Day Two - Seattle-ish

After a long day in Vancouver, we decided to take it easy on Saturday, sleep in, and all that jazz...

We got up pretty late, so instead of having breakfast, we just went for "brunch" at Lai Thai in Kirkland. Kirkland is pretty crazy about being pedestrian-friendly, and at certain pedestrian crossings, they have these retarded flags that you're supposed to carry as you cross.

I decided that it might be nice to give Alice a quick taste of the downtown of the city I live in, so we walked a few blocks to the waterfront, which was cold and only mildly scenic on this overcast day. There are also lots of random statues scattered around downtown, which requires a photo, of course. We stopped by the new Caffe Ladro (opening day!) as well for some hippie fair trade coffee. After that, we left Kirkland and drove north to Lynnwood to visit Karen and her family. The girls have gotten so much bigger and are very cute and talkative.

Next, we worked our way south a bit to Chateau Ste Michelle in Woodinville for some wine tasting. The grounds are beautiful, with a handful of peacocks roaming about. We did the free tour of the facilities and got to see the bottling line and the huge steel containers, and at the end, we tasted three wines. Alice discovered that she doesn't like all Chardonnays, reconfirmed that she hates most red wines, and found a new wine that she did like: muscat canelli. That's some good stuff.

The last stop of the day was Snoqualmie Falls, which was pretty far to the south. We made it there right before dark. There's quite a bit of water pouring down those falls at this time of year, and Alice was surprised at how big they were. It's also nice that you can get a great view by just walking a few hundred feet to the viewing pavilion instead of having to hike something crazy.

Dinner was at Ray's Boathouse, a personal favorite. We had an appetizer of delicious clams, and Alice ordered the sampler to try a variety of items: salmon, sablefish, and a crabcake. I somehow managed to not order my usual (sablefish in sake kasu) and eat some yummy crabcakes instead. I love Ray's.

We drove back to Kirkland, picking up a bottle of sweet Riesling on the way, and spent a little time playing Karaoke Revolution on the Playstation before heading over to Emily's house to spend the night.