6/5/02 4:38 PM Pacific

The Woodland Park Zoo wasn't that big but it was nice, though somewhat confusing. I'm not positive that we saw everything, and to see what we did required going back over our route a couple of times. It was fun. We got to see several animals that the Cleveland Zoo doesn't have, but what was even better was taking a look at the habitats they've built there. I don't know whether it is the large amount of annual precipitation or careful planning, but all of the enclosures were very healthy and green. It was really a pleasure to see the animals living in something nicer than the dust-yards a lot of them have in Cleveland.

Right now the sun is turning the Sound into a glistening silver outside our window. The light is dancing over the wind-teased waves and blue-grey clouds are sailing past the distant mountains of Olympic National Park.

The best part about the zoo wasn't the animals or the scenery, it was being there with new/old friends. Things were very easy between us all by the time we had arrived. Both Vanya and Vanessa were a great deal of fun to talk to, and Alexander was a very intelligent and charming little boy. He had a lot of energy and was a bit difficult to control. All the same he is better behaved and smarter at 4-years old than Dylan (my cousin) is at 5.

We got to the zoo around 11:30 AM and stayed until about 5:15 PM or so. It was a nice long time. After leaving there we came back to the Capital Hill area and drove around in circles for a while trying to decide whether to wander around first or eat first. Eventually we decided (Vanya decided) to eat first. That decision carried us down to the Northern Waterfront to dine at The Old Spaghetti Factory. The food and menu were simple but good. It's very much a family kind of a restaurant and we had fun. After dinner we went back up to where we had been before (Cap Hill) for some quality wandering and browsing. The two stores we went into were Edge of the Circle Books and Toys in Babeland. Both were entertaining for different reasons, but I'm getting tired of writing so I won't go into the details.

After this they decided they wanted Starbucks. Vanya remembered where one was in the U District (U = university = University of Washington, sometimes called UW and pronounced "you dub"), and about halfway there thought of some sort of international bakery near there to visit. After finally finding a parking spot we went walking to where we intended, but we never made it to either one before they closed because we got sucked into an used bookstore. After leaving there we headed back to our hotel where they dropped us off. At that point it was late and we were tired, so we went to bed after fooling around for a while. Honeymoon's are great!

I told Lauren earlier today and I really do mean it, that I can't think of anytime in the past when I have been as happy as I am right now. The weather is beautiful, I'm married to the woman I love more than anything else, and we are walking around the place where we intend to make our life together. Right now Lauren is looking through real estate papers and falling in love with what she sees. In about 20 minutes we are going to leave to walk up to where we will catch the Monorail to the Space Needle for dinner in the revolving restaurant. Go tourist-us!