Space Needle!

From the last update, Paul and Melissa did indeed pick us up and we headed into Seattle. We started at the Pike Place Market, a huge farmer's market and shops complex on the waterfront. One of the signature sights there is the Fish Market, where they hurl fish at eachother... it really was fun to watch, and if I had any immediate use for a full Coho Salmon, I probably would have bought one. I did have some amazing fresh sausage (surprise!), and we had a good perambulation.

We then hit the Seattle Space Needle from the 1959 (Correction: 1962) World's Fair: It's over 500 feet up in the sky, with a great observation platform. It was a warm, sunny day so we hung out up there for quite a while, enjoying the sights. I was also enjoying the sounds - there was a couple speaking mandarin Chinese near me, and gol dang it I actually understood some snippets of their conversation!

Back to the Heathman for SPA appointments: Paul was in for his first massage EVER IN HIS LIFE, and he loved it. I got a manicure and pedicure and loved every second of the experience... it was just great to have such attention paid to the extremities. The spa was excellent, as was every dang thing about the Heathman.... I suspect this will not be my last visit to this temple of awesomeness.

In the evening, Paul had one more surprise: Caesar and Miho joined us for dinner at Trellis, the restaurant in the Heathman (which has been ranked in the top 10 seattle restaurants since it opened in October last year). The food, the wine, the service, and the conversation were all perfect. Paul said it was his best birthday EVER... and I was very happy to have been a part of it.

This morning, it was lazy startup, a leisurely breakfast with Paul and Melissa at Trellis again, and off to the airport. We got home to find the house still standing, Dad and Karen still in good spirits, Bella and Isaac happy and excited to see us... from what I heard, they all had a fun time: Dad took Isaac to swimming, where he continued his continual improvement... and actually participated in all of the activities... Bella got a lot of play time in with friends, and they even spent a few hours at Edinborough Park today.

So in all, it was an amazing escape. We're grateful to Melissa for the invitation, and to the grandparents for being willing to help out... and to Paul for having an occasion to celebrate!

2 days at home for me, then BACK to the Bay Area for 3 days... I'm filling up that schedule with meetings, and I'll have a lot less free time than this past week... which is fine: In a sense I had really wanted to get a lot of "San Fran Things" DONE and out of the way, so that next time I visit, I won't be as distracted.... ;->

I will also be looking at some extra work: We have some top secret cross team initiatives being explored (building a new line of business for the BIG company) that I'm doing legwork on, PLUS I'm building a new business area in our company, and somehow have got roped into making a presentation to several dozen CIOs in 3 weeks on a product I haven't designed yet. Nothing like a deadline to get the juices flowing, eh? This is the thrilling stuff.