Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Seattle Séjour

This week, the hubby and I went to a conference on Differentiated Instruction in Light of Brain Research. The conference itself was very interesting with a lot of practical resources provided for the 300+ private school educators in attendance. However, I really didn't want to get up before six in the morning for an hour's + drive to Seattle on Monday, then home, and back to Seattle on Tuesday, so we came up with a brilliant plan.

My brother owns a condo in downtown Seattle only ten minutes or so from SPU, home of our two-day conference. No one has used his condo in more than a month so he graciously agreed to let us stay there. We drove up Sunday afternoon, avoiding a lot of heavy traffic, and settled in for a relaxing afternoon, wandering the city on foot and thoroughly enjoying Zeek's Pizza.

Monday we drove the few minutes to the university and stay put until four in the afternoon. We called some friends who live in Edmonds, met them for dinner that evening, then headed back to the condo and rested well before our last conference session on Tuesday. Each day, a catered lunch was provided, and it was sooooooo good! Tuesday we knew we couldn't each much dinner after our pasta lunch so checked out a Seattle magazine and found a Caribbean restaurant that specialized in Cuban pork delicacies. After enjoying the early evening at the Ballard Locks, we went to The Paseo and shared a delicious grilled pork, green salad, rice and black bean platter! This tiny space was hopping! Seating was limited to six tiny tables and we were fortunate to snag one of the last vacancies. Don't offer these guys a credit card or check; they're strictly a cash only establishment. This place gave new definition to the proverbial hole-in-a-wall restaurant! And it was wonderful!

Wednesday morning we packed up, left the condo, and headed downtown, specifically to Pike's Place Market and my all-time favorite kitchen store, Sur La Table. I also wandered into a Made in Washington store and bought Goodnight Seattle, a sweet book that I will read to my granddaughter via iChat and then ship to France to add to her expanding library. After our traditional trip to Ivar's on Pier 54, we headed home and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and evening. Well, I did... the hubby mowed the lawn, weeded, and accomplished several other outdoor jobs. Tomorrow he will go into the office and I will tackle the laundry and then babysit two of our three adorables here in town. The third is headed to Seattle with her mom for a wedding rehearsal. She's going to be the flower girl in a cousin's wedding. And she will do it perfectly!

Such a great way to participate in a conference and spend our first week out of school together!

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