to crash. However, we didn’t because we knew we would sleep the night away if we let ourselves relax too much at that point. We freshened up and ran out to the bus stop to WAIT awhile for the bus. We decided to take the bus because it would be cheaper than a taxi. I made a friend on the bus. Her name is April, and she lives here in Seattle. She helped me figure out where to go once we got downtown. April is a single mom of a 9th grader. It was crazy because she didn’t look a day older than me. She told me that she had her daughter when she was very young, and she worried about her daughter making the same mistakes that she did. Her daughter had a good boyfriend, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before her daughter faced those same temptations, if she wasn’t already. She and I talked about gas prices, how her license got suspended (she was on her way to the courthouse), and life. Tim just shook his head and laughed at me. He knows that I love to talk to strangers, but he just isn’t into that.

Once we reached downtown, we walked to Pike’s Place Market. How amazing! I had two goals in mind: find flowers and wine. We accomplished that in 5 minutes! As soon as we walked into the market, this beautiful arrangement of flowers sat in the $5 pot. They just called to me, and I told Tim that those were the ones I wanted. The sweetie that he is, he bought them for me, and I proudly carried them through the market. Although stand after stand carried other beautiful arrangements, I knew I had the most beautiful one. In the market, we saw not only flowers, but jewelry, shirts, soaps, and other trinkets. It felt like an American version of a market in Tijuana! We crossed the street from the market and found the wine shop that I had read about. It had wines from the Pacific Northwest, Italy, Australia, and other countries. We picked up a Dry Reisling from Washington State to bring onboard with us. Hopefully Princess allows us to take it on.

After picking up the flowers and wine, we walked around the market some more. We snapped a picture in front of the first Starbucks ever. We saw the most amazing fresh pasta and fruit displays. The fruit stand had dried fruit logs with coconut shavings on the outside of the logs. We picked up a few to try and were so glad we did. It helped stave off the hunger while we shopped. One of my favorite parts of the market was watching the fish guys throw fish. They cheered every time they got a tip and were so enthusiastic. They really seemed to have fun doing what they do. It made me think about my job. If I truly seem to love what I do and am enthusiastic, will my kids pay attention as excitedly as we did with the fish guys? Okay, maybe I’m stretching that a bit too far!

My favorite part of the night was dinner. We ate at a lovely place called Il Bistro. Our server’s name was Robert, and he was great. I had arranged for our table to have roses and champagne waiting for us upon arrival, and they did such a great job with that! It was so romantic. This was the kind of place that instantly put you into a romantic mood. No matter what happened earlier that day or how you felt about who you were with, it didn’t matter. As soon as we walked in, we felt relaxed and at ease. The lighting was dim; the arches above us flowed from one to the next like a lazy river; the music softly played in the background. Our corner table in the back was amazing. Tim loved it because he could see the entire restaurant from his seat, a dream seat for him!

We started off with a toast to our trip that had just started. The food was incredible. We had a tomato basil soup that easily trumps any other tomato soup I have ever had. It was creamy and delicate with an artistic blend of basil, fresh tomato, and cream. I tried to ask for the recipe, but of course that wasn’t a request they would grant. Then our dinner soon followed. Tim had a duck gnocchi. At first he thought the duck pieces were mushrooms, but soon he figured out that they weren’t. He was grateful because it was so tender and perfectly cooked. The gnocchi was fresh and melted in our mouths. I ordered the lasagna because of a review I had read online. It truly was amazing. I hated to say it, but it nearly replaced our Roman lasagna as the best lasagna I have ever had. I compromised though and gave it the award for overall lasagna and the Roman one for the best sauce. We really wanted to try dessert, but we just couldn’t do it. We were so full.

After dinner, we strolled over to the City Center and took pictures at the Space Needle. We aren’t the touristy type, so we didn’t go to the top, but it was an incredible site to say the least. I forgot how tall the Space Needle truly was. I also couldn’t get over how different that area is now since 18 years ago when I saw it last. There were amusement park rides every and an Experience Music Project museum right nearby the structure. We walked around, took pictures, and then walked back to the bus station.

The bus was definitely an adventure. We tried to go back to where we had exited the bus (an underground station), but it was closed. Luckily, I had another bus stop from my paper I printed at home and we easily found it. Downtown Seattle is amazingly easy to navigate! When we got to the bus stop, there were so many people there. Two guys were drunk and made us both nervous. They got really near to us as they were about to board their bus and Tim pulled me away to protect me. I love it when he does things like that! Although I can be so independent, I love how he cares so much to protect me like that when he doesn’t like a situation that we are in.

We met a lady at the bus stop who helped us get on the right bus and then instructed us to sit as close to the front of the bus as possible. She had lived there for a month and said she had learned that already. The back was not the place you wanted to sit, obviously to be safe! We were definitely out of our comfort zone, especially me, and I gripped my bags tightly, especially when the bus was packed with folks sitting and standing so close.

We finally made it back to the hotel after a long day and collapsed on our beds and fell asleep to the National Spelling Bee on the television.

Wonderful: W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L, Wonderful. Definition please? The perfect word for our first day of vacation!