Seattle - Part 2

As our circuitous route to the west side took much longer than anticipated, our room at the Plum Duff House was a welcome sight!  One of my former college teachers runs this lovely B&B with his wife.  Pete & Robin Stevens are wonderful friends, and they are amazing hosts.  If you ever need a place to stay in the Tacoma/Seattle area, I highly recommend this lovely place!

After a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast, Jenny & I drove up to Seattle, where our first stop was the always popular Pike Place Market.  Yes, it's home to the original Starbucks, but we had our eyes fixed on a tres magnifique establishment down the block.  Of course we'd just consumed a rather large meal, but one of life's most important lessons is that you should never pass up french food - EVER!  (Especially anything that even remotely resembles a pastry!)

I love Pike Place, even with its Saturday morning crowds.  The bustling masses were a bit overwhelming to this countrified city gal, but the amazing views of the bay with the Olympic Mountain range beyond were so very soothing!  The ethnic food, the wares, the aromatic flower stalls and the quirky street entertainment make this market one of the coolest places I've ever visited.

Vendors are prolific here, and the stalls have overflowed onto nearby streets and alleys.  We had a great day scouring antique shops and kitchen boutiques for fun things that we can't find in our lowly neck of the woods.  Alas, Seattle prices are a wee bit higher than those in Colville, so we settled on window shopping and came away with some inspirational ideas for gifts & goodies that we can make at home.  (Kind of like a live version of Pinterest).

Lunch consisted of a thai curry dish, followed by Italian gelato (I know, another weird combo, but at least they weren't crafted in the same place)!  By this time, I was beginning to feel young & free again.  Later, we had time for a quick walk along the water, where the line was much too long to ride the ferris wheel.  Bummer - that really would have made me feel like a kid again!

One of the highlights of our trip was the chance I had to visit with some of my dearest friends from my college days, Barry & Veronica Quirk (along with their beautiful daughter Kendel).  I haven't seen them in years, and it was great to visit, even if it was for only a few hours.  The Quirks are great people, and it's an incredible blessing to have friends with whom you can connect like you've never been apart.

The rest of our weekend sped by.  Saturday night found us frantically searching for bargains at the enormous IKEA store outside of Tacoma.  Talk about a workout!  On Sunday, we took the speedy highway route back to Colville, where we arrived in time to have dinner with our families.  It was so very nice to be away, but it was infinitely better to be home!