Update from Seattle trip part 1
Now I'm back and on my way to adjusting to UK time again - boy did I feel spaced out yesterday - I thought I'd post with a quick summary of our time in Seattle after GenCon.
Tuesday was a day of recuperation after GenCon. Actually slept in til about 10.30 or so, then had a chilled out morning, following by a trip to QFC (cross between Tesco and Asda) to stock up on groceries for the week. For some reason I am fascinated by US grocery stores and can happily wander up and down every aisle checking out the different products. I was also amused to come across the "British shelves" - about 6 shelves with "traditional" British products such as Heinz baked beans, Heinz tomato soup, marmite, Robinson's fruit squash and Birds custard powder. And all for about 4 times the price that they cost in the UK.
In the evening, Melissa took us and Kaitlyn to a local Thai restaurant which was really tasty. Fairly big portion sizes as I've come to expect in the US - however, with takeaway cartons provided as standard at the end of a meal it's not a problem as you don't feel under any obligation to stuff yourself stupid with food as you can take leftovers with you and enjoy it the next day. In the UK, you just don't get that - or rather, you have to ask and it's not usual practice. I remember my grandparents joking about taking food home in a doggy bag for the next day but it's actually a pretty good idea in a lot of cases.
Wednesday was our first outing to downtown Seattle of the year. We got introduced to Salumi - a gorgeous sandwich shop that Melissa was raving about, and then went on the underground tour and to the aquarium with Si, Katie ( lena_of_fargo) and Sechin. Both of these we'd done last year as well but were more than happy to experience again. Unfortunately the giant octopus that was so active when I was at the aquarium last year was fast asleep so I couldn't get any cool photos of him. However, I did get plenty of other fish photos which I will post at some point soon. Katie and Sechin provided a home-cooked dinner for us in the evening (teriyaki duck, rice and roasted red pepper and courgette/zucchini - depending on which side of the pond you're from) which was very very tasty! We had intended to watch a DVD or something afterwards but I think GenCon exhaustion had caught up with us all so we got a lift back to Melissa's house at a sensible time of the evening. Having said that, it was still a post-midnight bedtime but then I think that's allowed on holidays!
Anyhow, now that it's stopped raining, I think we're going to take advantage of having the day off to wander out and do something. More write-up to follow soon.