Headin' to Seattle

After escaping the strange stomach illness that swept through the Felker/Garis household like an angry tornado, Aaron and I recovered and had uneventful trip to Seattle. He is feeling fine, I'm slowly getting back up to speed. We have no idea where the "bug" came from (had to explain to Ridge that when we said it must be a 'little bug' that we weren't actually referring to a critter with legs), and Ridge seems to be the only one who escaped the 24-hour unhappiness. I'm crossing my fingers that a little more rest will put me right and I'll be able to run on Saturday without any trouble.

After arriving in Seattle, Aaron and I somewhat successfully navigated public transportation (a novelty to us Texas, I know) and made our way to our hotel. I say "somewhat" because, while we managed to get to our final destination safely, we didn't do it together. At my confused urging, Aaron and I moved to get off the bus, but I wasn't fast enough and the bus left. My last image was of Aaron banging on the window, standing on the roadside with the suitcase (though, of course, my running clothes never left my hands). The other folks on the bus were kindly shocked. One young boy asked me, "was that your boyfriend?" I smiled, said he was my husband, and he became even more upset on my behalf. "You should complain!" he exclaimed. I was grateful for the sympathy of the other passengers because it made me feel a little less stupid. We navigated Japan for two years - surely we could handle Seattle for three days!

Fortunately, we were shortly reunited at the next bus stop, which turned out to be the correct one, and quickly located the hotel. The remainder of the afternoon was spent poking around the South Downtown area and enjoying the Seattle Aquarium. Tomorrow we will go out for an early jaunt to the Seward Park, which reportedly consists of old growth forest in the heart of the city. My plan is to go for a final, short run and enjoy the views. Afterwards Aaron will check out a local Brazilian Jiu Jistu school while I go to the expo. Here's a few shots from today of the Aquarium and our fantastic view of Safeco Field. Too bad we aren't baseball fans.

Nemo and Dori say "hi"

Aaron measures up next to a six-gilled shark...

...and Michelle gets mauled by an octopus..

..but not the real one, thank goodness. I wouldn't want this bad boy to get mad at me! You can't tell from the photo, but it's head/body is about 3 ft from top to bottom.