9 Hours in the car, for 3 hours of bliss...

Yesterday Precious, Mr. Man and I loaded ourselves into the vehicular and set off for adventure. We rarely get to go anywhere as a family unit anymore. We closed the gallery and took off. Actually we needed to deliver a large bronze dog to a client but any excuse to get away, and we go. The delivery was dangerously close to one of my favorite cities (Seattle) so we all went.

Living on the coast like we do, one would think we could get a decent piece of fish around here. You would be wrong. Which is why one of our first stops was Elliot's. Fresh raw Ahi and a variety of oysters on the half shell. They have about 30 different oysters. D'Lish!


For those of you that don't know, Precious and I met in Seattle. It's where she picked up the nick name. It's a special place for us. It has also been ten years since we were last there.




Pike's place market is mostly a tourist hangout anymore, but it's still a lot of fun. Mr. Man loved the place. The sights, smells, sounds, flying fish. It was all new for him. I had a great time watching him explore. We ate smoked salmon at the fish markets, apple caramel nut bread from the bakery, 2 year aged cheese from the cheese shop. The little man was a trooper and tried it all. I was so proud.

Having been away so long we were tourists. Having only a few hours to spend before the drive back , we did the tourist things. From Pike's Place we walked down to the Monorail. Mr. Man loves trains. We sat up front with the driver in the bubble. He got a bit spooked, but still enjoyed it. If you haven't done it, it's a fun ride. The dog hated it.


I took a few dozen more photos of the Space Needle to add to my collection of the shots I took from living there. Time flew by. We drove by our old houses and dug through the vault of memories. Giggled at a few, cringed at a few. It was about 10:30 pm by the time we finally got back on the road. It's about a four and a half hour drive home. We ended up stopping just outside of Portland, around 1am, to get a few hours of sleep. Had to be back by 9am this morning.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. We will be making it back soon. Next time we're staying for the weekend. Without the kids.