Washington

So it's been a while since I have updated ya'll on what's been going on. I have been in Washington state for the last week on vacation. Bri and I went up there for a wedding, but we did a lot more than that while we were there. I had never been to the Northwest before, and it was surprisingly gorgeous (at least once we got within about 2 hours of Seattle). We drove through Idaho, Oregon, and then into Washington. In Oregon, apparently you can't pump your own gas. And I thought mormon's were weird. Once there, we stayed with her parents in Redmond, which is right outside of Seattle. Her parents were cool and made sure I had a great time while visiting.
We drove up on Tuesday and spent the entire day traveling. Our good friend Mareike rode with us and got dropped of in an beautiful little town called Cle Ellum. I'm pretty sure it is right outside of where the series Northern Exposure was filmed, but who really cares. We started the actual vacation on Wednesday morning with a trip to Starbucks. They really do have one on every corner, it is not a myth. Then we went into town (Seattle) and walked around Pike's Place Market. I sat on a pig there. Wahoo! Then we went to her "aunt's" house for dinner. Her "aunt" isn't really her aunt, but she was a hilarious old lady nonetheless. Thursday was the rehearsal dinner for the Lau-Pilgrim wedding (the main reason for our trip). They had a little wedding run through and then we all ate a Buca De Bepos, which was AWESOME! After the dinner, we went out for a beer and then home.
Friday was the actual wedding. I went to eat "breakfast" at about 1 O'clock in the afternoon with Bri's family while she was doing wedding stuff. Then I met up with the wedding party for some pictures in downtown Seattle. While they were getting nice pictures taken in wedding dresses and tuxedos, I got mine taken in front of a giant wall covered in chewing gum. Classy. I had about an hour to kill by myself inbetween that and the actual wedding, so I walked around Seattle and observed the street people. They were really fun to watch, but it was a little depressing seeing how unfortunate their lives were. I probably gave out over $10 in change that day. I was, however, pretty picky with the bums that I gave change to. If their little stories (which I'm sure were all lies) seemed honest or were just outright funny, then I would shell out a little change for them. I was very discriminatory with my vagrants. They were a lot of fun, but on to talking about the wedding. The actual ceremony was really short, which rocked. Nobody likes to sit through a long wedding. The party afterwards was a lot of fun. Open Bar. Who doesn't have a good time there?
I spent Saturday with Bri's family while she put on a Bachelorette party for another friend that is getting married soon. Her mom, dad, brother, and I took a ferry over to one of the islands in Puget Sound (the little inlet where Seattle is). We chose Vashon. It was beautiful. Funny side note, there were pictures of two foreign looking dudes posted all over the ferry with instructions to report them if you saw them on the boat. Apparently, they had been riding the ferries very frequently and taking pictures of their structural parts. Quite suspicious. After we got back from the ferry ride, her mother Durell cooked me dinner and then I was off to meet up with the intoxicated girls and crash the party. They actually loved the fact that I was meeting up with them, and I was OK with that, too. We went to a few dance clubs (I obviously didn't have a say in that) and a couple of bars while I pretty much stayed in the background while they continued their celebration. I know that sounds like a really boring agenda, but I honestly had a blast!
Sunday we hung out with Bri's various friends in Seattle and I got to see a little more of the city. Then Monday we went to the locks they have between Lake Washington and some other smelly body of water. The locks were pretty mundane, but there was this really cool "fish ladder" built into them. It aided the spawning process for the fish going upstream to make babies. It's nice to know that they spent over $1 million to help fish get laid. After watching the fish do it, we went to the Experience Music Project in Seattle (that was my choice, the fish brothel was not). This place was AWESOME.
It's basically an interactive music museum. I could talk about it for a really long time, but I'll spare you the details. Bottom line: Grand Master Flash's turntables were there. How cool is that!?!
After the EMP, her parents took us to a Mariner's game. While the game was a whole lot of fun and the stadium was SUPER nice, they sucked and got crushed 6 to 0. I'll still pull for the Mariners now anyway though. Their loss didn't really effect my fun, as I have a good time unless Auburn is losing or Georgia is winning. The next day we woke up at 7 to travel back to our comfy mountain town.
PS: I almost got food poisoning on the way home from uncooked chicken in a taco. Never eat at Taco Time. Ever.