Seattle

This past Friday I had the chance to head up to Seattle with three good friends, Brooke, Amit & Allen. I have to admit this trip was a little bitter sweet by the time the trip came around b/c I was suppose to go to run a 1/2 marathon, but God had other plans for me that meant I was only to be an encourager and cheerleader on this trip. We all headed up on Friday morning to Seattle - we had a great time exploring the cities famous Pike's Market and the Space Needle before meeting up with my cousin Kylie, her husband John and their son Will for an amazing dinner. Needless to say Will (who is almost 2 yrs old) provided entertainment for all of us and kept us all laughing for the entire meal.

Saturday morning started way early - 4:45am in order to get Amit & Brooke to the starting line in time for the start of their half marathon. Thankfully God had definitely changed my heart b/c while I was really sad about not running alongside them - I was also excited about my role on the sidelines and being able to cheer/encourage them on while they were running the streets of Seattle. Allen and I had a lot of fun racing around the city that neither of us knew trying to find Brooke and Amit while they were running. Amit and Brooke both did an amazing job! After the race was over Allen stayed in Seattle to hang out with his friend Tom, while I took Amit and Brooke back to rest and shower before we headed back to explore Seattle more. After everyone was somewhat rested we took the ferry back over into Seattle where we went on an Underground Tour of the city. Who knew that Seattle was a city of some much history where the city is actually built on top of the old city but yet the old city still exists just on the 1st level. I have to say it was actually a really neat tour and I learned a lot about the city of Seattle. Saturday night came to an end with dinner at a famous seafood resturant called Ivans - it was really good.

Sunday morning was another early morning as the four of us decided to head to Mars Hill Church in Seattle (a church similar to Watermark only in Seattle). Even though we had to get up really early b/c we had to take a ferry in order to get church, none of us seemed to care though b/c how often do you have to take a ferry to get to church? They really do live a completely different life up there, they are more laid back, not in so much of a hurry to get from one place to another, and not near as stressed as people in Dallas. After church we ate lunch with the guys for the last time before we went our seperate ways as Allen had to catch a late afternoon flight back to Dallas and Amit was taking him to the airport. Brooke and I caught the ferry back to Port Orchard (where my cousin's live) and met up with them for a trip to the beach. While the beach had sand it wasn't your typical beach b/c it is surrounded by mountains and the water is less than 50 degrees most of the year, but the beach was still really beautiful and we had a lot of fun and really relaxing. Will learned to fly a kite, which was so cute to watch.

Monday was another early morning as Brooke and I headed up to Victoria Canada via another ferry. I had been to Victoria about 12 years earlier with my dad but was really excited to go back. Victoria is a beautiful city where the people are really nice. Brooke and I spent most of the morning just walking around and exploring the city - mainly just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful city. We spent the afternoon on a whale watching trip - which was probably the most amazing thing I have ever done or at least in the top 5 for syre. The trip will get it's own blog to come later.

That is the Seattle trip in a nutshell - needless to say it was an amazing trip with great friends.