98. Drink Starbucks in Seattle

Rich and I just returned from Seattle to visit my best friend from high school, Allyssa, and her boyfriend, Vince (a friend of mine from college). I did three different things while I was there that are on this dreams list, so I don't even know where to start with this blog post! I guess I'll start with the easiest one - drinking Starbucks.

After Rich's and my plane landed on Thursday morning, we met Allyssa at her office building to drop off our suitcases, and then we were off to explore a bit before she got off work. The very first thing we did? Go to Starbucks, of course. Not that it was difficult to find one, because it was on the first floor of her building. Here is a picture of my drink:

Anti-climactic, I know. And we ended up having Starbucks about 85 more times while we were there. But whatever... I love Starbucks, so I was pleased with it.

Another thing we did while we were in Seattle was go to the Cardinals/Mariners game on Friday night. It was a really good game, except the Cardinals lost due to a walk-off home run. Safeco Field wasn't terribly impressive. It was nice enough, but nothing very memorable. My favorite park I've been to so far is still Wrigley... But here are a couple pictures I took while we were at the game:

Our view from our seats. Notice all the fans in red.

A view of the Safeco Field sign. This shot shows that the roof had been closed for that night's game.

Of course, just being in Seattle at all helped me get closer to another dream on the list - visiting all 50 states. Washington makes 24. I'm almost halfway there! I don't have any plans to visit any new states currently, but I'm always searching for that next travel adventure. I'm sure I'll think of something soon.

We did tons of other stuff too while we were on vacation, but nothing else helped me cross of any dreams. However, in case you're interested:

• We went to Pike Place Market and had gyros on the street - they were delicious. 
• We had great Thai food. 
• We went to the Space Needle. 
• We convinced a stoned girl on the bus that all four of us had flown in Friday afternoon for the Cardinals game only and were leaving early the next morning heading back to Missouri - she was mind-blown. 
• We went to the EMP Museum, where they have a really awesome Kurt Cobain exhibit. 
• We spent 2+ hours trying to decide where to go for dinner one night, then we bailed on the whole thing and got delivery. 
• We had an amazing brunch on the water. 
• We saw Mt. Rainier a bunch of times from the car and bus windows, and it was impressive every time. 
• I stood at the edge of the Puget Sound and let it lap at my feet. 
• We visited a cat cafe where we got to hang out with random cats and drink coffee for an hour. I tried to make Allyssa put one in her backpack, but she wouldn't - what a bad friend.
• We went to Fremont Brewing and had some delicious beers and good conversation. 
• We hung out at Vince and Allyssa's place and they got us hooked on a new show - Billions on Showtime. 

Our trip was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be home. The weather here is a big pile of poop compared to what we left back in Seattle, but sleeping in our own cozy bed tonight will (almost) make up for that.