Pike Place Market

Let me jump back in time here and run down memory lane real quick. Overall, I liked Seattle a lot, I know people say it's just like Austin- I figured it wouldn't, because no place I ever have been even comes close, but it really is. Lots of weird people, Stevie Ray Vaughan on the radio, active bikers and skate boarders everywhere getting totally extreme, a few crazy bums here and there to mix it up, awesome food, and things to do. Now the weather – it was in the upper 70s while all my friends are baking in the 100s in Texas. Let me check, yup in the face – if you have anything left of it from burning off in that heat.

Now Wednesday morning we went to the infamous Pike Place Market, we did this Savor Seattle tour which I also thought would be cheezy and lame but it was pretty cool. Our tour guide was Erik, he was rocking a pretty lengthy Salvador Dali mustache, for some reason he wore a kilt, made fun of “pants wearers”... and he also carried a pink Mary Poppins umbrella so we could see him in the crowd of people that just stop and don't have a clue as to what they are doing.

On the tour we had these hilarious earpieces that allowed us to hear Erik as well as look like secret service folks/futuristic robots sent from the future. We got to sample the following local foods:

• Fresh donuts straight off the Donut Robot 5000 at Daily Dozen Doughnuts


• Some wacky cinnamon tea at MarketSpice


• FISH THROWING and various smoked salmon at Pike Place Fish – these guys also made fun of Erik's mustache multiple times so I thought that was pretty funny


• Probably the best peach, cherries, and nectarine I've ever had at Frank's Quality Produce. Also, just FYI – Alison had never had a fresh cherry before so congrats to her for accomplishing this feat at age 30. Yup, never had a cherry before. We're tearing walls down here people. Crazy!


• Awesome chowder at Pike Place Chowder. Erik tried to tell some story (I wasn't paying attention) about this place winning all the awards so after talking about them winning he asked us what happened the next year. I loudly suggest they lost (trying to hype up our group) but I was wrong. This place never loses. Shame on me. Also skip the seafood bisque, we give it 2 thumbs down, double up on the chowder.


• Sampled some various cherries at Chukar Cherries, plus some peach and cherry salsa which sounds gross but is pretty good.


• I don't really really even like cheese that much (my mom likes to claim I'm allergic to it) but Beecher's handmade cheese was pretty good, they make a killer macaroni and cheese there.


• I saw this Russian joint on the food network so it was cool to go to Piroshky-Piroshky, they make some kind of soviet hot pocket with different items in them. We had the potato and cheese, as well as apple cinnamon. Perestroika!


• Last we stopped at Etta's Seafood, which is owned by Tom Douglass, a chef here that evidently is on every cooking show on tv, and he also owns like 17 restaurants here. They love this guy here, he makes a good crab cake too.

Pike Place Market Sign

My tron earpiece. I'm from the future.

Fish market.

Fruit stand. Best Fruit Ever.

Our guide Erik strikes a pose.

See ya later

Hello all. Jeff and I are chilling at the ferry dock preparing to head to Vancouver Island. We are trying to eat the 3 peaches and 2 nectarines from the Pike Place market before we board because apparently you can't take these fruits across the border. It's a real bust because I was really looking forward to having them for breakfast the next couple of days at the cabin.

FYI: we are headed to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. No TV and no Internet. So you may not hear from us for a couple of days. But check back soon for updates from today and our cabin adventures.

Fruit update: Jeff has now consumed 2 large peaches and 1 nectarine and I finished the other nectarine. I would have eaten more but I like my fruit cut into pieces so the whole peach didn't interest me. Good job, Jeff.

Fruit update 2: Jeff consumes final peach. Time taken to complete fruit mission: 1 hour.

1800NOtels

We have completed day one of our vacation and I'm up early ready for day two. Here are some notes about yesterday's adventures:

1. We decided to take the light rail to our rental car place downtown. It turns out a few hours before we arrived one of the light rail trains collided with a pickup truck. Glad we missed that one.

2. We arrive at our hotel (Maxwell Hotel) to free cupcake hour and a non existing reservation. It turns out 1800hotels filed for bankruptcy 2 weeks ago and never paid for our room. Thankfully they had a room and for $30 cheaper than the original reservation. Now I just have to work on getting my money back from 1800hotels. Side note: this hotel is right up my alley. Super modern! Great artwork and hardwood floors in the room! No sticky carpet here.

3. Had a great dinner at Poppy (home to one of the Top Chef Masters contestants).

4. Spent some time high up in the Smith Tower during the day and the Space Needle at night.

On our way

We've made it to San Jose on our way to Seattle. I'm happy this swanky new airport has free internet and i also enjoy that the bathroom stall doors open outward--a real must in airports! 

I'm stoked to arrive in Washington as it will be state #31 for me. I'll give you all a little rundown of our plans over the next week so you'll know what's in store.

Today: Seattle
Tomorrow: Seattle then take ferry to Vancouver island
Thursday-Friday: cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Friday-Saturday: Victoria
Sunday-Wednesday: Vancouver 

Looking forward to our adventures and letting you all come along for the ride. 

P.S. I just did this whole post from my iPhone! Fancy.

Airplane haikus

If you were expecting some nonesensical posting with no regard to punctuation or even a coherent thought process well that's where you are right but as an added bonus I have included my thoughts below in traditional haiku format. Enjoy!

Hot stuffy cabin
Coughing people with large bags
Hint of bologna

Our magic robot
Solar pinchers of power
He's not from our world!

Shameful stale muffin
Yes Austin java tricked me
Is there sand in this?

Help Us Magic Robot Doodle

Usually when a friend/family member/trusted confidante leaves and you won't see them for awhile, you might part ways on some kind words or sage advice about the intended location or just life in general.  Today, my boss Russ really outdid himself by doodling the following piece of artwork on what originally appeared to be an old napkin or possibly a kleenex, taking a picture of it on his iPhone, then sending to our entire department with the following description "he will watch over you Jeff and make sure you and Alison never feel alone" which I've honestly been pretty scared about.  Big sigh of relief.

My guess was Russ didn't think there was any way I would post this, well that's where he's wrong, that's in his face!  So if any of you were worried about Alison and me taking a trip to scary canadaland, rest assured I'm taking the magic robot doodle to protect us.  Notice the little squiggles by what look like miniature tank tracks indicating it's super fast rapid movement, nothing can get away from the magic robot!!!  It's got some serious pinchers too, look out Canada - here we come!

Packing For Vancouver

I logged into this website for the first time in a year and saw that there was 263 comments!  Thank you for all the wonderful gentleman's enhancement pills and diet schemes! I've moved all those to where they belong... the trash. Now I can concentrate on packing.  Here is what I've got so far:

• Ear plugs for Alison's snoring. Check!


• Eye mask so people don't have to look at me. Check!


• Tiny computer aka "Tiny C" that no normal human can type on. Check!


• 2 Lbs of Twizzlers.  Check Mate!