Rainy Days in Seattle

I’ve been away from the blog for a few days, having fun and being very busy on a little vacation!  I know I have a ton of people to catch up with and race reports to read…with just a little over 400 unread posts in my Google Reader.  Thanks again for all the congratulations on my race last weekend.  It was a fun one!  After the race I took off on a little road trip to Seattle for a few days.

I stayed at the 11th Avenue Inn, a really great place in Capitol Hill, a mile or two away from downtown.  The rooms were quaint and charming, with an amazing breakfast in the morning.  The hospitality was second to none and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend staying here.  Monday was mostly about driving down to Seattle from Kelowna, popping in for lunch with my grandmother along the way, and then hitting up a few shops.  On Tuesday, May 18th, it was the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens.  I’ve always wanted to visit, so this seemed like the right time.  I hit the road for a 2+ hour drive each way to see the sights.  Unfortunately it was rainy, cloudy, windy and pretty cold so the views of the volcano were not the best.  There were all kinds of television crews out there for the anniversary. On Wednesday it was time to get back in the swing of things as I had a one hour run to take care of.  I thought about running around Lake Union, but I needed to run fairly early and I wasn’t sure what the route was like.  Instead I opted to drive up to Green Lake.  I’ve run there before, in fact it was the site where I first broke 60 minutes in a 10K at the Iron Girl race a few years back.  There is a 2.8 mile path around the river and it was busy with runners, cyclists, roller bladers and people walking their dogs at 6:30 in the morning.  The run felt great – nice and speedy – and the scenery was beautiful.  Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera with me though!

In the afternoon it was time to explore Seattle a bit and I stopped in at the Columbia Center.  It is an office tower downtown, but they have an observation level on the 73rd floor.  It isn’t a 360 deg view of Seattle, but you do get to see quite a bit.  Plus, is is only $5 and you get to see the Space Needle!  Unfortunately rain was pouring down when I went so I couldn’t see the mountains. From there I hopped in a cab to check out the happy hour at Elliot’s Oyster House.  Starting at 3 pm they have a progressive happy hour.  Oysters start at $0.50 a piece, and every half hour they go up $0.25.  I got there just in time, grabbed a dozen oysters and a beer and hung out to enjoy my last night in Seattle.It was a great few days, but I had to head back to the Okanagan in time for the weekend…