Labor Day, Seattle Style

This post is either going to be one really long one or a few shorter ones.  I'm not sure yet.  We'll just have to see how long my concentration (and interest) lasts. :)

Last Thursday Night
Around 7:00: I am planning to go to Thatcher for the weekend with my family.  You know, see the cousins and Grandma, pick some apples, normal Labor Day weekend stuff.  My sister is planning to go to Seattle to visit a friend.  Everyone is excited for their respective vacations.

Around 9:30: my sister's plan quickly changes and visiting her friend is no longer an option.  But, she has already checked in to her flight online and has a hotel room booked for the next 3 nights.  When another friend in Portland is also unavailable, it looks like she can either be out $500+ or go to Seattle (where she's never been) all by herself...or I can go with her.  Really, there's only one feasible option.  So, my parents buy me a last-minute plane ticket (they are amazing--thanks Mom and Dad!) and I frantically start packing.  And trying not to freak out...

Friday
For the first time in probably ever, I cannot finish my cereal for breakfast--my stomach will not allow it.  Stinkin' nerves.  (This probably seems like a minor detail, but I LOVE cereal.  Just thought it needed to be known.)  We get to the airport on time and our flight leaves at 10:40-ish.  About halfway through the flight I can finally eat again.  Huzzah!  Sarah and I find each other in the corridor off the plane, find our baggage, and head off to the car rental desks.  The lines are long and we have no idea of which one to go to.  After a few phone calls for advice, we decided on Dollar Car rental.  When that takes too long (and the guy at the desk is crabby), we slide over to Enterprise.  Make the reservation, get on the shuttle, look blankly at most of the questions the rental guy asks us ("Do you have full coverage on your car insurance?  Does it cover rental cars?" How would we know?!), and finally get our rental car.

Meet George.

Even with navigation on Sarah's phone, we can't find our hotel.  After driving around the neighborhood for 20 minutes, we finally figure it out and are very excited to rest in our hotel room.  Get checked in, walk in, take a deep breath...gag.  We have been assigned a particularly nasty smoking room.  We talk to the manager and head off to Walmart while they air out the room.  At Walmart, we discover that we've forgotten a few things:

Thank you, Walmart.  Now I won't repulse random Seattleans on the street with my horrible breath.

When the airing-out does squat, we talk with the manager again, call the company Sarah bought her travel package with, call our parents, and eventually get a non-smoking room...for the night.  We order a pizza (realizing that we are starving) and decide that we've had enough adventure for one day.  Ignoring the fact that we don't know where we'll be sleeping tomorrow night, we look for a movie to watch.  Luckily this is premiering on TV tonight:

Good thing we watched the first one a few weeks ago...

Thanks for the picture Amazon!

Saturday
After checking out of our lovely hotel room and pleading with the manager to save us a non-smoking room if it becomes available, we head here:

a.k.a. the coolest place EVER!

See, don't I look happy?

 Here are a few more pictures, just to make you jealous.

Love.

Some of the biggest koi I've ever seen

View from the back of the park/garden.

Blogger is now being retarded, so I guess this is going to be a multi-post thing.  It was getting pretty long, anyways.

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