Seven weeks ago in Seattle? Who's counting.

If you've been keeping up with the blog, you'll know that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. Say it aint so! But really, if you've read my posting from 2 weeks ago, you'll know that we were in Seattle about 7 weeks ago. So why aren't there any Seattle photos up? Because yours truly is a self proclaimed procrastinator.

Our travels began with a layover in Dallas where we did homework, listened to music, took pictures of each other and counted how many people we saw eating McDonalds. Blech! Sloan had recently watched "Super Size Me" and decided that eating a Happy Meal may cause death. Fine with me.

Upon our arrival, Mt. Rainier of Washington State fame was spotted. Some oogle at Rainier from downtown Seattle, others wake up from a nap on the plane flying from Dallas to Seattle and snap a picture. My Nikon D40 took a great shot. Wait, I mean I took a great shot.

Once in Seattle we taxied downtown to check into our quaint, boutique hotel, The Alexis. After jumping on our hotel room bed and taking a hot tub in the king sized jacuzzi, we put on our walking shoes and peeked into various stores on 1st Ave. We topped the night off by ordering mac and cheese, pb&j & fries from room service!?

One of our main motivations for this trip North was to surprise our great friends, The Laird's. The Laird's consisting of Dave & Carla (Mom & Dad), Ashley & Josh (the Kids) and Ellie (the Dog). For those of you who do not know the story, Sloan and I met The Laird's in Austin during the summer of 2004. It was an August morning, cool by Austin standards and we were all gearing up for the first day of soccer practice. Soccer practice for our 5 year old daughters, not the adult version. As any halfway sane and indulgent parent would know, you show up to an early morning soccer practice with a hot mug of coffee. Clearly, I was the only sane and indulgent parent with coffee in hand...until I caught site of The Laird's. They had coffee too and were just about as sane as me! It didn't take long to strike up a conversation and realize that not only had Dave agreed to coach the kids, but he and Carla were from Seattle! Imagine my shock, as it's a rarity to find Northerners down in these here Southern parts. (Did I just write that?) So fast forward...we all became fantastic friends, built a lot of memories and then BOOM, the Laird's relocated back to their home state.

Orchestrating a surprise and then executing it is so much fun! This one will go into the memory books as one of the best. I had to spill the beans to Dave & Carla, but we were successful at keeping our visit from the kids. When an unknowing Ashley rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Sloan & I sitting at the table, she was speechless! For the first and perhaps only time in her life Ashley couldn't find or say the words to express her excitement. Josh just kind of sat back in his sweet way and took it all in. As tears welled up in our eyes, Ashley dropped to the floor and let out a blood curdling scream. She realized she'd been "had!" It took perhaps another second then the hugs & mauling began.

After settling in, Edmonds Beach was our destination for exploring, rock throwing & beachcombing. The smells of salt water and crisp air and sounds of our kids laughing replaced any notion of it being a typical cloudy and cool day in Seattle.

Sloan and I left the Laird's for a bit and went out to see some friends on Bainbridge Island. We took our rental car on the ferry, saw the night sky from Puget Sound and even met a couple of Chinchillas! Bainbridge, tucked apart from the city, was peaceful and serene. A treat.

The rest of the trip was memorable and relaxing! Funny how Seattle is always like that. We also mixed in a quick birthday party, the Seattle Aquarium, Pike's Market and other sights. In the interest of time and actually posting, here are a few more photos. Cheers! Go to Seattle already!

Julia's and the Drag Show

On a recent March visit to the University District in Seattle, Washington, my daughter and I had the pleasure of visiting my dear old friend, Joe (who some of you may know). Catching up and finding breakfast were our two agenda items. Now I've known Joe for 17 years and it wasn't until this moment I realized Joe is even more indecisive than me (especially when it comes to food!) God knows how this guy can profess, account, invest and lawyer!? I'm sure he was attempting to make me feel better about my own decision making skills or lack there of, after driving up and down every street in the U- District.

After nearly an hour in transit, we were still undecided on our morning fare. Luckily we had it narrowed down to; 1. IHOP (yuk!) 2. Julia's and 3. Somewhere else. Joe said Julia's was funky and known for it's pancakes, eggs benedict and "atmosphere." Once the 9 yeard old realized the adults would outrule her hope of IHOP, she became intrigued with Joe's candid explanation of "atmosphere." It went something like this...

Breakfast and lunch by day, drag show performance venue at night. Now don't let that scare you because it certainly didn't scare the 9 year old! If anything, the term "drag show" was foreign, demanded curiousity and deserved a poignant question. "What is a drag show, Joe?" I looked amusingly at Joe and awaited his answer. A father of five, my guess was that his kids too had been to Julia's and asked the same inquisitive question. Nonchalantly Joe responded, "A drag show is when grown men dress up as women and promenade on a runway." Yes, my daughter looked at me with eyes that said, "what the heck?" I suddenly found it difficult to remove the smirk from my face.

Luckily, the hostess who was performing multiple tasks (serving and possibly cooking too?!) seated us. Any further explanation was unnecessary as the smells of sweet syrup and sight of other plated tables overtook our tummies. As a threesome we hungrily ordered pancakes, omelets and fruit. Then the "atmosphere" started to take shape. Our morning dining experience soon started to pop with these supervillian-like mannequin's dressed in boa's and gawdy jewels. To make their appearance even more entertaining, scarlet make-up and wigs insured our wide-eyes. At one point, the 9 year old grabbed my Nikon and assertively walked the scope of the floor to take pictures. She now tells me the lady with the black wig and purple feather boa "creeps her out!" Undoubtedly!

As if the creepy ladies weren't enough we explored the back of the restaraunt, anticipating we'd find some hidden secret in this offbeat place. Lurking about with our full stomachs, guess what we found!? Hidden not so discreetly behind a wall of bamboo paneling, Joe, the 9 year old and I discovered a runway! Yes. The type of runway that hosts only a drag show in the University District of Seattle, Washington. So thanks to Joe for satisfying our two agenda items and teaching my 9 year old that men too can walk a runway.