6/5/02 8:00 AM Pacific

Since I wrote the last bit not much has happened (that you need or want to hear about), except for sleep, so I'll take up where I left off.

We got to our hotel, the Inn At The Market, and got checked in quickly. The Inn has valet parking and bellhop services, both of which we took advantage of. Our room is beautiful. It's not much bigger than a good-sized motel room, but it is wonderfully appointed and looks like something out of a magazine. Here are some pictures of the room, and the view from the Inn's rooftop deck.

After we had gotten settled in we went out walking and to find some dinner. Keep in mind that while it was only 7:00 or 7:30 in Seattle it was three hours later back home, we weren't feeling a bit of it. So we walked up and down the streets around our hotel for about 45-50 minutes before finally deciding on a restaurant named Avenue One. The food was expensive and the service very slow, but our meals were wonderful and we loved [almost] every bite. By the time we got out of there and back to our hotel it was about 9:40 PM Pacific and we were more than ready for bed. I put on the tv for some background noise and we fell asleep to the destruction of the universe on the Discovery Channel.

On Tuesday morning I woke up some time between 4:30 and 5:00 AM because my body was feeling rested and thought it was time to get going. Stupid body. I managed to convince it to go back to sleep and succeeded in getting a little more rest until Lauren got me up around 8:00. So we showered and got ready to meet Vanya and Vanessa for the first time (IRL).

For breakfast I had a bagel and chai while Lauren had a muffin and coffee, all from a nice little place within a two minute walk from our hotel. We brought it back to the Inn and ate it on the garden/deck on the roof overlooking the Puget Sound.

Around 10:40 AM Vanya appeared and moments later we were meeting Vanessa and their son Alexander. As with all meetings of this sort the first few minutes were somewhat awkward, but conversation quickly developed and we were soon talking like the old friends we are.

More two come...