Day Sixtyfour - Aug 15, 2004

We again came to consciousness with the realization there was already a family in full swing upstairs. We had another real breakfast and some good chatting before heading to downtown Seattle for a little touristing with our host family. We both really enjoy Seattle, and Mike and Glenda have been here so long that you couldn't ask for better guides. After parking, we walked down to one of our favorite places in Seattle, Pikes Public Market. We did a little shopping, Adam the most serious trying to balance his savings and his interest in dragons. In the long run, both Theresa and Adam managed to buy books and we hit the sidewalk for the new Seattle Public Library. The library is such an impressive structure and is so cool inside, it's a little hard to know who is there to ogle and who is there to read. We spent an hour or so poking around and enjoyed some mariachi music in the auditorium. On your next stop in Seattle you really ought to give it a look. On our way back to the minivan we had a great outdoor cafe lunch, and then headed home to Ballard.

We got back to Mike and Glenda's a little later than we expected and, since we had dinner coming 90 miles north at Mike's brother Chris' home, we said our goodbyes and hit the road. Brian has been imposing on Mike and Glenda in Seattle for well over a decade now and has brought Theresa along for half of those years. He's never happy to say goodbye and, much like Theresa and her pal Michelle, continues to wait for Mike and family to simply get it over with and move back to Anchorage.

Ninety miles north in Bellingham we found another set of friends, another evening of food from the grill, and some more great conversation. Flashing back four years, we stopped in to see Chris and Susan pre-marriage and pre-home ownership. They seem to be weathering both very well. Between Joey in Wisconsin and Chris here, Brian has some very large home improvement ideas. If we hadn't just spent all of that money on gas... After, again, keeping our hosts up well past their bedtime we called it a very nice evening.