Seattle, Days One and Two

Day One: This was my six year old daughters, Celeste, first time flying. She was excited to go on a plane, but scared of being up so high. I admit I was nervous too, because I hadn't flown in over a decade. It's just not that affordable. For me.
So after we took off and were looking out the window the flight attendant told us we were flying over Pyramid Lake. She looks down and says with a quiver in her voice "mommy, we're really high up. Lets go back down." So cute. I just hugged her and told her it was too late for that now. We were really lucky to have great flight attendants who told us all the sights we flew over and gave us extra cookies.
Once we touched down in Seattle and stepped out onto the tarmac I could feel the moisture in the air immediately, for a desert dweller like myself, it was awesome!

Is it a car, SUV, or mini van?

We collected our luggage and headed to the rental car booth. Once inside my rental car, which felt like it was a mile into the parking lot, I had a heck of a time just figuring out how to open the trunk! After like 10 minutes, and almost going to ask for help, I got it. I brought my GPS along with me, plugged it in, grabbed the room address out of my luggage and started the engine. But my GPS wouldn't turn on. Great, I thought, the airport xrays killed my GPS. I went back to the booth and asked how much to rent one. $13 a day. No thanks, I'll buy a new one. But I still needed to find my way to my hotel in a city I've never been to.
I don't have a good data plan, 'cuz I'm poor, so I used my phones GPS to map out the route, wrote it down on a piece of paper, and finally left the airport. Geez, so much for smooth sailing. We checked into the room. Unloaded our luggage, and I checked the phones GPS again to find my way to a store to buy a new GPS. Let me tell you, cell phone GPS takes you some strange ways, but I managed to navigate my way through Seattle with my written directions only.
Once I had a new GPS I used it to find somewhere for us to get a bite to eat. One of the closest places was call Hideaway Cafe. I chose the "family" option on the GPS. We walked in and it was like a gambling hall, with a full bar, poker tables, and maybe a couple dining tables. Celeste and I looked at each other, tired, hungry, and probably lost, and left. We finally found a place called Shari's, it was like a Marie Calendars style place, no biggie. After that we called it a night!
Day Two: Today we do what we came to do, see my best friend. It was so nice to see her, it's been almost a year since she moved to the Seattle area. Her daughter Chloe is only a few months younger than Celeste, so they're good buddies too. Crystal and I met in our freshmen year of high school, truely awesome friends are so hard to come by, and even though the miles separate us, we are determined to not let our friendship dwindle. But it's totally her turn to come and visit!

Their doggy Bone

I plugged her cars address into the GPS, and left. She lives about 30 minutes away from where Celeste and I were staying. I was at a very confusing junction where the freeway separates into three different freeways when the GPS died. What?! So I exited and pulled over. I fumbled with it, but couldn't get it to turn on. Finally I used my phone again, took some crazy, but very beautiful back roads to Crystal's house. It is so pretty there, a far cry from the sea of brown I see everyday. I can definitely see why some people choose to trade in sunshine for such amazing growth. I could deal, for sure, I just love growing things, and I love green landscapes, so to be like I am in a permanent camp ground would be amazing.
First thing we did after hugs and hellos was check out her local scrapbooking stores . I buy most of my supplies on line, because stores here just don't carry what I want, and while I have asked, they claim people just don't demand the brands I like. Lame. So I was very excited to get my hands on some goodies with out the added charge of shipping. Plus, scrapbooking is one of those things that Crystal and I did together, and now we do it all by our lonesomes. She also showed me all of the pages she has done since moving there, I wish I could have shown her mine!
After this we headed to another place we don't have in Reno, but we should, IKEA! I first went to IKEA  few years back when visiting my little sis in southern Cali. I told Crystal of it's amazingness and even tried to convince her to drive over the hill to Sacramento with me to go. You would laugh at how I strategically crammed a cube shelf into my car because it is like triple the price in Reno. Well Crystal is addicted now too! I picked up a few little things I could fit in my bags (paper holder, curtains, and their super yummy lignon berry preserves), we also picked up the makings for swedish meatballs and headed back to her place and made dinner. After dinner we played a lovely game of Pretty Princess.

Can you see why I'm breaking this down into multiple posts? I do tend to ramble a bit, but I really thought my poor GPS fiasco was a relevant and entertaining portion of my trip....oh and it continues

Day three Pikes Place Market and Space Needle, check back soon!