The weekend
Erin and I had 4 members of my family from Denver in town over the weekend. My father, mother, grandmother, and one of my aunts all came to visit over the holiday weekend. They showed up Thursday morning and entertained themselves for the day since Erin and I both had to work. At 4:30pm they were to meet us outside of the Starbucks Center in SoDo. They didn't end up getting there until almost 5pm due to an early Mariner's game getting out about that time.
Once they did finally show up, they arrived with flowers for Erin which they got at the Pike Place Market. We went back to our apartment for a little while and then out to find something to eat. We had decided on Azteca in Southcenter, but that was a mistake. We got there and had to wait for over 40 minutes just to get seated, after they told us 20 minutes. The food was bad. No, I don't think you understand, it was BAD. 4 of our 6 plates had bad enough problems that they were sent back. The other 2 were not the best, but were eaten. After that, the manager gave us 50% off the bill. Now, I appriciate the gesture, but 50% off a bill where only 24% of the actual food was eaten doesn't seem fair to me. Maybe if you add in the beverages and (free) chips and salsa it is a bit more even, but still... After that we all went to our home or hotel rooms and went to bed.
Friday morning we were supposed to meet at about 9am at our place, however after a mis-communication it wasn't until almost 10:30am. Erin and I wanted to take them to brunch at this bistro over in Leschi called BluWater Bistro. They had already eaten though, so that was shot. We had plans to take an Argosy Cruise after lunch, so decided on going to a restaurant near Lake Union due to time constraints. We finally decided on Cucina Cucina and headed that way. For once I didn't get us lost (or onto I-5 by mistake) when heading to the water level on the south side of the lake. We had a great lunch. I don't think anyone was less then happy about their meal. After that we headed over to the Argosy dock on the AGC pier. We had about 30 minutes to waste, so we headed over to the new Starbucks in the AGC building.
I got everyone a beverage, my whole bean coffee for the week, and 2 tumblers, all for less then $30. Love that employee discount! Finally we got on the boat. It was overcast but still pretty bright and warm. I took many pictures, most of which will be viewable in the photos section in the near future. At the far end of the boat ride, I took the paparazzi shot of Bill Gates' house. About this time, the cloud cover decided to go away. It was a good day to be out on the water. However, the sun hates me and decided I would look better pink. So I got a pretty nasty sunburn by the time we got off the boat. We decided to meet at Westlake Center next for some shopping.
We got to Westlake Center way before the rest did (Erin and I were driving our own car because we all couldn't fit in the same car). Anyway, we all finally met at Westlake and went inside. Erin made a b-line for the Fossil store to buy a new watch. They didn't have the pink one she was after, but she did get a pretty cool watch none the less. We then went over to the Pacific Place mall and poked around in there for a while. Everyone was starting to get hungry, so we decided on Duke's Chowder House on Alki. We had the hotel they were staying at make the reservation and headed over to West Seattle.
Parking wasn't fun, but we finally found some spots and got to the restaurant. Turns out the stupid hotel made our reservation at the Duke's over on Lake Union! The staff at the Alki location were pretty cool about it, and got us a table for 6 right away. Azteca should take note of that... Anyway, we had another great meal, and everyone was happy. We walked along Alki a little bit after that and then parted ways.
Saturday we had plans to take the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train for a lunch trip. We all met at our place at around 9 and left to meet out 11:30am train. We got to Renton with a lot of time to spare, and then found out the train didn't actually leave until 12:30 and they don't start boarding until 12:05. So we sat there for a while taking lots and lots of pictures of the train in the station. The trip itself was about 3 hours long. About an hour to get to the Columbia Winery in Woodenwille, stop for a while for tours, booze purchases, etc, and then back on the train to go back to Renton. It was a pretty cool trip. The trip there comprised of eating, drinking wine, and not many pictures. The trip back was only dessert and lots of pictures (again, to be posted in the pictures section at a later date). We also learned to use our digital cameras a bit better, so it was a productive trip as well. After that we were at a loss on what to do. I wasn't feeling too hot due to motion sickness, wine, and a sunburn, so when someone suggested we just hang out at out place, I was fine with that.
Only my parents actually ended up coming over. So we ordered some pizza and just hung out. It was cool to just sit and talk for a while. My parents left after pizza and talk, and we went to bed.
Sunday morning Erin and I hosted brunch at our place. We got all kinds of good fresh fruit, scones, and mimosa makings. Everyone showed up around 9:30am and even brought food of their own. We all hung out for a few hours, ate some food, and talked. I got a lesson in potted plant care from my mother. A bit after noon, we went up to the West Seattle Farmer's Market in the Junction (Where Alaska meets California). Erin and I bought some really good looking sprouted bread, and my aunt and grandmother each got a pound of Rainier Cherries. They went back to the hotel after the market to take naps to prepare for the evening.
That evening we had reservations at Salty's on Alki for an 8pm dinner. We figured that would be a good way to eat and have a good view of the Elliot Bay fireworks. Traffic on Alki on the 4th is always really bad, but we decided to give it a go anyway. We had a meal, it wasn't a great meal, but it wasn't that bad either. Not worth the price it ended up costing, but still not that bad. The staff there got us great table out on the patio after we had eaten to watch the fireworks. Not an easy feat in a busy restaurant for a party of 6, let alone on the 4th of july with prime waterfront seating. The fireworks were... fireworks. We could see both the Elliot Bay and the Lake Union ones at the same time. I took a few pictures of them, but I'm not sure how good they are going to turn on. It looked like the Lake Union ones were way better.
After fireworks, we left Salty's for home. I had to work in the morning and everyone else was leaving for Denver in the late morning. Traffic was *gasp* bad. We ended up taking 1 hour to get to our place. On the way we had some idiot blast past us at about 70mph on a residential side street. I wish we would have found him crashed a bit up the road, would have served him right.
We said our goodbyes on the sidewalk in front of our place. I sure will miss all of them. It was good to see them and hang out for 3 whole days. I feel like all we did was try and find something to do between meals, but there you have it.
Once they did finally show up, they arrived with flowers for Erin which they got at the Pike Place Market. We went back to our apartment for a little while and then out to find something to eat. We had decided on Azteca in Southcenter, but that was a mistake. We got there and had to wait for over 40 minutes just to get seated, after they told us 20 minutes. The food was bad. No, I don't think you understand, it was BAD. 4 of our 6 plates had bad enough problems that they were sent back. The other 2 were not the best, but were eaten. After that, the manager gave us 50% off the bill. Now, I appriciate the gesture, but 50% off a bill where only 24% of the actual food was eaten doesn't seem fair to me. Maybe if you add in the beverages and (free) chips and salsa it is a bit more even, but still... After that we all went to our home or hotel rooms and went to bed.
Friday morning we were supposed to meet at about 9am at our place, however after a mis-communication it wasn't until almost 10:30am. Erin and I wanted to take them to brunch at this bistro over in Leschi called BluWater Bistro. They had already eaten though, so that was shot. We had plans to take an Argosy Cruise after lunch, so decided on going to a restaurant near Lake Union due to time constraints. We finally decided on Cucina Cucina and headed that way. For once I didn't get us lost (or onto I-5 by mistake) when heading to the water level on the south side of the lake. We had a great lunch. I don't think anyone was less then happy about their meal. After that we headed over to the Argosy dock on the AGC pier. We had about 30 minutes to waste, so we headed over to the new Starbucks in the AGC building.
I got everyone a beverage, my whole bean coffee for the week, and 2 tumblers, all for less then $30. Love that employee discount! Finally we got on the boat. It was overcast but still pretty bright and warm. I took many pictures, most of which will be viewable in the photos section in the near future. At the far end of the boat ride, I took the paparazzi shot of Bill Gates' house. About this time, the cloud cover decided to go away. It was a good day to be out on the water. However, the sun hates me and decided I would look better pink. So I got a pretty nasty sunburn by the time we got off the boat. We decided to meet at Westlake Center next for some shopping.
We got to Westlake Center way before the rest did (Erin and I were driving our own car because we all couldn't fit in the same car). Anyway, we all finally met at Westlake and went inside. Erin made a b-line for the Fossil store to buy a new watch. They didn't have the pink one she was after, but she did get a pretty cool watch none the less. We then went over to the Pacific Place mall and poked around in there for a while. Everyone was starting to get hungry, so we decided on Duke's Chowder House on Alki. We had the hotel they were staying at make the reservation and headed over to West Seattle.
Parking wasn't fun, but we finally found some spots and got to the restaurant. Turns out the stupid hotel made our reservation at the Duke's over on Lake Union! The staff at the Alki location were pretty cool about it, and got us a table for 6 right away. Azteca should take note of that... Anyway, we had another great meal, and everyone was happy. We walked along Alki a little bit after that and then parted ways.
Saturday we had plans to take the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train for a lunch trip. We all met at our place at around 9 and left to meet out 11:30am train. We got to Renton with a lot of time to spare, and then found out the train didn't actually leave until 12:30 and they don't start boarding until 12:05. So we sat there for a while taking lots and lots of pictures of the train in the station. The trip itself was about 3 hours long. About an hour to get to the Columbia Winery in Woodenwille, stop for a while for tours, booze purchases, etc, and then back on the train to go back to Renton. It was a pretty cool trip. The trip there comprised of eating, drinking wine, and not many pictures. The trip back was only dessert and lots of pictures (again, to be posted in the pictures section at a later date). We also learned to use our digital cameras a bit better, so it was a productive trip as well. After that we were at a loss on what to do. I wasn't feeling too hot due to motion sickness, wine, and a sunburn, so when someone suggested we just hang out at out place, I was fine with that.
Only my parents actually ended up coming over. So we ordered some pizza and just hung out. It was cool to just sit and talk for a while. My parents left after pizza and talk, and we went to bed.
Sunday morning Erin and I hosted brunch at our place. We got all kinds of good fresh fruit, scones, and mimosa makings. Everyone showed up around 9:30am and even brought food of their own. We all hung out for a few hours, ate some food, and talked. I got a lesson in potted plant care from my mother. A bit after noon, we went up to the West Seattle Farmer's Market in the Junction (Where Alaska meets California). Erin and I bought some really good looking sprouted bread, and my aunt and grandmother each got a pound of Rainier Cherries. They went back to the hotel after the market to take naps to prepare for the evening.
That evening we had reservations at Salty's on Alki for an 8pm dinner. We figured that would be a good way to eat and have a good view of the Elliot Bay fireworks. Traffic on Alki on the 4th is always really bad, but we decided to give it a go anyway. We had a meal, it wasn't a great meal, but it wasn't that bad either. Not worth the price it ended up costing, but still not that bad. The staff there got us great table out on the patio after we had eaten to watch the fireworks. Not an easy feat in a busy restaurant for a party of 6, let alone on the 4th of july with prime waterfront seating. The fireworks were... fireworks. We could see both the Elliot Bay and the Lake Union ones at the same time. I took a few pictures of them, but I'm not sure how good they are going to turn on. It looked like the Lake Union ones were way better.
After fireworks, we left Salty's for home. I had to work in the morning and everyone else was leaving for Denver in the late morning. Traffic was *gasp* bad. We ended up taking 1 hour to get to our place. On the way we had some idiot blast past us at about 70mph on a residential side street. I wish we would have found him crashed a bit up the road, would have served him right.
We said our goodbyes on the sidewalk in front of our place. I sure will miss all of them. It was good to see them and hang out for 3 whole days. I feel like all we did was try and find something to do between meals, but there you have it.
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