Nice day, indeed, today. Up with Colette and out for coffee. Nikki’s gone to school and Chris is sleeping in.
Then back, Chris is up and we make plans to take off into Seattle before we need to deliver him to his work at Duke’s on Green Lake when he goes on shift as manager there.
We drive into Seattle. This time, we so south on the 405 until we hit the I90 and take it west. I wanted to take Colette over the other bridge that crosses Lake Washington. Nice. Across Mercer Island, through the tunnels and then into Seattle, proper. A quick jaunt south on the 5 and then we’re going west again over the bridge into West Seattle and the Alki area where we are bound.
Once we’re into West Seattle, some amazing views of downtown Seattle presented themselves. We stopped and shot some pictures and then continued around the peninsula into the Alki Beach area. What a nice area. It looks out onto Puget sound and various islands and the far shore with Kingston. Lots of beautiful apartment buildings and not at all far from downtown Seattle with the bus system.
After we roamed round and explored a bit, we came back over into the main area of Seattle and drove north to Green Lake where we all had lunch in the Duke’s that Chris works in. I’ve been there before and it is a neat place. Chris told us a good deal about Duke’s philosophy of how restaurants should be run and it’s inspiring that folks still think like that.
After lunch, we left Chris and walked part way around Green Lake. It would have been nice to do the whole round but it was getting too late and cool and time was pressing us to get on out to Monroe where we were to meet friends at Sockeyes.
I had hopes that Colette was finally going to see Monroe in the sunlight without the deep fog cover that’s been laying over it since we arrived. But, as we approached the Snohomish River, a huge fog bank reared up and it was obvious that the town was still blanketed.
No matter. We pressed on and parked ourselves at my favorite Starbucks for a coffee and some necessary tasks. The coffee was welcome. I called Budget car rental to see if I could get the rental contracts for our car sorted out. But, alas, it wasn’t to be so. I need to wait another two days until we are definitively into the second contract’s period before they will FAX us a copy of the 2nd contract and before I can prove that the 1st contract has been terminated (at less than 45 days).
After Starbucks, we drove to the other end of Monroe in the deep fog to Sockeye’s Restaurant over by Lake Tye.
Lot’s of good friends were waiting there for us and it was an excellent occasion.
Dave and Sally, Hiller, and Larry and Candice all came down to visit with us. Beer, snacks and good conversation was the order of the evening. Local politics, Hiller’s new job in Astoria, New Zealand and Christchurch’s earthquakes were just a few of the many topics that flowed.
About 7 pm, we took off back to Bothell and cleared the fog before we passed Echo Lake on the 522. At Chris and Nikki’s place, Chris was still working (until late tonight) and Nikki was home. She’s made some nice pasta and I had a bit and we all visited.
Another fine day with good friends. I feel very lucky about all that is happening and to have such fine and supportive friends. I’ve been gone from Monroe living in New Zealand for two years now and when I return, it feels just as close and warm as it did back when. Truly nice.
dennis