Monday, September 20, 2010

A visit from the Californian relatives

The fabulous birthday party was followed by a visit from my aunt Layne and uncle Byron from California. They had come up from San Francisco on Saturday to go to the UW game and had extended their visit through monday so that they could explore the city since they've never been to Seattle. And, of course, so that they could see me. Naturally. On Sunday, I was the tour guide. The weather turned out to be GORGEOUS. We started off the day by going to Capitol Hill and then to the UW district. Even though they'd been to the game, they hadn't really seen the campus (and, I will say, it's an unbelievably beautiful campus). We then ventured to Pioneer Square and walked around there.

While there, we stopped at McRory's, a restaurant in Pioneer Square. It's actually the restaurant with the biggest collection of whiskey in the state (I think?) Something like that. It was quite tasty. We also got to watch some sunday football while we were there.

After that, we walked around pioneer square some more and then headed to Pike Place, a must visit for first timers to the city. We explored around there and then headed to Ballard and the lochs, another must-visit. It was cool because we got to see a lot of salmon run as we're getting into the salmon run time of year.

We eventually made it back to my house after we were all pooped of the tourist-y stuff and I went on a quick run while my aunt and uncle relaxed with some wine after a busy day of sight seeing. Justin and I had planned all along to make them a pacfic northwest dinner that night so after he dropped off Oliver, he came over and we started cooking. Oh, I should note: this boy came over STOCKED. I told him to bring wine and he brought 5 bottles. I do the exact same thing, mainly because every wine always looks good to try. So, we had 5 awesome bottles to choose from for our dinner that night. We opened a couple to taste and just snacked on cheese and bread, sipped, and talked while we made dinner. It was perfect. On the menu for dinner that night: wild alaskan salmon in some sort of amazing ginger/soy glaze that Justin made, mashed sweet potatoes, asparagus, and a tossed salad. We all had a great time together chatting, eating and drinking wine. It really doesn't get much better. The next day, Monday, Justin was back at work and I took the day off to take care of some personal stuff. Byron and Layne headed east to Leavenworth to check out that part of the state. They took quite a few recommendations from us given that is where Justin is from and he is a fabulous Leavenworth tour guide (see our trip here). I loved having Byron and Layne here and can't wait to see them again- a California trip might be in the cards!

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