Spring in Seattle

Had a great conference in Portland. I am so glad I was able to attend and that the volcano didn't prevent the trip altogether. Friday night was a little cool and rainy so I stayed in, had some room service and read my book. Nice and relaxing! Had breakfast and some meetings on Saturday morning, then Rich drove in from Sutherlin to pick me up. He had fun with George and Nadine, hung out, went out to dinner and gambling at a casino (no, he did not win our retirement for us) and enjoyed his time with them. Five miles out of town, he realized he hadn't taken any photos. What kind of blogger is he??!! Really sorry I didn't get to see George and Nadine AT ALL, thanks to the darned volcano. Next time!!

We'd read about a little bakery in Portland called Two Tarts, which makes a wide variety of mini-cookies and pastries. Of course, we had to find it! It was in a cool little neighborhood called the Alphabet District, which we'd never heard about. After finding Two Tarts and purchasing a baker's dozen of goodies, we walked around the area till we found a place to eat lunch. We decided on a restaurant called Papa Haydn's and the food was delicious! They also had a fabulous looking pastry section but we felt we should pass since we'd just bought all those little cookies! After lunch, back in the car and on to Seattle. The day was sunny and warm and we had a nice drive, though I kept being amazed by all the traffic.

We were busy pricelining rooms again so we are staying at the Sheraton a few blocks from Pike's Place Market right now but moving to the Edgewater today. We made a dinner reservation at McCormick and Schmick's, partly because we had a $20-off certificate from Alaska Air (which was actually from having delays on our trip to Sedona in December....they didn't give us a darned thing for all those cancellations we just experienced!). Prior to dinner, we walked down to the market, where this guy was making balloon animals.

First of the season fresh Alaskan halibut! Looks like they are excited about that!

Mmmmm fresh fruit

Love these colors

Spring must be here--look at all these tulips!

Goodies at a chocolate shop

The Art Museum, on the way to the restaurant. The arm holding the hammer moves up and down.

The Market was closing when we got there so we had almost an hour to kill before our dinner reservation. We got a lot of walking in, which we both needed. Had a very nice meal and the friendly waitress also comped my dessert (creme brulee, of course) on top of our $20 off. Nice! We made up for it with the tip, though, so not sure how much we really came out ahead.

We both woke up really early today (5 AM--what is wrong with me??) While we were at the Market, people were bringing in huge bbq pits and we heard there's going to be some sort of cook-off today so we have to go check that out. We are going to find some different parts of town to explore and move to our next hotel. I heard the volcano went off yesterday but it didn't appear to affect a lot of travel so maybe we will be safe to go home tomorrow. We have one of those early flights, which I HATE but I don't think I can be too picky. We are definitely hoping if we get stranded, it will be in Seattle and not Anchorage.