We woke up to this view this morning:

And then to this:

Andrew was the perfect host. He walked down the street and brought back a dozen Top Pot doughnuts. They were, as expected, delicious!

Then he took us around Seattle Center and pointed out all the cool things.

 

I really liked this little park garden. There are so many lavender bushes around Seattle, and they are all in bloom right now!

We also saw a superhero!

In the afternoon, we drove down to the Ballard area to visit the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.

It’s summer, and the Cohoe (salmon) are running. Okay, swimming, but it’s called running. A very opportunistic seal was waiting on the other side of the locks for some free and easy lunch.

You can watch the salmon swimming up the ladder through big observation windows. It was surprisingly fun to watch the salmon struggling against the intense current, trying to get upstream to SPAWN. Every time one made it through the little opening, we cheered loudly and without shame. Go, salmon, go get some!

Also, I squealed with delight about this pug going on a standup paddle boarding adventure:

After the locks, we walked around a seafood festival and had lunch in the Ballard district.

On the way back to his apartment, Steggy pointed out the Lenin statue in Freeport.

This evening, we met up with my great aunt (I think? My grandmother’s sister-in-law…) Susie and her son Jimmy for a tour of the “UW” (“You-Dub”) campus:

 

While the mascot is now the Huskies, it used to be a “sunny” gnome. Less fierce, to be sure….

I really liked the little glimpse we had of the UW campus. The view of Mt. Rainier is amazing, but Jimmy said that Seattle residents just take it for granted.

Check out where we ate dinner! (Ivar’s.) I loved all the Northwest coast art and decorations!

 

I kept saying how much I love Seattle weather. Jimmie and Susie insisted that the nice weather we experienced today is not the norm. I’m not sure how I would do with nine months of gray drizzle, but I LOOOOOOVE the low humidity. We walked all around in mid-July, and I barely broke a sweat! By comparison to hot, stinky city summers (New York, I’m looking at you!), this seems like paradise.Jimmy also really wanted us to see the famous troll under the bridge, but we are sworn to “secrecy” as to its exact whereabouts.

Another thing we really like about Seattle is how casual everything is. (“I once heard rumor of a restaurant that required a tie. I don’t think it exists,” says Steggy.) It’s such a nice, walk-able place with a relaxed atmosphere. I feel like we’d really fit into Seattle in this respect.

Thanks to our wonderful hosts in Seattle! We really enjoyed staying here and catching up with friends AND family! It was a memorable and impressive first visit, and we hope to come back soon!

And we could not have asked for better weather! Thanks, Seattle, for delivering!