Bumming around Seattle (December 26th)

So, last week at this time, I was just waking up in my own bed for the first time in a week after a great trip to Seattle for Christmas.  Sadly, the last week has passed so quickly and was so busy, I haven't had time to finish this blog post from the day after Christmas.  However, we had such a fun day seeing the random sights of Seattle, that I still wanted to post it for posterity...or something like that.  

Our first stop of the day was, quite possibly, the one about which I was most excited:  the REI flagship store in downtown Seattle.

It was amazing inside!!  Seriously, I could have wandered around this place for hours upon hours.  Fortunately, I limited myself to 2 hours =)  The shoe department alone was bigger than my REI here in Vegas.  

In addition, they had this huge rock climbing apparatus.  If you look at the top right, you can see Santa Claus rappelling down!  Even Santa hangs out at REI.

We had a lot of fun exploring the grounds surrounding the store too.  REI definitely knew that groupies like me would want to visit this place as a tourist destination.   I got pretty excited about this kayaking picture set up.  I'm not sure why because I've never been kayaking and don't have a desire to.  

They also had these fun clocks outside that showed the local time at various outdoor adventure locations.  For example, Everest:

After dropping some cash at REI, we headed over to Pike's Place Market, home of fish tossing.  

I wasn't really looking forward to walking around the Market.  I've been there before, so I needed a really good reason to brave the crowds and the pervasive smell of fish.  Those reasons are:  lunch at Le Panier and delicious, freshly-made donut snacks from the market.

After the market, we headed towards two sights that I've wanted to see since high school (when have of my conversations consisted largely of quotes from 10 Things I Hate About You).  I'm not usually one of those people that seeks out sights seen in movies, but 10 Things was my #1, top, favorite movie for many years.  Because I'd previously visited Stadium High School, or Padua as it's known in the movie, we first made the short drive from downtown Seattle over the Aurora Bridge and around to see the Fremont Troll, who resides under the Aurora Bridge.

After the obligatory photo taking, we headed towards my final stop on my 10 Things movie tour:  Gas Works Park, the sight of an old gasification plant where they've left up a lot of the plant fixtures.  This was the sight of Kat Stratford & Patrick Verona's afternoon of fun with paintballs.

We started by walking up to the top of the Earth Mound, a man-made hill to see a view of the Seattle skyline, including the Space Needle.  It was really beautiful and I could have sat there and watched the boats and sea planes for hours.  I imagine it is even more beautiful when the sun is setting.

After visiting the Earth Mound, we walked through some of the tanks and pipes that make up the background of the park.  Walking in this area reminded me of the 3 years I spent working at a food ingredients plant before I went to law school.  Rather than opening the tanks and testing corn syrup within, I decided to perch on top.  It was only afterwards that I saw on the signs that said "Do Not Climb on Structures."  Oops...

I'm basically the Gas Works Park gargoyle =)

The final stop of the day was at the Brooks Running Outlet Store in Bothell, WA.  It took us like 45 minutes to an hour to get there from Gas Works Park, but it was definitely worth the trip!  We got a bunch of pairs of first generation pure project shoes for $10/pair!!  The sizes were very limited, but the had size 12, the size that Adam and my dad wear, in just about every type of men's shoe.  The women's sizes were even more limited, but I did leave with one pair of PureGrits.  I don't really do a lot of trail running, but for $10, I was not leaving without these.

Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for our bank account, the space for taking things back home to Vegas was limited.  But, if you ever find yourself in the Seattle area, check this place out!  So many awesome deals on excellent Brooks running clothes and shoes for men and women.  Next time I go to Seattle, I will be leaving extra space in my suitcase for purchases from the Brooks Outlet.

I don't think I'll be wanting to move to Seattle anytime soon....too much rain and cloud cover...but, I really enjoyed exploring the city and completing my 10 Things movie scene tour.  We'll definitely be back to visit family in the future and I definitely won't be complaining.  In fact, we have tentative plans to go back to explore the National Parks in the area next summer!