Sleepless in Seattle?

Okay, that was an obvious one, but I am in a hurry and it's the first one I could think of! And usually I am sleepless, but last night I slept. You have no idea the relief.

Holiday Inn's internet again didn't like me. Don't they know I have things to do? So I'm at the business center this morning.

Seattle was just a two hour trip away so I let Montana swim in the beautiful pool in the morning in Portland. He has recently acquired some new skills and it's pretty freaking awesome to watch my kid. Just sayin'. It was a beautiful morning and I sat by the pool and watched this lovely tan thin woman (about my age) come out with a bucket. She obviously worked there as her dress said "work" but it was light and breezy so it also said "work when it's 100*". She was barefoot, had a gold ankle bracelet on, and she puttered around the pool taking care of the flowers in the ginormous (how DO you spell that word?) flower pots that helped make the area so stunning. As I watched her work she looked so incredibly peaceful. Can I have HER job?

Random things we've seen in the last few days and haven't posted:
1: Pioneer baby grave
2: dinosaur on the side of the mountain
3: tank. Just drivin' by

Montana finished swimming. Seattle here we come. Hmm. Traffic here we come. Dead stop. 20 minutes of just sittin'. Totally easy to find the Space Needle and this is where we are meeting my Aunt Darlene and my cousin Richard. Drove straight there. We sure did appreciate everything they went through to meet us. We had a great lunch. Montana had an Orange Julius and I had the BEST clam chowder for those of you that like it. It's at the food court, of all places, at as place called Steamers. Great seafood. Yum. Said goodbye and headed to the Space Needle. Oh wait! One stop first.

The amusement park. While waiting for them, we walked over to the amusement park to kill time and bought a bunch of tickets. Montana and I went on the roller coaster (A wild Ride~ and I think that's the name of it too). I went on the pirate ship (The Galleon) and the last time I rode that thing was at the fair in Billings, MT when I was probably 17. If LeAnn is reading this she will remember. I rode it (it's a giant swing). I got off. I walked straight to the bathroom and threw up. Yep. Did it again yesterday. I was sick all day. Poor Montana. I couldn't go on any more rides. I was green at the thought. I am a rockin' mom, huh? Woo HOO! *sigh*

Space Needle! We were told it was a glass elevator that shot to the top at lightning speed and at the top it was all glass so it was very scary. Yeah, it was cool. But it just felt like an elevator and the glass didn't go all the way around so it wasn' that frightening. The top was pretty awesome. You could see for miles and miles and the water was incredible. So beautiful. We looked at this great island and then later we drove over it. We figured you could totally call traffic from up there. "Interstate 5 is looking backed up... your better option would be to take...."and so on. Pretty awesome. So we ate lunch up there so we could say we did. That was cool too. They had bagels which my sick stomach was grateful for!

OH! When we parked there was a really nice couple (super young so I was even more impressed) who asked if we were parking. I told them we were and he gave me his parking pass. He said it's good until 9:00pm tonight. I took it, hesitant because I must be a little cynical, and said thanks! We successfully used that parking pass, saving like twelve bucks, and got back with 4 minutes to spare! Nice.

There was a festival downtown which had to account for the hundreds of police. Groups of police on every corner. Some wearing "gang task force" clothing. That was reassuring. Police in cars, vans, on horses, on bicycles and on foot. They were everywhere. We really didn't know whether to feel better or worse!

I had an accident with my Canon, which anyone that knows me knows I love it more than my children some days, so I was on the phone with Sean crying. Bless him he was talking me down. (I'm sure he was thinking...wow. high maintenance. And how many cameras can you GO through on one trip?) Apparently two. I told him I'd call him back when I got to the hotel. He said, "um, I'm sure I'll talk to you before that. You'll be calling me to give you directions to the hotel". Hey now. That's not friendly. Probably true. But not friendly. Just for the record, I drove straight to the hotel sans his assistance thank you very much. We are staying at the Holiday Inn in Issaquah (pronounced Iss-uh-kwah~ totally fun to say) . The desk clerk here is beyond awesome. My favorite place so far.

Ran the car through the car wash because Montana and I were going crazy. We feel a little better but some of those damn bugs might be there permanently. Our goal today is maybe a boat ride if I can figure out how to get there and then on to Missoula.

Montana isn't very happy about it. He probably doesn't enjoy taking vacations to Montana. I wonder what is up with that?