Another Post about Great, Wonderful, Generous Friends

For visits #2 and #3, I was driven to Seattle by two of my friends, Amy and Heather, who just happen to be sisters-in-law.

Both trips, I had a wonderful time driving up to Seattle. We stopped in Portland in both instances for lunch. I took Amy to Saturday Market - she had never been - and that was great fun. We both got henna tattoos and I got my parent a new purse. It was a pretty day in Portland - almost 70 with high clouds and sun. We got to Seattle about 6:30-7pm and then grabbed dinner at Finn McCool's, near UW's campus. A nice guy waited on us.

The next day, we waited a bit longer for the vaccine, but we had lunch at Pike Street Market and looked around a little before heading home. We got home in record time (about 4 1/2 hours) - around 7pm.

This last trip, I took Heather (of My Xeloda fame) to the Hawthorne District in Portland. She and her teenage daughter and Amy are going to see Lady Gaga in Portland in August and they want to wear wild outfits. So, after lunch and looking at a Tibetan Buddhist store, we went into a vintage clothing store called the Red Light. We were there about two hours - it was a lot of fun finding outlandish clothes. I roamed the shop while Heather looked around. We looked around at Buffalo Exchange and found a few things, too. Another store, whose name I forget now, had some inexpensive jewelry - I found a pretty light blue wire-coiled bracelet for $4; some shell earrings that were mostly hot pink with purple for $5; and some round bone earrings with a pretty floral design for $3.

We got to Seattle about 6:30/7pm. Then we ended up at Finn McCool's (tried to go this Mexican place down on the water, but it was closed again) again and saw the same cute waiter. It was fun - this time we were there until 10pm talking. We found out that after 8pm, all appetizers and drinks are half-off. Cool!

The next day, my appointment was uneventful, but since Heather wanted to go Powell's, we didn't stay in Seattle to play and drove south. We only stayed a little while at Powell's - we were both tired and wanted to get home - she was home by 5:30pm and dad picked me up at her house - I was home by about 6pm.

Both ladies drove all the way up to Seattle and all the way back. I'd posted, after Amy's drive, how nice it was not to have to drive and just be a passenger. So, Heather wouldn't let me drive either.

Thank you very much, ladies! The generosity of your time, patience, friendship, and fun is much appreciated!

Now, there's a third friend I want to thank as well. This friend has been wanting to contribute to my traveling fund, but I said that it wasn't needed. However, there have been some unexpected expenses: I ran out of a couple of my herbs (and had budgeted for it) but a new one cost more than expected and I didn't realize that the scheduled maintenance on my car would be as expensive as it's going to be - I take my car in next week because all the fluids need replacing. I want to pay this car off this spring/summer and not have a car payment for a couple of years, so I need to keep it in as tip-top shape as I can so I can pay down my other debt. So, this friend has sent me some money to help defray the costs of the Seattle trips. Thank you, K.!