A trip to Seattle with my dude

Once we got through Ian’s graduation, he and I got to take a short overnight trip to Seattle. (and, bonus, Dawn got some much needed quiet time)

We stayed at ‘citizenM Seattle’; the decor was fun, the location worked really well for us, and the room was a great mix of minimalism meets Stanley Kubrick. We’d stay there again.

Once we checked in, Ian and I walked over to the Spheres. I’ve wanted to show him the inside for a while now but it had been difficult to schedule. With some time off I just took my badge with me for our trip and I could escort him in for a tour.

For dinner, we walked over to Taku and ordered a ‘F**k It Bucket’ of Japanese fried chicken and furikake fries, and it was amazing. (We’ve been watching Top Chef Portland and had to try Chef Shota‘s place – hopefully we’ll get to try a few more of the restaurants from this the chefs of this season)

That evening, we just hung out, watched TV, and it was pretty great.

Started our day with Top Pot Doughnuts – a favorite of mine up there. (We took some home for Momma too)

Made a trip to Pike Place market to look around and Ian found ‘The Purple Store’ so we had to check it out. Fish n chips from Jack’s Fish Spot and we were on our way.

Last stop was Gas Works Park. Dawn and I had visited it before and I wanted to show the dude. From there, we jumped on the freeway for our long journey home. I really enjoyed spending time with my best buddy.

Christmas 2020

Had a nice quiet Christmas at home with Dawn and Ian this year. We got to do video chats with our families, open presents slowly, and just enjoy the day. As always, the part of the holiday I enjoy was seeing reactions from the gifts they received. Ian had a good day and drove himself to the ATM to deposit his favorite gifts into his bank account. Dawn loved the silly t-shirt Ian and I found for her (as you can see in the video above). And during our video chat, we were able to watch my Mom open a custom made present we got for her from ‘Crown and Paw‘; a picture of her little dachshund Bo Jangles as ‘The General’.  
Then we finished off the day with my favorite meal, Swedish potato sausage, meatballs, kidney beans, with the Swedish Limpa bread we made the other day, and some lingonberry sauce.Â