Seattle - Day 1

Today is our 6th anniversary. Thanks to my (Lance's) mom and grandma we were able to get away on a little anniversary trip to Seattle. Cari has been wanting to bring me here for years. Her sister used to live here and Cari has been here twice before. Of course, that was 7 and 9 years ago.

We started the morning by doing Sealings in the Seattle temple. Something we like to do on our Anniversary - good way to remind ourselves of the covenants we have made. The temple grounds were absolutely spectacular. We wish Lainey and Lilly could have been here with us - we couldn't stop talking about much they would have loved it.


These are just some of the flowers on the grounds. Cari kept saying it is like we are in the Garden of Eden!



The picture doesn't do the tree justice, but I thought it was awesome. Narly short little thing. Cari made me get my picture taken with it, silly girl. :-)

I need to mention that I forgot my dress shoes (didn't realize until at the airport) so most of the morning I was walking around with my nice slacks, shirt, and tie along with my hiking boots. Needless to say, I was breathtaking. We stopped at a Payless on the way to the temple to remedy that situation. :-)

Next we headed off to the Underground tour. This is a place that has had me drooling for nine years based on Cari's descriptions (yes we have known each other for that long, almost 10.5 years). Anyway, awesome, I hope the pictures do it justice. I could write tons about this, but you may just want to google it or ask us about it.



This is actually a picture of a skylight into the underground from the sidewalk. The one after is the same skylight from below.


Seattle used to have a lot steeper hills, a 49% grade actually. When they backfilled the city raising the streets up they essentially washed the hill down to fill everything in. Count up to the fifth floor of this building. That is how high the hill used to be. They moved that much dirt to backfill the roads and raise everything up.
At one point the underground was essential a dump for business owners. Tons of old antique stuff down here.

One story worth noting. The tour guide has been taught Popcorn popping on the Apricot tree by his LDS sister-in-law. When he heard we were from Utah he asked if we knew the song. Of course, we said yes. He asked if we would sing it for everyone. I said, "sure, if you lead it." To my dismay he did. We let him sing it until he got stuck and then helped him sing the rest. At the end of the tour he asked if we should sing it for everyone again, Cari said "lets not torture them again" and another lady responded "thanks!" The lady was pretty serious, I think she may hate all Utahans now, because no one else in the group knew the song and the guide said it is kind of a Utah folk song. I don't think she will ever be a fan of popcorn popping on the apricot tree. :-(

Another place we went is this shop/museum called the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Basically, a whole bunch of crazy random things. Two headed calfs, four legged chickens, couple mummies, crazy mermaid things, and lots of souvenirs.




We ended up buying a book that has a ton more pictures and information about all the crazy things this shop had. Was a lot of fun.

We came across these key chains that talk about traits of people based on our birthdates. I instantly knew we had to have them. Basically, I am "inventive and [a] great-problem solver' (I actually thought it said insensitive and was hooked) and Cari is "free spirited and dramatic." There is more in them that fits, maybe you can read them in the picture.



Dinner was at the Crab Pot on the water front. It was fun. I'm not big into Seafood, but having it fresh makes a huge difference. Of course, I wussed out and couldn't bring my self to down a mussel. By the end it was cold and I was scared I would puke everywhere. I actually tried eating it, but when it squished in my mouth I spit it out before anything else came up.... wuss!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cari said we should have taken a picture of it - sorry.