Seattle

Seattle – May 2006

Visiting son Wil and friends Jim and Carol

We began our west coast trip by flying to Seattle to see son Wil and friends Jim and Carol. Have you heard about drizzly Seattle weather? Those accounts are based on winter weather -- summers are beautiful. May was close enough to summer to assure that the weather was lovely; we had clear skies and impressive views of the surrounding mountains almost every day we were there. We joined Jim and Carol for awesome oysters and dinner at Elliott's on the Seattle waterfront. We hadn't realized that there are that many types of oysters in existence or that oysters could have such different tastes. Yum!! After dinner we spent the evening with them in their downtown condo with a view of the water. It was great to catch up with them and to discover they have become such avid outdoorsmen. They spend most week-ends hiking or kayaking in the beautiful mountains and streams in Washington. We had hoped to do some of that with them, but the schedule just didn't work out.

We stayed with son Wil and ate some great dinners with his friends and employees. They develop software for the Mac computers, working either from his house or from a coffee shop. Everything is done on-line so they can just carry their laptops around and make their office be wherever they are. Barb was quite amazed that they use no paper at all. She remembers the reams of paper that were consumed at her company to print out programs, project schedules, reports, etc. Times are sure changing.

Wil took us to the Seattle Japanese Garden one afternoon. The place was in full bloom, and serenely beautiful. We cruised the city, spent time downtown, took a tour on one of the famous amphibious Seattle ducks, checked out the Crittendon locks, and did a lot of walking. On most days Chuck ran down a steep hill to jog a glorious path created by paving over a railroad right of way; the trek back up the hill was taxing, but certainly put him in the right frame of mind to thoroughly enjoy the sumptuous food provided by Wil each night; whereas Barb equally enjoyed the meals without the running and now reports a need to counteract all the eating.