So this past weekend Matt and I spent the weekend in Seattle, WA. My big brother James lives up there and his furnace had gone out and he wanted Matt to install a new furnace. He said he would fly Matt out there, so I thought I would tag along to supervise.
Our trip started Friday at 4:00am. We had to wake up early, to drive to DIA in Denver, Co to catch our 8:35am flight. We made it in perfect time and got great seats on the plane. Our flight there was nice, it was cloudy coming in to Seattle, but you could see Mt Rainier poking through the clouds, it was an amazing site.
We landed in Seattle, WA about 11:00. My brother picked us up. It was spitting snow, and was about 40 degrees. From there we went to his house to check out the furnace etc. We went and got lunch at Dairy Queen, and we took it just a few blocks from his house to the Puget Sound, which is a huge body of salt water that runs all through Seattle, WA etc. It was so amazing! There were seagulls and seashells all over the coast. Here pics of us at the Puget Sound.
Then we went to buy the furnace and came home with it. About 5:00 James and his girlfriend Jennifer took us to our hotel room to get cleaned up for dinner. We were going to ride a ferry for an hour to Bremerton, which is across the Puget Sound, west of downtown Seattle, WA. We had dinner reservations at Anthony's Seafood restaurant there, where they wanted Matt to try the King Crab legs. We rode the ferry, over to Bremerton, here are some pics from the ferry ride.
Unfortunately, when we got to Anthony's, they no longer carried the King Crab legs. Awww, so Matt got the crab cakes. He said it was the freshest seafood he had ever had. We had a great dinner. James paid for our dinner in appreciation of Matt doing the furnace. It was the best night. After dinner we had to wait for the ferry to come in to ride it back to Seattle, so we killed some time walking up and down these walk ways with these cool volcano fountains, and Matt walked down to the Puget Sound coast and found star fish. He was in heaven. We then rode the ferry back to Seattle, WA and enjoyed the Seattle skyline all lit up. It was very cold, probably in the 30's and being on the water didn't help! It was amazing. Here are some pics from dinner and the ferry ride.
After that, they took us to our hotel where Matt and I were definitely NOT sleepless in Seattle, I think we slept harder then we had ever slept before.
The next morning they met us at 8:00am. It was about 50 degrees in Seattle, partly cloudy. We had a 2 1/2 our drive to the Pacific coast to Ocean Shores, WA. For those of you who don't know, Matt has never seen the ocean. So I wanted to take this opportunity to take Matt there and show him one of the most amazing sites in the world. We had so much fun in the car there. Laughing and joking and hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend. We made a pit stop in Aberdeen, WA where Kurt Cobain of Nirvana lived. When Matt got out for this pic, you could hear a million frogs.
When we made it to Ocean Shores, we came down this straight long dirt road that led right to the ocean. And I said "I see the ocean!" And Matt stared and stared, and he said "Where?!" I said "Right there, it's the horizon!" Just then we could start to see the waves crashing. The look on Matt's face was priceless. He looked like he had seen a ghost or something, but in a good way. We drove right up on the beach and walked around it for awhile. We found a ton of seashells and sand dollars! I felt bad telling Matt we needed to go. He was ready to move in. Here our our pics from the beach.
After the beach we were hungry and found this little pizza place. They had awesome pizza. And we took the oppurtunity to warm up a little bit. It was probably in the 40's there on the beach, and windy. But the sun was shining. After lunch we started to head back to Seattle. Matt slept the entire way home. We kept laughing, and saying "We tuckered the little guy out!" He was like a kid in a candy store out there at the beach.
When we arrived in Seattle, it had warmed up a little bit into the upper 50's. We took some awesome pics of Mt Rainier - it had made an awesome apperance for us.
We made it back to James's house about 5:00 and they started work on the furnace. Everything went perfect and they had it all installed by 9:00pm. Meanwhile, Jennifer and I watched Airplane, what a funny movie.
The next morning was bittersweet. We knew it was our last day in Seattle, but we had so much fun stuff to do today. It was a gorgeous 70 degrees all day. Partly cloudy, but just an amazing day. You could see for miles, which is rare in Seattle I guess. James picked us up from our hotel, and took us to his house where Jennifer had made us a breakfast of Swedish pancakes (they were awesome) and sausage. We shared some good times and then we got ready to start our event filled day. We started by going by James's work. He works at Boeing in Renton, WA. Here they make every single Boeing 737 that has ever left the ground. Huge place right on Lake Washington. Then we drove around to Bellview, where Microsoft is and where Bill Gates lives. Which took us over the floating bridge on Lake Washington, and led us into downtown Seattle. He took us up to Queen Anne Hill which is a great overlook spot. Here are our pics from Queen Anne Hill. If you look in the second pic, you can see Mt Rainier in the background.
Then we went to the Space Needle in downtown Seattle. We rode an elevator to the top. The top was about 520 feet. And the elevator only took about 10 seconds. From the top you could see everything. Gorgeous site. Here are some pics from the Space Needle.
After this we went to have lunch at Red Mill Burger, which is supposed to be the number 1 burger in all of Seattle. Matt and I had seen a show about it on the Travel Channel. We got there and there was a line out the door. Turns out the burgers were pretty darn good.
After this we went to the world famous Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. There were so many cool little shops etc. But we were here to see the fish be thrown. They were very busy so fish were flying everywhere. Matt wondered around for awhile looking at the fish etc, and then fell in love with a little crab and have to have it. So the guy came over and Matt ordered it. It was so funny they picked up and yelled something and then threw it to the other guy. It was amazing to see them throwing that stuff. Fun atmosphere. Here's pics of Matt getting his crab. In the third pic, his crab is sitting on the counter waiting to be packed up for check in luggage lol. And yes it made it home ok!
Also, all over the market, Daffodils were growing everywhere. They had flower boxes all over the roofs, flower beds etc. It was beautiful.
After the market we headed to the airport to catch our 5:15 flight home to Denver, Co. We were so sad to leave this beautiful state. If I could tell someone about Washington I don't know where I would start. And considering I only saw a small section of it. The woods were what woods should be. They put Colorado woods to shame. They were so much thicker and taller, and every pine tree had vines growing up it and ferns growing on it. Such beautiful woods. The water, oh the water was amazing. The Puget Sound, a huge salt water bay in Seattle where in the summer months Orka's come to feed. Can you imagine seeing a wild Orka? Oh I would be in Aw. The mountains were gorgeous, old volcanos now left dormant, but graced with snow atop them and when they make an apperance, it takes your breathe away.
Here's a pic of us flying out of Seattle. You can see 3 of the volcanos. In real life you could see 4, but the 4th one didn't show up on the picture. Mt Rainier (center), Mt St Helens (left), and Mt Hood (right).
Now that we are home. We are left with the memories of the sights we saw. Gorgeous! And for those of you wondering about Matt's crab. Here he is.
And Matt said he was so fresh and wonderful. And I'm sorry, but I thought I was going to puke!
After rehearsal we met everyone over at Fargo's Pizza. It's always been a childhood favorite of Matt's so we couldn't think of a better place than Fargo's. Matt's Dad Larry had reserved the upper tables, and we all got our pizza and buffets. My mom had given Matt and I a couple of gag gifts and then Matt and I exchanged our gag gifts. But then I gave Matt a really cool gift of concert tickets to Skinny Puppy. He couldn't believe that I would actually want to go to something like that. We had good times at Fargo's. 
After the shower my mom and I ran around like chickens with our heads cut off. We went to my Mom's hair stylist's hotel room and picked up Matt's groom cake, ran to Walmart and got all of our last minute details, then we ran home to crash. I knew tomorrow would be the biggest day of my life, but I laid in bed for a few minutes kissed Matt goodnight and fell asleep.
