Seattle is a magical place

So I am attending the APDT Conference in Spokane WA this year.  Since I was going to be on this side of the country for that, I decided to come a few days early and visit my brother in Seattle.

He graduated from college in May and decided to stay here, which I think is very brave of him.  Riley has always been close to my heart.  He's freaking smart as anything and is brave enough to voice his opinions and be who he wants to be no matter who is around him.  I greatly admire that and miss him.  So it was great to spend a few days visiting him here.

Seattle is BEAUTIFUL!  I really love it here. I could see myself living here.  It is overcast, lovely and cool.  We have done a lot of walking around and getting coffee in cute little coffee shops.  It's been a wonderful visit and it has put it in my mind that someday I should move here.

I didn't get long to spend with Riley in Seattle.  Landed on the evening of the 19th and we stayed up late chatting.  Since I didn't have a bed (yes just like one of my brothers), I had to cobble together a little cocoon to sleep on.  It actually turned out to be pretty comfortable considering so I wasn't overly bothered by a bad back.

Then for the next two days, Riley and I went around Seattle seeing the sights and generally hanging out.  We went down to the Public Market and walked around.  I always love seeing fresh seafood and it makes me hungry.  It is a shame I live in Colorado because I do LOVE seafood and you just can't get very good seafood in a land locked state.  One thing I might skip at the Public Market was the gum wall though.  Yes, there is a wall in Seattle where people put their gum and it has become this thing.  It's pretty gross... but why not go see it?

We went to lots of cute cafe's and coffee shops.  The first one was this record shop/breakfast cafe that was pretty good.  Now I'm not a record person like my brother but it was this neat little place with so much charm.  That's another thing I love about Seattle, there is a lot of charm there.  Another coffee shop I really liked was this TINY coffee shop under the Public Market called Ghost Alley Expresso.  They have great coffee but also run ghost tours through the market, which I would have loved to do but couldn't fit it in.  Also had a wonderful apple cider with fireball whiskey.  Mmmm.  Seattle has great coffee.  That alone is a reason to move there.

A stop I made my brother make was the Troll under the bridge.  It's really called the Fremont Troll.  It is literally this cement troll under a bridge in this little neighborhood.  I wish people wouldn't do graffiti on things like this but it was still a cute little stop to see.  I laughed and was pretty tickled, don't know if Riley and his girlfriend were that much in love with it.

After hoofing it around Seattle for a while, we went down to the Sound and walked along the water skipping rocks and looking at the leaves.  Let me tell you, you think Colorado has a beautiful fall... Seattle's fall kicks our butt.  The colors in the leaves were so gorgeous.  The Sound was so grey and peaceful that for a while the only thing I wanted to do was stand there and watch it.  It was very pretty.

Although Seattle is a beautiful city, I must say that the Space Needle is much more impressive on TV than it is in person.  It isn't actually that big haha.  Still a cool city though.  I can't wait to come back soon!  Maybe I'll be here in a few years calling it home.

I am getting ready to head to the airport, by bus and train, to catch a flight to Spokane for the conference.  I'm meeting up with several of my training friends there for five days of dog geekiness!  I don't want to leave Seattle and I'll miss my brother but I can't wait for that!

Congrats Brother!

My brother graduated from college a week and a half ago.  We all headed out to Tacoma to see him and congratulate him.  A very exciting time to be sure.  I wasn't that excited with it but I hope he took it all in and appreciated it.  It is quite an accomplishment.

I really admire him for being brave enough to go out there and carve out a place for himself.  I do miss him though.  I have to work harder at staying in contact.

I'm very happy to have another English degree in the family.  Way to follow in my footsteps Riley!

Here's him coming by for his walk across stage:

Remember the moment you walked across the stage, Riley.  For me, that was the moment that I was proudest.  I didn't like school and didn't really care that much when I graduated but it hit me in that moment.  I had a college degree.  And it is something to be proud of.  Congrats my brother.

While I was there I did some thinking about college life.  In a lot of ways I felt like I was robbed of my college experience.  I didn't really get to choose a school I wanted and I've struggled with feeling jealous of my siblings who did.  I hated school mostly because I was so out of place and so unhappy.  It was a really hard time.  So it is hard for me to see people who had great college experiences and really grew as people/  I guess there's no crying over spilled milk though.  I'm luckier than a lot of people.

Still, had I been able to choose a place to go to college, I would have chosen Washington or Oregon.  It is such a beautiful area and I FELT at home there.  I love the weather.  It's so beautiful and just... perfect.  If I could move there with my house I would.  It's strange coming on the heels of having just decided to stay in the Springs.  I did commit to a year or two here but after that maybe I will look into moving up there.  I would be such a wonderful area to live.

Want to see some of the beauty?

It was a really good trip but of course as soon as I came home I got sick.  Of course.  It's over a week later and I'm still feeling sick.  I lost my voice the last couple of days and that was really hard.  You never realize how much you have to say until you can't say anything at all.  Really sucks.  Hopefully my throat will go back to normal here soon because every time I have to teach it hurts.  I'd like that to stop.

Oh and can I just say I'd pay good money for a flight with no babies and no big people who can't fly with taking over half my seat in the process.  I'd pay good good money for that.