Hello! We're back from Seattle! It was a very good trip. I wasn't very impressed with the Victoria Clipper. The boat was crowded, noisy, uncomfortable, and I expected better for the price we paid. It did, however, go fast, and that was cool. Going right from downtown Victoria to downtown Seattle was good too.

My parents picked us up there, and we had a tasty chowder dinner. It was really nice to see them. They brought us all sorts of good stuff from Costco, and our mail and whatnot too, which was great. On Friday we did breakfast and errands. We went out to find some breakfast, and thought, that's a hip neighborhood, we'll try there. We went there and found nothing. Then we thought, well, that other neighborhood is cool too, there must be something there. Not so. So we were almost back to where we started, and we decided to park and walk down to a cafe we had passed before. We parked, and right across the street we saw people in a sunny window drinking coffee and mimosas. It was obvious that that was the place for breakfast, and we hadn't even noticed it when we were driving around. And it was awesome! If you're ever near the Key Arena in Seattle, just off of Mercer Street is Peso's Kitchen. One of the best breakfasts I've ever had! I had an omelet with dungeness crab, asparagus, and jack cheese. Yum!

Errands for the day included Fred Meyer and REI, and both of those things were fun. I tried on sleeping bags at the REI.

We went over to the arena in the afternoon; the talk began at 4:30. We met Wayne and Tracey there, who is looking beautiful with her big baby-containing belly. It was super cool to see the Dalai Lama. He has a great sense of humor. The panel was him and Dave Matthews, with Ann Curry. And the DL has an interpretor/assistant who was there too. Ann and Dave asked questions, and the DL spoke about how people must treat each other with compassion and must learn to forgive others. He also spoke about how music and journalism can have powerful influence on people, and therefore must be used in a way that encourages and promotes compassion. He also said that women are generally more compassionate by nature than men are, and used the example that most butchers are men, and most nurses are women. He said that since this is so, perhaps we need more women in power. It was really neat to see him, and something I'm glad I got to do in my lifetime. Dave was very funny during the conversation, and was visibly really nervous. I liked what he had to say, and he was real, of course. Ann Curry, however, was very poised and professional, and I didn't like her demeanor too much.

There was a surprise "opening" concert after the discussion, though before that, they let us go out for an hour. We went and found some ice cream, which was a good treat. The surprise band was Death Cab for Cutie, which is a Seattle band. They were all right, though not impressive. But I had never seen them perform before, so that was good. Then Dave and Tim played, and they were absolutely AMAZING. They both are exceptional guitar players, and Tim makes sounds on the guitar that you wouldn't think were possible... At one point they were both playing so fast and hard that I thought their hands were going to break and come flying off! The best for me was Bartender, which was the first one they played. Another highlight was Lie In Our Graves, which was the last song. It was really a kickass show.

After the show we said goodbye to my parents and we went out for dinner with Wayne and Tracey. We found a pub nearby for that. Then we stayed at Tracey's dad's house in Bellevue. He's a super cool guy, and Darwin (the basset hound) was there too. We got a few hours of sleep, then went back to the ferry at 7 the following morning.

Our drive back here was pretty good, which was a pleasant surprise because the road on our way out was in the worst condition that either of us had ever experienced, and it was an awful drive. But miraculously in the two days we were gone, they graded most of it, and the holes were improved. We were very happy about all of that, but then when we were only about two miles from town, we got a flat. And it turned out that we didn't just get a popped tire, we got a totally killed tire:

The bolt must be at least 8 inches long. Spencer is a bit irritated because the tire was only a little over a year old.

When we got back into town, we found a really big boat here:


So that was our trip. Despite the ruined tire, it was a good one.

The weather here is very nice today, and very warm by our standards. It feels like springtime out there, which is great. I hope all is well with all of you too. Cheers!