Weekend in Seattle

We had an invite down to Seattle for a Mariners game. I met Kim and Rob in January at the welcome dinner for the International teachers to Washington for 2009, and the welcome home for the Washington teachers who had been overseas in 2008. Kim was on exchange to Mittagong in 2008. I went down because I had a link because of or 2001 exchange to Washington. A few weeks later they sent out e-vites to anyone who wanted to join them at a Mariners game. We decided to go and left on Friday lunchtime. We only had a short wait at the border and arrived at their house in Shoreline at about 4:00 pm.

After introductions, and some refreshments and snacks we headed towards Safeco Field. We met Tony and Gaye, and their three kids who are on Bainbridge Island this year. They are from Grafton in NSW.

As we entered the stadium we were all given a souvenir railway carriage as a momento of the 10th Anniversary of the opening of Safeco Field. We found our seats on the top level looking down the third to home base line. It was a pretty good view of the field with the open roof and the city skyline of Seattle in the background.

As a special celebration the Huskies Softball team, which had just won the softball National Championship, were presented to the crowd. Danielle Lawrie, the pitcher, threw the first pitch of the evening, the national anthem was sung and the ballgame begun.

Ichiro was on a streak of 27 straight games that he had mad a base hit. He didn't make it to 28.

The game got exciting in the 10th innings. It was 1 - 1 after 9, so the extra innings. The twins scored in the 10th winning the game.

We headed in to the Edmonds market on Saturday, and then headed in to the University area to rent some sea kayaks. We hired 2 person sea kayaks for $18/hr each from the Paddle Club. After fitting life jackets, and getting guidance on how to get in at the jetty, we crossed Portage Bay, paddled under the bridges to Lake Union and views of the city of Seattle and the Space Needle. There is certainly some money tied up in the boats along the waterfront, and the houseboats that are on the pontoons along the shore.

We arrived back at the jetty after 70 minutes of paddling and enjoyed a Mexican meal at the Agua Verde Cafe.

After a late luch we headed up to the Allen 40th birthday reunion in Mt. Vernon. The invitation was for current and past staff, and past students who were over 21, because it was in a licenced venue. It turned out to be mainly current staff and it was great to catch up with everyone.