Been a while...

Since my last post.  We've been really busy exploring cities of the Northwest.  We had a stop over from Glacier on our way to Seattle in Coer d'Alene, ID.  We enjoyed it so much we stayed for a couple of days.  The lake was beautiful, food was great, and people were extremely nice.  If you ever find yourself out this way, it's a great stop over.

On to Seattle.  After arriving we met up with David's cousin & family and attended a Seahawks pre-season game.  The open stadium was great.  Not sure if David noticed with the "Sea Gals" not too far in front of us.

The next day we headed out to Pike Place.  Fresh fruits & veggies, organic meats, and flying fish!!! We picked up a salmon along with sides for dinner and headed out to one of the most disgusting walls in the country.  


The gum wall.  Yeap. Gum.  Really gross.

Over the next few days we made it up the Needle, drank some coffee, shopped at one of the original REI stores, drank coffee, hiked at Mount Rainier, drank more coffee, rode the ferry over to Bainbridge Island, drank wine from local winemakers, ate clam chowder at Ivars, drank coffee with Baily’s, and went on the fantastically funny tour of Seattle’s underground (highly recommended). I love learning the history of how our cities came to be.  These are the stories they don’t want to tell you in the history books at school.  The sinners, the swindlers, and the prostitutes have all played a major part in building Seattle… and New York, and Chicago, and New Orleans, and so on.  I’m reading “Sons of the Profits”, the Seattle Story from 1851-1901, by Bill Speidel.  It is the funny and true account of how Seattle was built and then re-built (on top of itself) after the fire of 1889.  It’s a great book to read while drinking some coffee.  I need to get out of here so I can sleep again.

There are not a lot of pictures from the past two weeks.  Most of the beautiful skylines and scenery have been covered by smoke from fires.  From Missoula, Montana to Olympic National Park, fires always seem to be around us.  None of these fires are anything close to what are friends and family in the Texas Hill Country are dealing with.  Everyday we look at the pictures from Bastrop and continue to receive updates.  You are all in our thoughts and prayers.

Here is the link to our pictures on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/e_e_b/sets/72157627511132855/

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