Sights to See

Brace yourselves for a long one. Our trip got off to a slow start due to a traffic jam in Idaho. The freeway was closed because of a trailer or something that rolled over and there were no exits or any alternative routes. So here are all of the cars parked on the freeway. Everyone just got out, walked around, and got their lunches out of the cooler in the back of the truck.
I couldn't get out. It was too freaky to walk on the freeway. So we waited and ate some Brigham City peaches.
Our first day on the town was spent on the waterfront. Here's Pike's Place Market. Zack's head is covering almost the entire sign. Oh well, what can you do?
We had to document the chocolate covered twinkie.
The inside of the market where they throw fish. Definitely a sight to see.
Welcome to the Seattle Waterfront. Zack's head again.
Exploring
Watching ferries from the pier

It's a tradition that my family always eats at Ivar's when we go to the waterfront. I was SO excited to go to Ivar's again!

This is where you eat. The seagulls come up and beg. They'll eat right out of your hands. Fun for little kids, kind of annoying for us. Those gulls are loud!

The statue of Ivar himself feeding the seagulls.

Alaskan Way Viaduct

We hung out at a park on Lake Washington (where Bill Gates' house is) on our way back to Newcastle. It was such a nice day! It didn't rain once while we were there.

Tina took us to the temple.

It was under construction. Just imagine it without all that crap around the steeple.

Backside

Hydrangeas are one of my favorites! They just don't grow very well in the desert.

We took a ferry ride to one of the islands and back. This used to be one of my favorite things to do as a kid. Here's a good picture of the piers.

There's Ivars!

Perfect day for a ferry ride.

And we're off..

It was REALLY windy.

The city

Of course we had to go to the space needle! Zack had never been to the top.

Awkward double-chin shot.

Checkin it out

All of the big buildings and stadiums

Looking out to the Puget Sound

Dane and Tina surprised us with reservations at the rotating restaurant at the top of the needle! It was so cool and the views were incredible! This is looking out the Lake Washington side.

Sky City restaurant, pretty sure it was the most expensive food I've eaten in my life. Amazing experience though.

Full and tired

Our last day there we went to the beach at Point Defiance and had a picnic.

Most beaches up there are rocky, not sandy, so Zack threw rocks, one of his favorite activities.

We strolled along the beach and saw fish, dead and alive.

Zack tried to teach me to skip rocks. It worked a little bit.

After that we went on the "five mile drive" which is just a scenic drive through the woods. It was beautiful. I always forget how green and wonderful Washington really is until I go back there.

And lastly, the Tacoma-Narrows bridge.

It was really fun to go up there with Zack and do things I used to do that he had never experienced. It was fun for him to meet family that he hadn't met yet and experience where I grew up. I'm really glad we got to go!

Back to my Roots

My friend Sara got married on August 3rd. She was one of my very best friends growing up. The wedding was up in Washington of course, so naturally we traveled up there for it! It was a big trip with lots of pictures so I'm splitting it up. This post is just focusing on friends and family we saw up there. I'll do a different one about touristy things. This first pic is of my old house. Cute, huh? I was so excited to see it and I wanted to go inside so bad, (the door is open) but Zack thought I was being creepy even taking a picture in front of it so I resisted the urge to go inside. The house to the left of it is my friend Sara's house. (The one getting married.) Our bedroom windows faced eachother so we would talk through them at night after we weren't allowed to talk on the phone anymore. Good times.
These are my old friends Bethany and Chandra. The three of us and Sara were together ALL THE TIME in Jr. High. Our nicknames were groucho, chichi, and hefer. Bethany ended up being baptized into the church her senior year of high school (which I NEVER would have guessed.) We talked about how she used to make fun of me for not drinking caffeine or playing on Sundays. When everyone was "toasting," her and I lifted our water glasses to eachother. It's pretty cool how things turn out sometimes.


Here is the bride dancing with her dad, Tim. Tim has had a mullet ever since I can remember. It's usually in a ponytail but he left it down for this special occasion. Doesn't it look fabulous?













Me and the bride. BFFs! I'm sad I didn't take more pictures with her family. They were like my second family and it was so fun to see them all again. I also didn't take any with Garrett and Miriam. Miriam was my other way good friend up there and was one of the bridesmaids. It was kind of weird to see some people again that I hadn't talked to in 6 years. We didn't stay very long because everyone was drinking and getting crazy and Zack was getting a little freaked out. That doesn't happen in Utah, you know.





We stayed with Dane and Tina Bean in Newcastle for the first part of our trip. They co-own the shop that Zack works at and are practically family. They took us to the Crab Pot one night for dinner. We ate as much seafood as we could on our trip because you just can't get it fresh like that in the mid-west. Is this picture deja vu or what?







Here we our with our gracious hosts. It was fun to spend time with them.











This is at the Bean's house just before we left. They have such a beautiful house and yard in the woods.











We got to have lunch with some of my family that Zack hadn't met yet. These are my cousins Ashley, Britany, and Jalyn. I grew up playing with these guys.










And here are their parents, Uncle Jeff (my Mom's brother) and Aunt Suzanne. It was fun to see them again even though it wasn't for very long.










Our wedding present to Sara and Andrew was taking them to a Mariners game. They didn't go on their honeymoon right away because of work so it was a good way to get some time in with them. (At the wedding we really didn't get to talk.) Zack had never been to a major league game before so, even though the Mariners aren't the greatest team right now, we wanted to go for the experience. Here is us trying to get the sign in a picture before our friends showed up. We weren't very successful.



This guy was just funny rolling around everywhere.


















Got the sign in this time.











Here we are with the newlyweds.













Zack tried to get a few shots of Ichiro but our zoom just isn't that great. He's the one on the left.











The mariners ended up beating the Twins for the second day in a row! It's always more fun when they win right?










The last half of our trip we stayed with my cousin Shila. One night we had a bunch of family over for some yummy curry. Here we are with my cousin Anita and her kids Salina and Trevor. It was Salina's birthday that day!







Trevor is one cute kid! He's the typical little boy; way too much energy, way funny, and always getting himself injured (note his bruised left eye.)











This is my Aunt Patti (my Dad's sister.) She's way funny! She was so hooked on the twilight series that she could only put her book down to eat.










Here is my cousin Shalina with her kids Marayah and Akash. I hadn't seen them for so long and couldn't believe how big they've gotten! That's such an old person thing to say.










Shalina has been learning to do henna tatoos and hooked me up with this sweet foot art. Hey, my uncle is from India so I was basically just embracing my Indian heritage.










We didn't end up getting any pictures with Shila's family except for little Asher. He is such a doll! So cute and mellow.











Here we are just before leaving on the drive home. I just wanted to take Asher home with me!












Saying goodbye to the Conways. Thanks for letting us stay with you guys! We had a lot of fun!









On our way home we stopped in Idaho Falls to see my cousin Shannon and her family. Here are her kids Elizabeth and Elijah. They were SO excited to see us and couldn't stop talking and showing us all their cool toys. Buddy (Elijah) has always REALLY liked Zack. They're some of our favorite kids. Too bad we didn't come a few weeks later. We could've met their new brother Evan.