Doubletree Guest Suites Seattle Airport/Southcenter

We always go on vacation, have a wonderful time....then come home to the massive credit card bills that we racked up on our trip. <br><br>Not this time.<br><br>We started a fund through SmartyPig.com a while back, where we put in a certain amount of money each month automatically from our paychecks. It earns about 3% interest, and we don't have to think about it and remember to put money in--it does it for us. This works ...

... we reached the area where the highway was surrounded by the Cascades and the Wenatchee Mountain Range on either side. <br>The trees are starting to really turn. Lots of Reds entering the picture. <br>After a few delays we arrived in Seattle. Our hotel room looked out over the Space Needle. Not bad for a Holiday Inn Express. Good Night......

... on up there and the people were quite good even considering the ship moving back and forth. I saw on one of the couches and just stared at the ocean, then read for awhile and stared some more. It was so peaceful up there.<br><br>Next it was onto a Naturalist presentation on glaciers. Very interesting and although she is leaving the subject of global warming up to the experts, you could see from her photos that the thick ice is disappearing ...

... at the birds before heading off to the airport.<br><br>I consoled myself that this time I was finally going to see some native Washington wildlife that I could not see at home. <br><br>Finally we reached the end of the peninsula, but there were no signs anywhere for the wildlife recreation area. Julie insisted that, according to the map, the park was to our left. All we could see to our left was a tall dune with plants growing on it. We drove along, looking for an entrance to ...

... br>4. The fish throwing guys are super neat! I could probably watch them for at least an hour and still be totally enthralled like a 6 year-old....Carolynn however could not....tomorrow I may be left there as she explores the market herself. (They really do throw fish and yell things and stuff....it's super cool!!!)<br><br>5. I think I could move here.....and I really am looking for the Grey's Anatomy stars/Seattle Grace!<br><br>Miss you all!!!!<br><br>

... her luggage, we met up with her friend, Li, at the curb side. Lunch first!! Li first took us to a Vietnamese Pho restaurant, and then we are ready for sightseeing!! First stop is the Space Needle (http://www.spaceneedle.com) at Seattle Center, http://www.seattlecenter.com. If you have kids and time, walk around the entire center. We went up ...

... 230 random questions posed by a couple of unsmiling officials ("Sir, again this is a hypothetical, but if you were to decorate a bedroom, would you use throwpillows? What is Boyle's law for the expansion of gasses?"), before catching a shuttle bus out to our cheap New Jersey hotel near the airport. We were staying in New Jersey for a couple of nights in order to get our bearings and to get some rest, and we were so exhausted by the time we ...

... and of course did a great job of humiliating often unsuspecting audience members. The actual performance blended theater, circus, comedy, and a gourmet restaurant all into one. Our meal was fabulous and "prepared" by Chef Caesar, the comedy relief of the show. The real surprise for me was the amazing circus feel that then came to the show. The trapeze acts, contortionists, and performers all ...

I must have been too tired to take another picture by the time we got home, unloaded the car, fed the cats, sorted out our goodies. Take this bag of cookies to your house Andrew. Here's your family souvenir, a thousand-piece puzzle of the Olympic Mountains. Dad arrives, and Kayla too, eager to hear our adventures. We tell all, the deer we saw, the snow ...

... with the Century 21 theme, the final coats of paint were dubbed Astronaut White for the legs, Orbital Olive for the core, Re-entry Red for the halo and Galaxy Gold for the sunburst and pagoda roof. The 605-foot tall Space Needle was completed in December 1961 and officially opened a mere four months later on the first day of the World's Fair, April 21, 1962. The Space Needle's elevators were the last pieces to arrive before the opening, the last one just one day before the fair ...