I’m home from Seattle. (You couldn’t hear it but I just let out a long, sad sigh.) It was a productive week, work-wise, and a fantastic trip, tourist-wise! I arrived early on Monday and wandered down to Pike Place Market, where I took in the flowers,
watched the fish toss, and (purely by accident), discovered the disgusting gum wall!
Then I went to the pier area and visited the Seattle Aquarium.
There, I saw cute sea otters
and an even cutter fur seal named Commander
and also totally fell in love with a huge pufferfish that I named Elvin. Seriously, he’s the cutest fish I’ve ever seen! See!!
After that, I watched people ride the Great Wheel and stared longingly out at Elliott Bay and the distant Puget Sound.
I topped off my first day in Seattle by taking a harbor cruise on the Lady Mary. It was cold out there, but seeing Seattle from the water was priceless!
And while we were out on the water, I was finally, for the first time in three trips to Seattle, able to see Mount Ranier! I had also finally seen it rising from the clouds on the airplane on this trip, too, but this was my first time seeing it from the city itself.
Tuesday, I went to my first day of training/testing and made a decision: I was getting my nose pierced. I’ve wanted to do it for a while but, being in Human Resources, body piercing and tattoos are somewhat frowned upon in the profession. Now, though, I work for a very large and progressive company that seems to celebrate individuality. As a result, I got a wrist tattoo last December and Tuesday night, I went to the awesome Dzul Tattoo & Piercing in Belltown and endured extreme pain as a huge needle was shoved through the cartilage in my nose. Why did I wait until I was in Seattle to do it? Because Seattle feels like home to me. It just felt right to do it then. Now I have a stud in my nose and I love it, even if it is swollen and irritated right now and will probably take months to heal!
The rest of the days, I spent time admiring the view from my hotel.
At night, because I was on the 14th floor, I left my patio door open and fell asleep to the sounds of rain, traffic, and the cold breeze blowing in off the bay. It was divine!
Thursday night, I used my handy-dandy panoramic option to take a picture of my total view from my hotel room. The bay AND the Space Needle? I had such a fantastic room!
I flew home Friday morning, but I fly back out in a week for more training for this project. I will never, ever complain about trips to Seattle!
When I got home, my Burpee catalog was waiting for me, which excited me greatly!
We may live in a townhouse right now and have absolutely no space in which to grow anything, but a girl can plan and dream (for her small farm outside of Seattle), right? That’s what I’m going to do!
Life on Wild Hare Farm 
Love hearing of your trip. I spent my first 40 years in Washington state. I still call it home. My little garden produced all the food for the entire year for my family. Bought meat from friends with larger farms.
Now I sit in northern Minnesota in a little apt growing what I can on my deck. How I miss home.
I’m in Indiana, but so in love with Washington state that it’s stupid. I fly back for another five days in a week and I’m sure not complaining because any time spent there is fantastic. I understand why you still think of it as home!!!!