Ok, so, it has been awhile…
01 JUL 2005 : FRIDAY
Canada Day! I don’t remember what happened today. Amanda and I both worked…
02 JUL 2005 : SATURDAY
Amanda and I worked. A common theme, yes? I took the afternoon off to explore downtown a bit and to look for an anniversary gift for Amanda. I hopped onto the 11 bus (parking is a mega pain downtown) and walked about. I checked out all the flowers in Pikes Place Market; not surprisingly, they are pretty much the same price everywhere in the market, although some try to fool you by advertising prices before tax. I wanted to look about the market area more, but since it was a weekend the entire area was packed. I decided to swing back to the market on my way back home for some flowers.
Not long after I left the market, Amanda called me and said she was done work (this was around 1:30pm)! She basically just started walking from the hospital, and we eventually got together. My plan for gift buying was foiled, but Amanda did not mind as she did not get me anything either.
We considered where to eat, and ended up just going into the Westlake Center; it is just a big mall-like place that is the southern end of the monorail that goes to the Seattle Center. I had never been in there anyway. There were a myriad of eateries, but we both ended up eating at the same mediterranean place. I got a felafel, and Amanda got a large salad thing.
We then randomly walked about downtown. Amanda wanted to look for brown shoes, so I tracked down the “European Comfort Shoe” store I had been in before with Lainie. She did not find anything, though. We then spent some time perusing a kitchen store and ended up getting some spice containers and a nice teapot for me.
After some other minor stops (Borders and Office Depot) for random items, we hopped on the 43 bus to make it back home. We caught up with another 43 bus on the route; its electric cables had gotten all caught up and the driver was outside trying to get them seated again. Fortunately, our bus had not such trouble.
Later we decided to go out to dinner on the Broadway section of Capital Hill (mainly to become more familiar with the area). We ended up eating at a sushi place which was alright.
On the way back home we went in a Hollywood Video to use a gift card that I had for a while. Their selection of new DVDs was kinda lacking, but we ended up getting Predator and Lost in Translation.
03 JUL 2005 : SUNDAY
It was our wedding anniversary! Technically, our second, although we have been together for longer.
I was a lame ass and lazed about in bed. Amanda was more energetic and went to the Safeway below our building for bfast items. We had banana walnut pancakes with mimosas… an advantage of being able to buy wine in grocery stores here.
Eventually, we left the apartment and went on a long bike ride. First, we headed out to Harborview Medical Center to see how long it would take for Amanda to get there. Then we headed downtown as Amanda wanted to check out a sale at the Body Shop.
We knew there was big trail system around, so we headed to the waterfront and picked up the trail there. A policeman yelled at me as I went by; apparently everyone has to wear helmets in Seattle. I had thought that was not the case. Anyways, we picked up the trail down by the water and took it on a big loop through Seattle, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, the University District, the Arboretum, and back home. A long ride, to be sure. We passed by the Chittenden Locks on our way into Ballard. It was cool seeing the fish ladder and all the boats. There were a lot of people there; I guess it is a popular destination.
Amanda was beat on the way home and walked the final leg up Madison. I managed to bicycle up it though. The hills here a not really that bad, at least, not as bad as I thought they would be.
After cleaning up at the apartment, we decided to go to the Harvest Vine for our anniversary dinner. We managed to score an outside table had a pleasant dinner of Basque tapas. The food was good, if pricey. They were definitely heavily red meat oriented, but there were other options. One odd thing was Amanda asked for some olive oil to dip some bread in, but the chef’s spouse (who helps in the front and prepares all the desserts) said that to have the authentic Basque experience they do not have olive oil to dip bread into (which perhaps is a Italian thing). Weird, but the food and service otherwise was good. The co-owner later came by again to give us a birthday flan, but she had us mixed up with another table. She let us keep the flan (which she had boxed because we had had dessert already), though, and then was going to give us another one since it was our anniversary, but that was not necessary for us, and we walked back home.
04 JUL 2005 : Monday
July Fourth! Amanda and I both worked. Afterwards, we considered going out to see fireworks, but decided to stay at home. Weirdly enough, from our apartment we could see four separate fireworks displays: Gasworks Park (in Seattle on Lake Union), Bellevue, and two other places on the other side of Lake Washington (to the east of us). There were also neighborhood fireworks as well.