3 Years Ago...

We're Home!!

Hello Everyone -

We returned home last night from our trip to Seattle, and what a trip it was!! We had SOOO much fun!! Here is a little recap of the trip.

We flew into Seattle late Wednesday night and went to the hotel and got settled.

Thursday we did a bunch of shopping during the day and that night we went to SkyCity for dinner, which is the rotating restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. The food was awesome and the views were amazing!! After dinner we went to see the Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount Theatre downtown. Sherri had never seen the play and we both loved it. After the play we went to a famous Seattle "drive-in" style hamburger place named "Dick's" that is SO good and is a Seattle legend.

Friday we drove an hour to Olympia and had lunch with my cousin Lisa and her husband Paul. We had a great time with them and it was great for Sherri to meet them and have a chance to get to know them a little! After lunch we went and got their daughter Gillian from school, I hadn't seen her since she was a baby and now she is 11!! My how time flies!! After we left Olympia we drove to the SuperMall which is a large outlet style mall. After doing more shopping we decided to leave for the Journey/Heart/CheapTrick concert. We were mainly going for Journey, the concert started at 7 and so we left about 7, knowing we would miss some of CheapTrick but we were ok with that. We plugged the concert venue address into our cars GPS and off we went. It told us we had about 10 miles to go, so we figured that we could be there in 15 or 20 minutes. WELL..Let the adventure begin..about 1/2 mile from the mall we hit traffic. I thought, surely the traffic getting to the concert isn't backed up 9 1/2 miles!!! Well...it was. We stayed in the traffic line for about an hour or so and finally decided, IF we get to the venue we will probably miss all of CheapTrick, all of Heart and most of Journey, so we can wait for another hour in traffic or figure out something else. About that time we passed the Muckleshoot Casino, which is the largest casino in the Pacific Northwest, Sherri had never been to a casino and she had expressed an interest, and I have been to a few and have always enjoyed myself, So off to the casino we went. We were, at first, disappointed in not making the concert and sort of viewed the casino as an "OK" back up plan. We ended up having some of the most fun of our entire trip at the casino!! We took a hundred dollars and once that was gone we were done. We played slots, walked around, listened to some terrible casino band and just had a great time! We ended up spending a couple of hours there, AND we left with more money than we started with!! On my last slot spin of the night we won 3000 credits ($30.00) which put us $12.27 above what we started with! It was SUCH a fun experience and a night that could have been disappointing ended up being a highlight of the whole trip!!

Saturday we slept in a little and we started the day by going to IKEA, Sherri had never been to one and we ended up buying some very cool stuff for the house. After IKEA we hit up Olive Garden for lunch and then we went to the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery for a tour / tasting, www.ste-michelle.com. This winery makes some of our favorite Riesling so we were VERY excited!! We were able to taste 8 different wines and we went on a great tour of their facilities. After the winery we headed North to the Seattle Premium Outlets. It is a higher end outlet mall with stores like Coach, Calvin Klein, Burberry and a ton of others. We bought a few things (Sherri got 2 new Coach purses) and we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed dinner and called it a fairly early night.

Sunday!! This was certainly my favorite day!! We got up and headed to Qwest Field for the Seahawks / Rams football game! We got there a couple of hours early and walked through "Touchdown City" which is a large area they set up before each game with lots of booths and games and entertainment. After we were done there we went into Qwest Field for the game. We had AMAZING seats, 6 rows from the field at the 25 yard line! The game was great, the Seahawks won and it was a VERY fun time. After the game we went back to the hotel to change and we headed back downtown to go to the evening church service at Mars Hill, www.marshillchurch.org. This is an amazing church! I listen to their podcasts weekly and have read a couple of Mark Driscoll's books (he is their pastor). This is a very "modern" church that really connects well and relates well to a very contemporary city like Seattle. This church has grown rapidly, as fast as a thousand people a month at times. They were starting a new series called "The Peasant Princess" based on the Song of Solomon. It was one of the best teachings on marriage / love / relationships that I have heard. Pastor Mark tells it like it is and it was a great message!! You can see more and even watch the message at http://www.peasantprincess.com/, Sherri and I have decided that we are going to watch every weeks message in this series. If you want to watch the message scroll to the bottom of the page linked above and you will see the 9/21 message. Click on that and the video will load.

Monday was our last day in Seattle so we headed down to Pikes Place Market, walked around, got a coffee at the very first Starbucks store and just enjoyed the sunshine and our last few hours in Seattle.

It was an awesome trip and we had a ton of fun, but I think that we were both ready to be home!!

Here are some photos from our trip!!

(Sherri at SkyCity)

(entrance to Chateau Ste Michelle Winery)

(View from our seats at the Seahawks game)

(us at the game)

(Sherri before the game with Seattle skyline in the background)

(Sherri at the casino)

And we're off!!

Sherri and I are leaving tonight for our vacation! We will have 5 days in Seattle and we will take lots of pictures and blog all about it when we get back!!

It is hard to believe that we are going there to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary, it is amazing how fast the time has gone!

Seattle Trip Update..

Hello -

So next week (17th) we are off to Seattle for several days! We got our tickets to the Seahawks game on Sunday (6 rows from the field)!!! We just bought tickets to see Phantom of the Opera while we are there, and that same night we are going to SkyCity for dinner, it is the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle!! We had planned on seeing Shrek The Musical, but the reviews have been less than stellar so we decided to see Phantom instead. We are also still going to the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick concert and doing the winery tour and all of the shopping that we had originally planned.

We will be back on the night of the 22nd so I will blog about our trip when we get back!

Still amazed...

Hello Everyone!!

Well, to say that the last week has been crazy would be a HUGE understatement. I don't ever remember a time when Alaska, or a fellow Alaskan has received so much national attention. Every time we turn on the national news we see our Governors face and see reporters giving stories from our town! I think one of the reasons that it is so strange for us is that this is a woman that we have met, sat in church services with and wrapped a Christmas present for. Even after a week, it still seems unreal.

We thought that her speech at the RNC was AMAZING! We are happy that the rest of the country is getting to see what we have known for some time, that this woman is awesome!!

We would be happy to answer any questions that any friends and/or family may have about her or how she has governed Alaska. FYI, a new poll came out today and she has an 82% approval rating here in Alaska, that is even with the "scandals" that the national news seems to focus on, so she much be doing something right!!

Also, leave us a comment, let us know what you think about her, her speech, or anything else.