Seattle Tidbits

I made it home from Seattle in one piece after some unnerving moments early Monday morning, but I made it. Just wanted to share a few things about the trip that made it memorable, aside from the run...

Bloggy Meet-up

One of the best things about blogging has been the chance to interact with other people in other parts of the country who share similar interests. Before my 2009 trip to Seattle, I hit the mother lode with running blogs as there seems to be an insane number of Seattle-area running blogs. Last year I ran into two of them on my 18-mile run, and on Sunday I ran into both of them once more. This time, though, the run-in was planned.

I met up with Kerrie of Mom v Marathon and Zoë of Run, Zoë, Run in their neck of the woods, about 20 minutes south of Seattle. We had a great brunch, chatting about all sorts of things, from family life to running to blogging.

Kerrie had her camera and we snapped this shot of us together. Notice Zoë (in purple)? Yeah, she's about to have her first baby, a girl. She's due any day now but luckily her baby decided not to join the world when we were having brunch, although that would have made for a good blog post.

I was extremely lucky to have met these ladies in the first place, last year, and was lucky to have had the chance to have brunch with them this time around. One day I hope to run a race in Seattle. There are two major races there, the Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon in June and the Seattle Marathon which is held every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

To be honest, the latter one appeals more to me. I don't know if it's because I've been to Seattle twice and it was raining and chilly both times (though it was much colder in 2009) and I think running a race in Seattle in those conditions would be memorable, but that one is enticing. I mean, they both are to be honest. The Rock n Roll one would be fun but it's during the summer and sometimes it's tough to get away during the summer because of work. My work slows down, interestingly enough, around Thanksgiving.

Anyway, there will hopefully be a bloggy meetup once more in our future, and it could involve a race. So I definitely have something to look forward to.

Getting Out Of Town

Have you ever flown out of Seattle? Out of Sea-Tac International Airport? It's a nightmare. The security checkpoint lines are ridiculous beyond ridiculous. If you ever have to fly out of there and aren't really aware like I was (even though I flew out of there last year), please make sure you allow yourself an extra 30-40 minutes to get through that line. I boarded my plane about 15 minutes before it took off. Had I been another five minutes late or so, they'd have slammed the door on me.

Not. Fun.

Apple Cup

I think I decided where Yvie will go to college. I'm sure she'll have her own ideas but I've made the choice for her, so she won't have to worry about it. Yvie's going to attend the University of Washington. She has to. I mean, what better reason for me to visit Seattle more frequently than having a daughter in school there?

I think it's a good school. I've heard good things about it. I wouldn't send her to a dumpy school, but really academics takes a backseat to location. Right? Yeah... that's a good criteria. Location...

Um... well, to try and plant a bug in her ear I bought her a souvenir.

Now, I haven't decided where Kennedy is going yet. I bought her a shirt as well to kind of put a bug in her ear but not sure if having both girls attend college in the same state would be good for my travel schedule. I mean, I'd like to see more of the country so I might choose for Kennedy to go to school elsewhere, like somewhere in Colorado. I went to Denver in '08 and really enjoyed it.

Uh... anyway...

I had the girls stand together for a picture so they could show off their new shirts and...

... you can't really see the shirts there.

I took a few more shots and...

...much better

And judging by the looks of things, UW's bashing and heckling of WSU will continue in the Bueno household.