Part One ~ Seattle

Brent had a business conference in Seattle last week so I joined him and we turned it into an extension of celebrating our 20th anniversary.  We left temps of over 100 and came to cool, fresh air.
We played for 5 days and it felt so good!

We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
Right down town and so BEAUTIFUL! 
And I could get used to the valet parking service...opening and closing my door all with cheerful smiles!
"Good morning Mrs. Brown!"
"Enjoy your day Mrs. Brown!"
"Would you like a cold water to take with you Mrs. Brown?"
"Welcome back Mrs. Brown!"
"How was your day Mrs. Brown?"
"What did you see today Mrs. Brown?"
"Have a pleasant evening Mrs. Brown!"
Ahhh...it was lovely.

The forecast was rain for five straight days.  Nightmares of most our recent trip to Disneyland made me cringe!  But instead of rain we were so happy to only have clouds and an occasional drizzle.  I have to say that all our pictures are a bit on the gray side, but that's the reality of the Northwest.

We drove the car onto the the ferry and headed for Bainbridge Island.
The view from the ferry back to the Seattle skyline filled me with honeymoon feelings all over again!
We lived on Queen Anne hill, right under the shadow of the Space Needle for almost seven months.  It was the perfect place to begin our lives together.

Driving off the ferry we headed for Paulsbo...a favorite destination.

Paulsbo is a darling little Scandinavian town, nicknamed Little Norway.

It has quaint little shops and a bakery to die for!

Sluy's is not to be missed!  They have glazed donuts the size of a salad plate and other must try melt in your mouth specialties.  With our pastries of choice in one hand and a whipped hot chocolate in the other, we headed off and began to wander and rediscover this fun little town.

A little back story about marinas on the waterfront...I love them!

When I returned from my mission and Brent and I started dating again, I went to California and stayed with his family for a bit.  One of the many places they took me was out to San Fransisco.  We went down to the wharf and that is where my love affair with the waterfront marinas began.

It felt so romantic and dreamy holding hands with my sweetheart, walking along the wharf with a little sea breeze blowing in my hair.  Sigh....

So moving to Seattle, a city built on the water, was just as it should have been...

 

...and so it still is.

This little waterfront marina in Paulso was perfect.

 

And the love affair continues.

We continued on to Port Angeles.  A beautiful town set on the waters edge of the Olympic Peninsula.

If you are not a Twilight fan then this may cause you to roll your eyes but you must forgive me while I indulge in some silly fun...and if your expectations for Twilight is higher than that of silly fun then you're missing out.

Maddie ~ this is for you : )

 

Port Angeles is where Bella goes to find her prom dress and has her first date with Edward.

They dine at  Bella Italia which is a real restaurant here and YES they serve Mushroom Ravioli!

We decided to have lunch down on the waterfront : )

at Smuggler's Landing.

 

It was a cozy but not real fancy place right on the water which for me made it perfect!

Brent had clam chowder in a bread bowl.  The chowder was okay but the bread was super yummy!

I had a chicken Caesar salad and it was over the top delicious!

It was a lazy lunch and I'm glad we found such a great little spot.

And something for Davis...

This step by step carving station was set up right next to our lunch spot.

I thought the process was so interesting and thought of you and your talents immediately!

 

After lunch we walked around a pretty little park set right on the water's edge.

It was very gray and mysteriously misty out on the water.

Perfect weather for wolves and vampires!  Ha ha!!

And then the most amazing thing happened...

We had a wolf sighting!!

Although this incredible wolf/husky breed is not named Jacob it was so cool to talk with his owner anyway.
He did say that the dog was a total chick magnet.  No kidding : )

  

And while this town is about so much more than the Twilight craze, it certainly gets the most out of it.

And from here all you have to do is drive an hour through the gorgeous Olympic National Park & Forest and you are in Forks!  So why not??  Even Brent was up for it.

It truly was one of most spectacular scenic drives I can reminder taking.  Right along the edge of Lake Crescent with fall colors and crystal water.  I'm planning a trip back and staying in the lodge on the lake.  I'm sure Brent will want to come too : )

Brent was such a great sport!  And he felt much better when after we pulled off the road to take a picture, four more cars did as well.

Now Forks is little.

But Twilight put it on the map!

All the places in the movies you can find here.  We drove past Forks High School and they are completely tearing it down and starting over.

The story goes (a young girl that was working at the "all things Twilight" store told me) that when Stephanie Meyer was writing the book, she came here to get it all in her head so that she could visualize it while she was writing.

Interesting fact though, the movies were not filmed here.

None the less, they have tours, stores and more.

I couldn't help but get a picture of one of the tour buses.

In Forks it's not about having milk, it's about having Twilight.

And although we couldn't drive out to La Push (we were running out of daylight and still had to make the last ferry back to Seattle ) there was plenty of it to be found here.

Here's a little taste of La Push from their search site.

All to quickly the day was over and it was time to catch the ferry back.

It was cold, windy and drizzling on the ride back.

I loved it.

I took this of the Space Needle from the front of the ferry coming back into port.  I think it's funky and fun.

Totally Seattle.