Memorial Day Weekend

My blog is a little late this week as this is my first free day from the weekend as Amber and Gary came out to visit. We had such good time together and had the most perfect weather you could ask for. Four straight days of sunshine with temperatures hot enough to make you sweat. We were able to give them a nice over view of both the city and the mountains and covered quite a bit of territory in 3 short days.
They arrived on Saturday and after showing them our place we headed on foot down to the market. Shortly into our walk Gary commented how this didn't quite feel "within walking distance" as he had thought. That became the running joke of the weekend-that everything in Seattle was "within walking distance." Pike's Place market was packed with people enjoying the holiday weekend and the sunshine. We enjoyed taking in the large sea creatures for sale throughout the market and even purchased a full size Grouper fish to grill for dinner that night. The guy working at the fish place was kind enough to hold the fish and open his mouth wide to get the full effect of what would be making its way into our stomachs later on.....Let's just say that I had to look away. After some further food shopping-Gary was excited to find sausage from South Africa, we made the trek home. After dropping our fish off we headed over to Alki Beach for drinks by the beach. It's such a great ambiance over there on beautiful days. Our mango margaritas were pretty tasty out in the sunshine.
On Sunday we headed into the Cascade Mountains to the town of Leavenworth. It's a neat German town that sits in the base of the mountain and the views are stunning. After lunch of Bratwurst burgers (and my turkey sandwich) the boys headed to the German beer garden while Amber and I explored the shops and then stumbled upon some wine tasting. The town was bustling with tourists alike taking in the sunshine, the German music, and of course the food. Sunday was by far the warmest day and by late afternoon we needed some relief from the sun. The 2 1/2 hour drive back into the city gave us just that along with some stunning views of the mountains-some even still snow covered.
Yesterday we ventured to Discovery Park which offers trails along the "beach." The beach is more rocks than sand but the sound of the waves and the smell of the salt air is good enough for me. There is a little lighthouse that sits out on the point and there were sailboats out along the horizon. After more walking through the park we made our way to the neighborhood of Fremont for lunch. At least point I think I had gotten all the walking I could out of Gary and he needed to be replenished with food and beer. Another evening of grilling and drinks brought culmination to a wonderful weekend. I took them to the airport very early this morning and was glad that I had taken today as a personal day as it's been nice to just relax before putting in the last 3 days of the work week.
I'm heading out to a concert tonight (I can't pass up an opportunity to see some wonderful singer songwriters). The weather has turned gray once again but at this point we can't complain after the sunshine this weekend.