The Snozberries taste like Snozberries!

Saturday morning we woke up BEFORE the sun. If you know me, you know I don't do well waking up before the sun. Anyway, it was 45 degrees. In July. Farking Utah! So we make it to the airport with three bags. I actually managed to convince Dr. HokieKev that going to a wedding in the middle of a three week vacation required checking a bag. He gave in and we agreed to mail the bag back to Utah from New Jersey. Fast forward a few hours and we arrive in Seattle to visit our friends Nilu and Rob. Nilu works in travel and had prepared a lovely schedule for us so that we would see as many sites as possible. We visited a few farmer's markets and I had my first cherry. I had always assumed I didn't like cherries because the ones that come with ice cream are an unnatural shade of red and overall not something I want to put in my mouth. Regular cherries are great!!! We also sampled cheeses, breads, honeys, and some amazingly wonderful chocolate sauce. Like nutella but WAY better and organic because apparently that matters to some people.

Saturday night we hit up a housewarming party and shennanighans ensued as they always do when you mix Rob, Dr. HokieKev, and beer. We also got some natural cheetos....they were missing a certain orange flavor but were otherwise pretty tasty. Sunday we went to a chocolate festival- well, it was more of a trade show for choclatiers- and was a little too much for all of us. They had TONS of different kinds of chocolate- truffles, chocolate covered nuts, chocolate covered fruits, habenero chocolate, mint chocolate, dutch chocolate, toffee chocolate, and even blue cheese chocolate. Blue cheese chocolate tastes, as Rob described so wonderfully, "Like Toe!" It was the only one all day that I spit out. Once we were significantly sick to our otherwise empty stomachs we headed to lunch. I think the person that enjoyed it the most was Rob and Nilu's inside baby. He/She was apparently kicking around the whole time.

When we got back, Nilu and I walked down to the farmer's market again to get some picnic supplies. I don't really know why we thought we wanted a picnic after our overindulgent morning but nevertheless. We picked up some bread and cheese to go with the cherries. Then- the best part- sampled and bought GOOSEBERRIES!!!! They are these little green not really a grape, not really a kiwi, kinda tastes like a sour plum kind of fruits. AMAZING!!!! So anyway, picnic, nap, dinner....oy! I left dinner with a food baby. Not so good.

Monday Dr. HokieKev and I headed to the touristy things. We went to the top of the space needle, walked all over downtown- seriously, ALL OVER- and then....wait for it....wait for it...went to the library!!! Yes, that is the life of a dude trying to get some papers into a conference by the July 31st deadline while on vacation. It was a trial and involved phone calls to several individuals with more reliable internet connections. I think my sister finally got the thing to upload and all was right with the world again. After that sidetracking, we headed to Pike Place Market...AKA tourist trap farmer's market. This is the place that they show people throwing fish around on the Real World Seattle from a zillion years ago- yeah, not so cool in person. We were expecting actual throwing of actual fish. Instead, they put the fish in a bag and throw the bag. Lame!

The last part of our touristy adventure took us on a tour of Seattle Underground. You see, there was this giant fire in 1849 and the place burnt to the ground. This was apparently good because the city's sanitation situation was- lacking. When they rebuilt, they built the buildings first and then raised the streets- so tons of the historic building have unused underground basementy type rooms. You can even walk under the streets on the old, underground sidewalks. It was SUPPOSED to include stories of prohibition, prostitutes, and other unsavory tales but there were too many kids so we got none of that. ARG! And to top it off...I got attacked by a fricking pigeon. And not just any pigeon, apparently a pigeon that had just eaten its weight in green goo. It was gross and I was not amused. I proceeded to yell at a homeless women while running into the tour place to rid myself of pigeon goo. Seriously, I am COVERED in pigeon good and you are going to ask me to buy you Subway.....Um, NO! GET OUT OF MY WAY!!! Overall, I would say take that tour at night when the kiddos are in bed and the pigeons have left for the night.

We ended our night with some fancy cupcakes featured on the Martha Stewart show....Trophy Cupcakes I think it was called. I had Snickerdoodle. It was yummy! We have a ton of pictures that will eventually be published but not tonight. I think that is all for now as further information may incriminate those one day hoping to run for public office!