Epic Day in Seattle

Tabby and Kristy

When was the last time you went on a road trip with friends? I highly recommend it!

It's been a long time since I've spent a whole day with someone other than the love of my life.  I have to say that if I had tried to imagine how much fun it would be, I would have short-changed myself.

My friends Tabby and Kristy picked me up at 9:00a.m. and we rolled down the road to Seattle as planned, heading for a mutual friend's first-ever art showing in north Seattle. We had no expectations of what we would do for the time between arriving and the start of the art walk, which made it even better ~ in my humble opinion. I'm a girl who loves to fly by the seat of her pants.



Kristy

We stopped in a little town called North Bend which is about 40 miles south of Seattle. Kristy knew of a waterfall where we could spread out the fabulous picnic lunch we brought. The Snoqualmie Falls area is under construction but it didn't seem to stop people from enjoying the view.

We dragged our coolers out and placed them on freshly varnished, clean pinic tables. Our friend, Tabby, was amazed at the length we had gone to prepare an awesome taco salad. It was Kristy's idea and it was a goody! I brought real glass bowls and utensils to dine with and it was better than any gourmet meal we could have spent too much money on.

We packed up and Kristy took the wheel to take us on in to Seattle. The GPS on our phones was really helpful in getting us down to the Pike Place Market. It was crazy there so we only walked through a short portion of it and headed down to the Ye Old Curiousity Shop on the pier. I recall going there when I was about 12 and it was exactly as I remembered. The mummified man is still standing in the same corner some 40+ years later.

It was a warmer than usual, sunny day in Seattle and there were tourists everywhere. We walked until we were sweating and with my swollen feet got back to the truck to head to the art walk in north Seattle. While pulling out of the parking garage I spotted a person leaned up against a building, looking as if they were closer than half-way to dead, nodding on a heroin hit, no doubt. I'm not sure I'll ever get the image out of my mind. As much fun as we were having, I felt a deep sadness that was hard to shake.

We enjoyed traveling to another part of Seattle that is away from the chic and trendy downtown. The neighborhood was middle-class, working people and we felt really comfortable walking up and down the street. Lots of funky shops like the 50 Cent book store where 90% of all the books sold for 50 cents. There was a fabulous upscale antique store which contained refinished antiques for very reasonable prices.

35 originals

At 6:00p.m., the group of folks (about 15 of us altogether) who had traveled from Tri-Cities to support our artist friend, descended upon the Naked City Brewery. The place was packed full of Friday-after-work-let's-grab-a-beer people and soccer players. Turns out they were holding a street soccer tournament on the blocked off street.

Heidi & her family

When I walked in and saw Heidi's artwork displayed, I was amazed. She was invited to bring her work to Seattle not all that long ago and I knew she had to hustle to get it framed but when I saw the work hanging up for the first time, I know she spent a lot of sleepless nights putting it together. She gathered the frames from yard sales and friends who had frames sitting around collecting dust. The matting and framing is as artistic as the drawings. I am blown away by it! The last word we got on our texts is that she had sold quite a few pieces. I am not surprised.

We headed out of Seattle about 8 o'clock and had an uneventful trip back home. Laughter kept us going the entire 3 1/2 hour drive home.  Fun day! 

Today ... I'm resting.

love, susan