U2 & Seattle

Steve had the brilliant idea of taking a quick trip to Seattle for the U2 concert. I have been trying to let Steve be more spontaneous since that's his nature and mine is to plan! A lot of people have asked why we didn't go while they were here in Salt Lake City and really it was just because we never got around to buying tickets. Boy I am so HAPPY that we didn't buy tickets to the Salt Lake City show because it was INCREDIBLE in Seattle! Of course the drive was extremely long but we both survived (sort of!). We left on Friday morning, I was hoping to get out of there by 7am but there was too much stuff to do around the house. We left at 9am which wasn't bad....we didn't have any traffic going north. I think the first part of the drive was the hardest for us both. We had gone to bed late the night before and got up early. We switched off on driving and we took our passenger position seriously and slept. 

Our first stop for gas was Boise, Idaho. We decided we would get gas at the Boise Costco. Bad idea!!! Apparently, it's the only one in the city and nobody works on Friday so it was packed! The parking lot actually surrounds the entire building. We waited 15 minutes in line just to get gas! And then we had to find another gas station anyway because Costco doesn't have windshield scrubbers! We grabbed lunch at a Mom & Pop deli shop and got back on the road. 

The drive was so beautiful especially when we hit Oregon and Washington. It's amazing how green those states are! The wine vineyards and fruit trees so perfectly lined up no matter what way you looked down a row. Steve booked our hotel on the way up on our laptop. The forests are so immense and deep! I loved it! Seriously fell in love with Washington! We got in late to our hotel but we dragged all of our stuff up to the room and went to dinner. 

We headed out the next morning by 9:30am and went to Pike Place Market. This place was AMAZING!!! I have never seen anything like it before in my life. It was packed to the max! We explored the market a little before we went to breakfast at Lowell's. We ate a delicious breakfast at this place but did have to wait quite a while for it. You also have to find your own table which was pretty hard to do since it was packed. We waited until someone left a table and snatched it up. Unfortunately it wasn't a table next to the window but at least we got one!

There were multiple stands that sold flowers and they were CHEAP!! If only I could have brought some home that would have made the trip even better. It was astonishing how many different types of bouquets they had and for $10, crazy! What a deal!

 Of course there were a few fresh seafood shops and the way they interact with their customers is just plain fun to watch. They had a fish on a string and when someone would get close they would pull the string and scare the crap out of them when it moved! We watched the fish tossing which was exciting. 

 The market extends outside so we were exploring in Seattle's first weekend of 80 degree temps! It was absolutely gorgeous!

 Steve took me to the first Starbucks store and it had a line out the door and down the sidewalk. We definitely didn't want to wait in that line since we had read it can take 30-60 minutes just to get inside. Pretty wild! While I was taking these photos, an Asian family came up to where I was to take a picture, I moved aside so I wasn't in it. They started waving for me to come back, they wanted me in their picture!!! So funny! So I was their white American in their picture under the Starbucks sign! Ha ha ha!!! Steve was wandering down the street further so he didn't get to see me become famous for 30 seconds!

 At a balcony at Pike Place I took this picture of Qwest field and then noticed the Aquarium below. Let's just say that was our next stop for sure! 

 Yay, We are getting closer to the great wonders of the sea!

 The Seattle Aquarium is amazing! I felt like a little kid running from each exhibit to the next. I was fascinated by the size and amount of sea starfish and corals and fish and the tanks! The Aquarium in SLC is crap compared to this. I never liked the one in SLC because the tanks are way TOO small for all of the sea life. But the Seattle tanks were giant!!! And all the water in the tanks is ocean water pumped inside.

Look at the size of these starfish!!! I was in heaven running around here looking at everything. The touch tanks were awesome. My hand was freezing after a while since the water is the real ocean. So damn cold! We saw so many anemones and corals and giant sea cucumbers. 

 *The octopus*

 *Jelly Fish* 

They were in this tube that you could walk through and it would change colors. So cool!

 Check out how many legs that starfish has!

 ~Jellyfish Jessie~

 This tank was giant and had this huge porcupine puffer fish in it! My sister-in-law would have been in heaven looking at these guys! He just kept swimming in circles. 

 He's going to attack me!!! Aaaahhh!

 So if you notice to the right of Steve's head the size of the clam! It was probably twice the size of his head if not bigger. 

 This picture turned out blurry but there is a Lion Fish in this tank that is giant. First, they are deadly to the touch and second they are taking over the waters by Florida. BUT people do catch them, remove all the spines and cook them then eat them at their own risk. Crazy people putting their life on the line!

 I need these corals in my tank! Not sure what they are but I want them!

 He's hiding! Can you find him?

 Sea lions are seriously the cutest animals! Their blubbery bodies and sunbathing! Wish I could do that!

 This little sea otter was swimming in circles and every time it would reach the rocks on the right it would do a spin and push off from the wall. Same thing over and over and over again.

U2!!!

On our walk to the stadium we came across a sweet toy store. We HAD to go in it. We came out with a Chuckle Buddy monkey that rolls on the floor and laughs and a Squiggle ball that rolls randomly around the room. You never know where it will go! So we had to walk back to our car and put our toys away!

I was in awe at how big the stadium was. We have nothing here in Utah comparable to it. Yes, I know SLC is much smaller than Seattle. The size of the stadium holds over 66,000 people in it. 

 I am so excited to go to the concert and so was Steve. I loved it all!

 Front row!!! Steve got us these fantastic seats for the concert! I really enjoyed where we sat although if we had been a little further to our left that would have been killer. Not to complain, of course! We wandered around and got Big Kidd burgers and fries along with a couple beers. 

 There were quite a few pictures like this that I took and Steve is looking at something different!

 Lenny Kravitz opened for U2 and put on quite a show! We loved it and it got us all worked up for the next act.

Alcohol Enforcement!!! Don't see that in Utah! They definitely patrolled looking for out of control drunk people which we saw a few get taken out. 

 U2 starting up the show...

 The band! We were so excited for this. They played incredibly and put on an awesome show! Although it was quite loud my ears were ringing at the end. The special effects of that stage were killer. 

 This part was awesome...Mark Kelly live from the space shuttle Endeavor to introduce the next song and to tell his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Representative, that he loves her!

 *It's a Beautiful Day*

 The aftermath of the show, there were so many bottles and trash left on the ground! And the U2 crew immediately start disassembling the giant structure. No waiting for tomorrow!

We were out so late after the concert. Just to get our car out of the parking garage probably took over an hour. It was ridiculous since people didn't read the signs that say pay before you go to your car. 

The next day I woke up at 10am and popped out of bed. It was getting so late and I wanted to see so much of the city still! We got ready and headed for the Fremont Troll under the bridge. First we stopped at this burger place called Dick's. Cheap food but not bad...and only in Seattle. We went to Gas Works Park to eat our lunch and check out the park. It's right on Lake Washington so we watched people kayak and sail on the water. So pretty!

 The Fremont Troll under the bridge! If you notice it had a VW bug in it's hand.

 We had someone take our picture and when I looked at them, well lets say I was not too happy!!! I looked pregnant!

 Here we are 7 months a long!

 So we asked if they could take our pictures again and this time I held my shirt around back so the wind wouldn't give false hopes to people and me!

 No baby just big boobs!

 We headed Pike Place Market again and the stores were shutting down. I bought some pasta that are fruit flavors. I really wanted to buy these fruit jelly rolls but the place was closed. We decided to see if Starbucks was still a madhouse. It wasn't so we went in. We couldn't get out of there without spending a lot of money on cool mugs and commemorative Starbucks cards. They all say Pike Place on them. 

 *Tully's Coffee*

We drink Tully's coffee all the time since they make it for our Keurig machine. I had no idea they had actually coffee shops! On our way out of the city the next day we stopped at one and they had delicious food, coffee and smoothies. I want to open a store here! 

 Our view from the patio of Red Robin where ate a delicious meal! We really only ate hamburgers on our trip...Bigg Kidd at the stadium, Dicks the next day and then Red Robin for dinner on our last evening there. 

 These trees are gorgeous! Why can't something like this grow in Utah!!!??? I am absolutely in love with Seattle! I loved the greenery and the fact that you really can't see neighborhoods because you ARE surrounded by a forest! I loved their freeway system and how the speed limits change based on the time of day and amount of traffic. I loved walking all around downtown! I love Pike Place Market! I love the ocean! I loved the diversity it has! I loved the fact I could go into a GROCERY store on a SUNDAY and buy a bottle of WINE! Amazing that the Seattle kids aren't all corrupt from seeing that stuff in the supermarket! 

I am sold on the idea of moving there. Steve has always said he would LOVE to live there but now that I am on board with it, it could become a reality! I even checked out one of the hospitals while surfing the internet! 

Hope you enjoyed the update! It was a long one!