Our First Day Out

Hi Everyone

One day down and seven more to go. The day started off with a ride to the airport with Katie and Deegan. It was a relatively uneventful trip but we had a good time chatting on the way. It always seems that we forget something whenever we go on a trip and this one was no different. I left my sunglasses in the car and Myrna left her sweater in the car too. Anyway, we will be alright without them.

After a short two-hour flight we landed in the Seattle Airport and were picked up by a nice limo (yes this is the first time I've been in one) that took us to our hotel. The hotel is a very nice 5-star hotel, but we unfortunately got a room that looks right into the parking garage. Oh well, the room is nice and we should be comfortable.

Once we had dropped off our bags, we took a short walk to Pike's Market where everything under the sun is sold and peddled. The market has been made famous by one of the fish markets there. when a person purchases a fish (usually salmon) they have a guy out grabbing it for you and he throws to the person who will prepare it to be taken home. It is really impressive
to watch how easily they throw the fish around without dropping any of them.

Since it was shortly after lunch time when we arrived we decided to have lunch at the Pikes market. There are all sorts of little places to eat there and we just picked a nice sandwich place to eat. The crab salad sandwich and clam chowder there was great.

The other thing that was really impressive was the thousands of flowers that were being sold there. The whole thing was really beautiful. For as long as you walked down the market corridor you could see buckets upon buckets of flowers. Most of the flowers seemed to be tulips, but there were all sorts of different varieties. Additionally, they had one of the best produce markets I have every seen. There was every kind of fruit and vegetable you could think of. The entire experience was really awesome.

Once everyone from the family arrived, our last stop was at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The food was good and I feel pretty full at this moment.

We are now back to the room and looking forward to a good night's sleep before going to the ship tomorrow.