Jill's Visit!

I guess it's been a few days since I've posted anything, but that's not because life was boring! In fact, just the opposite! My good friend, Jill, flew out to visit during Thanksgiving week. She landed last Monday, and we were able to spend a few hours chatting away quickly, before I had to leave for work. Then, she headed south to visit some friends while I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday after I slept just a couple hours, we joined Erick and Merrily for Thanksgiving Dinner. Erick and my mom are cousins and they were kind enough to invite us to celebrate with them. Here we are at Cutter's Bayhouse, right on the water in downtown Seattle. It was a DELICIOUS meal, great company, and an amazing view of the beautiful sunset!
After dinner, we all went over to spend the evening with some friends and other relatives, and enjoyed a great selection of pumpkin or apple pies (the pumpkin was delicious!).

Erick and Merrily hosted Jill and I for the evening, and on Friday morning we woke to a great breakfast. They are really wonderful hosts -thanks for the hospitality!

After breakfast, Jill and Merrily and I headed out to see the sites. We had a full day of lots of fun! We first went to Kerry Park, since the day was clear and the view was bound to be great!

Jill and I haven't had many pictures of us lately, so we went a little crazy while she was here!

Next we went on a ferry ride, just for the ride. It was windy, but super fun!


The view of Mount Rainier from the ferry ride.


The city skyline...


We also headed to West Seattle, ate at a great little dive with really good fish and chips, went to Alki Beach and Lincoln Park, and then also went back to Kerry Park again because I could see what a great sunset we were going to have!


I feel like this picture should be made into a postcard.




The colors kept getting better and better...






After sunset and dropping Merrily back off at her car, Jill and I ended up near the U of W campus. We found a couple of great bookstores, and walked around a bit. It was a great people-watching area! We ended the evening by eating at The Five Spot, a restaurant where my cousin, Scott, used to work. We actually sat under one of his paintings, which was very cool!

On Saturday, Jill and I headed back to Seattle in order to shop at Pike Place and also the downtown department stores. So far I've worked hard to not look like a tourist when I've been downtown, but on Saturday, EVERYONE was a tourist so I figured it was best to just go with the crowd!


Jill was really in her glory at the original Starbucks. Something about Mecca...


Eating at the restaurant that Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner were at in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".




We had a great time walking around all sorts of downtown shops. This tree has been in the news about how bare it was so they added filler. I thought it ended up looking pretty good! Macy's has the huge star in the background, and the whole shopping experience was quite festive!




At the end of the day, we went back to Pike Place so Jill could pick up a few things. As she left the fish market to look for some postcards, I decided to chat with the fish guys a while. When I asked if I could take their picture (remember: tourist for the day and everyone was doing it...) they said sure, but that unlike the other people, I could go around the counter and take one with them behind the counter! Well, it got even more interesting when one of the guys said that I wasn't allowed to walk around, but instead needed to climb over the counter!! It really was pretty hilarious, and I got a big cheer out of the crowd!
(laughing almost uncontrollably while climbing over!)



Look how high the counter is, and I only had one little crate to stand on!

Jill flew back home on Sunday morning, after a great week of being here. THANK YOU for coming!! It was such fun to have her around, and great to spend time with a good friend. You are a blessing to me!