Spontaneous Incredible Pacific Northwest Trip!

So, the week before the 4th of July, I found out that I had one more vacation day that I had to use before the end of the month (or I would lose it). I decided to go back to the Pacific Northwest, where I have longed to go for four years. I was last there with my friends Penny, Dana, and Scott four years ago. Way too long for me to be away from the spiritually-moving beauty, culture, and air of the Pacific Northwest.

Anyway, here is a brief overview of my trip in words and pictures.

Seattle was great! It was warm and sunny the whole time, which is a surprise, and a blessing. I stayed with my cousin, who lives in Seattle. I flew there on the 4th of July. I had reserved a compact car, and what they gave me was a PT Cruiser... but a convertable! I have never driven a convertable, so I had fun with the top down on the car.















I went to the famous Pike Place Market for a bit, and then met up with my cousin Tiffany. We went to see the movie "Sicko", a documentary by Michael Moore about the sad state of American healthcare. Then we went to a gathering of her friends, and then went to dinner. Afterwards, we saw fireworks from a distance, over the Elliott Bay on Puget Sound in Seattle.

On Thursday, I pretty much just slept in, drove around by along Lake Washington, visited the Univ of Washington Campus (this is a picture of the side of the Library), went to the Burke Museum of Natual History on the U. of W. campus. U "Dub" is a great campus!















I also went to the classical Japanese Garden in Seattle.















Then I went downtown by myself, watched the movie "Transformers" and chilled in the cool downtown area.


Friday my cousin and I went to Portland, Oregon, and hung out in that downtown, shopped, and went to a huge Blues Music Festival on the Riverfront. That was great! We also went to a Classical Chinese Garden.















Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden, with over 7,000 rose plants, in over 500 varieties. It was amazing, on a hill overlooking downtown. We came back Saturday, hung out with some friends, and then I took the red-eye from Seattle to Cincinatti, and then to Akron.




























I left Seattle at 12:45 am on Sunday morning, got to Akron at 10:30 am, was picked up, and went straight to church. I came home and crashed (sleep wise) the rest of the night. It was a long trip home, but the trip was amazing. Portland definitely grew on me. Hum... who knows what the future holds.