Yes, these really are smiley face fireworks. (Just for you, April!)And maybe it's weird that it's only Saturday afternoon and I'm saying that, but yesterday (the 4th of July) is pretty much my only day off in July until...the 12th. When VBS is over.
So, Erik's in Kennewick for 5 weeks (see previous posts for details), and I didn't want to be hanging out by myself on the 4th, so I talked to his roommate, Dave, and we decided we should hang out. Which turned into a last minute "we should go on the fastest trip ever to Seattle and hang out with friends." So after work on Thursday, I went to his house and we had a BBQ with our friend Mark and 2 of his siblings, who were visiting from Seattle (he's the one who invited us up in the first place), and Erik's other roommate. It was really fun. By the time we were ready to caravan on up to Seattle, it was almost 9 PM, and it's at least a 3 hours drive from Portland. We finally got to Mark's house around 12:30/1:00ish.
Apparently (and unbeknownst to us) while on the drive, Mark and company found out their grandfather is dying--like maybe within the next few days (please keep their family in your prayers!), so as you can imagine, they were none too happy when we all met up again. Yikes. The next morning, Mark's parents flew into town, so they went to pick them up while Dave and I waited back at the apartment. We all ended up going to lunch at Pike Place Market, then Mark and his family left and we were sort of left to our own devices, which was fine, just a little odd.
Anyway, we spent most of the rest of the afternoon walking miles and miles and miles all over downtown Seattle (which is an adventure on an ordinary day, and moreso on the 4th of July). We ran into another friend, who offered to let us stay at her place to take some of the stress off Mark, even though she was heading out of town, and we took her up on that offer (thanks, Tana!). The rest of the afternoon was sort of a comedy of errors...including Erik's roommate getting silly drunk, then falling asleep when we stopped back at the place we'd be staying while I tried to entertain myself for an hour or so. Finally I decided I was starving, so I woke him up and we went and got dinner and ice cream.
We were supposed to meet Mark and company, plus our friends Tyler and Maggie, on the lawn of another friends' apartment overlooking Lake Union for the fireworks. After a half hour of driving around looking for parking, we finally found a spot that was like 3 miles away, and we started booking it over toward their house, down a GIGANTIC hill, and (PHEW!!) made it just in time for the start of the fireworks show.
After fireworks, Mark was going to drive Dave, Tyler, Maggie, and me back to my car, but we got stuck in crazy traffic, so we ended up hoofing it the miles and miles back (mind you all this walking is being done on my bum ankle), climbing the monster hill, and then taking over TWO HOURS in the HORRENDOUS 4th of July traffic to make the drive that should have taken...less than ten minutes. Oi vay. By the time we picked up our stuff, dropped Tyler and Maggie off at their apartment, and made it to Tana's, it was almost 2 AM. And both Dave and I had to work today, so we needed to leave sort of on the early side to get back to Portland. After a quick breakfast at Pike Place Market and a pit stop at Cabela's (which is SO cool, by the way!), we finally made it home. It was...well, let's just say, it was a memorable trip, but not one I hope to be making again anytime soon. Next time I'll just go hang out with my aunt and uncle!! :)
The redeeming factor of the trip was the fireworks!! They were INCREDIBLE!! I've never seen anything quite like them--some were even 3-D! Here are a few photos that TOTALLY don't do them justice! :)
I hope you all had a FANTASTIC 4th of July...hopefully better than my craziness! Less than a week until VBS is over and I get to see Erik!! :) Oh, am I counting down...
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