Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!

Yay! We're back from vacation! And we had a fabulous time. The weather in Seattle and Portland was great, in the upper 80's and we both now have lovely farmer's tans. It was so much fun to visit new cities together. Rob still has to download pictures, but here were some highlights:

Stitch-n-Pitch in Seattle - There was a promotion for the Seattle Mariners on Thursday geared towards knitters! We read about it in the paper that morning and we embarked on a journey to find tickets. We got free t-shirts, cute little pennants, and seats way up high (supposedly so the knitters wouldn't get hit by foul balls). It was lots of fun and I was able to knit to my heart's content while Rob yelled at the umpires. What could be better?

Ballard Locks - I read about this on Goodkarmago's blog. It was the perfect combination of engineering (for Rob) and fish (for me). After seeing the fish, we ate some at the Totem House. (Not the same ones we saw...)

Donuts and BBQ - Our friend Ryan (who used to live in Seattle) recommended Top Pot Donuts and Hole in the Wall BBQ. Delicious!

Marionberry Pancakes - Who knew a marionberry was so tasty?

Oregon Brewer's Festival - Rob got to drink 6 different types of beer and I got to watch.

Portland's Japanese Garden - Very, very nice. Probably the most authentic Japanese garden I've been to (outside of Japan, of course).

Portland's Public Transportation - They listed the fare for Senior Citizens as "Honored Citizens"! Awww....

Seattle's new Library - Rob just came to Seattle a couple of weeks ago for work and one of the only things he and his coworkers did was to visit the Library. He got a kick showing me all the mistakes! Oh, you crazy architects!

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that I was impressed by both cities. Both were very friendly and Seattle has some very nice and helpful bus drivers. We only took public transportation in both cities and unfortunately Seattle had no transit maps (I guess they're printing new ones because they're changing the routes) so we had to ask many questions. Not only that, but we took the train from Seattle to Portland and back. AND I Pricelined all the hotels. Yep, we're cheap travelers. If you're interested in trying Priceline someday, this website is very helpful if you don't let the strict moderators get you down.

We picked up Maggie and Unki this morning (Thanks Mama, Papa and Yumi!) and they seemed to be happy to be back home as well. And I am happy to be back too. Rob, well, Rob could stay on vacation forever.