By Air, Land and Sea(ttle).

Well, for all you know, I'm still in Seattle spending my nights as a gypsy in the public market and begging for shrimp... But let me calm your fears, I am back and kickin' in Alabama. I just haven't been back and blogging in Alabama. Sorry.

Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners

My how time flies when you jet off to the West Coast in the midst of work and a graduate class... I haven't had time to breathe since I got back from visiting the Northwest. But I did have a wonderful time! Let me recap a few things about life since August. (Wow, has it really been that long?!)

I visited a friend in Seattle for four days in early September (a.k.a., my birthday) with two flying days on each end. All in all, it was a six-day whirlwind that ended in losing a tooth. Yes, you read that correctly. Let me explain...

First, I took a plane to Seattle. It was beautiful. It was breathtaking. It made me want to kiss Alabama goodbye. I spent Friday and Saturday seeing lots of Seattle - places like the well-known Space Needle and sports stadiums to hole-in-the-wall bookstores about urban planning and random coffee shops. Seattleites really care about their city, and it shows. Also, I'm pretty sure Sleepless in Seattle is based on a true story.

Space Needle and First Starbucks Ever!

Fish Market and delicious German Coffee! 

On Sunday, Dana and I took a train to Vancouver, Canada. Take a moment to see how picturesque this train ride was...

My eyes could hardly behold such beauty. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire trip was this train ride. Transportation via trains and any type of rail transport is my candy shop. I just ooh and ahh the entire time. After we crossed the Canadian border, we entered a small, coastal town called White Rock, Canada. The population might be 1,000... when Justin Bieber swoops in for a visit.

The weather in White Rock was rare. Mid-seventies. Blues skies. Sunshine. Everyone was out on the beach, which just so happened to be where the train passed through. Out of their 1,000 people, about 999 of them were on the beach that day, greeting our train as it passed through. I felt like I was in a movie. Here are these Canadians, taking their once-a-year stroll on the beach and LOOK, Poppy! A train! A train of Americans! Oooh, let's wave. Welcome Americans! Welcome! Welcome to Canada! Oh Poppy, I've always dreamed of seeing a train full of Americans!

Seriously.

I was rolling around the train from laughing and waving so hard. These sweet Canadians were just waving their hearts out welcoming the Americans to their country. And I waved back.



Old Glory, or whatever Canada's flag is named, flies high near the Vancouver Bridge


On Monday, Dana and I took a whale-watching boat to the San Juan Islands. The boat we chose, the Victoria Clipper, was acclaimed for its 95% success rate of seeing whales. I was expecting a photo opp like this...

Instead, I ended up with a tourist photo beside my boat. (I guess someone has to be in the 5% that doesn't see whales...) I allowed myself five minutes to pout about it, then I spit a piece of gum into the ocean to show Free Willy who's boss. Of course, after spitting my gum out, I had to get a new piece. (Couldn't risk meeting cute northwestern boys with bad breath!) So I grabbed my pack of Orbitz and chewed away.

I noticed something crunchy about the texture of my new piece of gum. Almost as if sand was in my gum. (Do you see where this is going? Because I didn't.) Curse you, Free Willy. So I spit that piece into the ocean too, just for good measure.

I decided that missing out on seeing whales wouldn't ruin my experience in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea. There were far more remarkable things about the area... sunrises and sunsets, sea creatures and wildlife, flowing rivers and land masses. And I even found a 1984 copy of 1984 on my birthday! Take that Free Willy.

My six day excusion to the West Coast ended with a 5 hour flight back to Atlanta and a 4 hour drive back to Tuscaloosa. I was back at work the next day and in class the night after. Fast forward a week later and I'm beginning to experience tooth sensitivity. No big deal, I thought. Until I visit my dentist for a routine cleaning and find out half of my tooth is missing. (You can imagine the things I said to Free Willy at this point.) Luckily, Dr. Nelson was able to repair my tooth. If you want to hear more about my trip (or my tooth), I would be happy to share. This post is just much too long. Thanks for waiting out all of September for a blog post!