Day 108

THERE IS NOWHERE PRETTIER THAN SEATTLE

Especially in the Spring

This afternoon we stopped by Pete and Shauna's home for an impromptu visit. Then off we went to Seattle in our little yellow MR2. We stopped for some of our favorite fish and chips at Spuds on Green Lake. We really prefer the Alki location, or even Juanita, but we will save Alki for another day. We noted two things as we drove around Green Lake. #1 There were LOTS more people enjoying that area than when we were first married and living nearby. And #2 There were hardly any old people. We were feeling pretty out of it! Dave would say, "Look at that wonderful new restaurant with the open air seating. We should go there sometime!."  Then I reminded him, "Uuhh, look around. That is a spot for the younger crowd! We wouldn't fit in there too easily!" Sigh. 

It was just another example of our advancing years and though we still feel 18 years old on the inside, our outside gives us away. Oh sure, every now and then you would see someone over 60 years old, but the majority were 20, 30 and 40-somethings. Tattoos, piercings, girls in short-shorts and boys with 5 inches of their underpants showing. Dang! It wasn't like that when we were young!

And then, as we were discussing our lot in life (which really is all good) Dave noticed four older folks coming into Spuds. Wouldn't you know! There were Bev and Paul Jackson. And they are older than us! We hadn't seen them in years. They attended our church for many, many years and then up and moved to Gig Harbor several years ago. Funny thing is that Mr. Jackson was Dave's PE teacher in elementary school! When we began attending our church, who was there but Mr. Jackson! Dave thought he was old when Paul was his PE teacher, but in fact he hadn't been out of college too long at that time. Then when both of our boys were in elementary school (before I homeschooled) who was their PE teacher?? Yup. Mr. Jackson!  So we go way back with this couple and it was fun catching up a bit.

This was the first apartment building we lived in after we got married in 1970 on NE 45th near the zoo.

The new Amazon headquarters under construction south of Lake Union

Mt. Rainier looked so beautiful as we drove back home to Renton over the I-90 bridge.

There are so many new buildings in Seattle that are either finished or under construction that we hardly recognized our city! We determined that we need to make more drives in to Seattle and explore. Seattle really does have it all. Horse Chestnut trees lining the streets, coffee shops galore, cafes, restaurants, lots of parks and beaches. On a sunny day you can see the Olympics, Cascade, Mr. Rainier and Mt. Baker from different spots all on the same drive. Lake Sammamish, Lake Washington, Green Lake, Lake Union and Puget Sound make for lovely photo ops. I hate the rain, but I appreciate the greenery that we enjoy because of that rain.

So, the bottom line is that despite the aging process, we are not too old to get out and explore and enjoy all that this area has to offer. Our days of playing tennis, Dave giving me piggy back rides from the zoo to our apartment pictured above, riding our bikes from said apartment to visit friends on the east side of Green Lake, jogging around the lake and dropping in to the Woodland Park Zoo any time we wanted because in those days it was FREE..those days may be over for us, but there is no reason we can't enjoy watching the next generations doing the same things we used to do and feeling satisfied. God is good. And we are blessed!