​We knew we wanted to take a trip. I honestly didn’t care much where, just as long as it was an adventure with the girls I knew it would be fun! To be honest when the subject of going to Seattle came up, I wasn’t too excited at first. I think Seattle is like one of those dresses on the hanger that doesn’t have much appeal, but once you put it on – woozers! I agreed to go cause I knew we would have fun just about anywhere and the planning began.
 
Now getting 4 photographers together is no easy feat. We basically had to plan it a year in advance cause it was the only time all of us had free. But like time, as you get older, it went by in a blink, and a couple coffee dates to plan later everything was all set! We all wanted to play tourist and see all the touristy things- like the space needle and pikes place market. We all wanted enough things on our “schedule” and a rough skeleton of a plan without super strict guides of when and where we needed to be. This is my favorite way to travel! It gives you enough to do without being stressed out, and if things change it’s ok. Two things we had to schedule. One was a photoshoot. I mean you get 4 photographers in a new place it was kinda a given. Second was the escape room. I’d never been to one, but Laura and Rachel had and they said it was a blast, which made me really excited about it!
 
Monday rolled around and we drove at dawn to the San Jose airport to catch our flight. 4 Days in Seattle with a group of my favorite people. We were all pretty stoked. We landed in Seattle, picked up our rental car (which I was elected to drive) and we made our way to our rental home. Now a little bit of full disclosure, I would say I’m a pretty good driver. I’ve only ever been in 2 accidents and both time it was the other drivers fault, but this trip definitely proved I’m a “California” driver. Yes, that means I speed and I’m a little bit aggressive, I mean it you’ve ever driven in any major California cities you have to be. Seattle is not like that. Seattle drivers are not on a mission to get anywhere. They take their time. They don’t really notice if they are in your way. There is no sense of urgency at all! My inner Californian couldn’t handle it! And there were so many time were I literally said out loud “Sorry I’m from California! Move!” I think this lackadaisical flow of things flows through every part of Seattle. You’d think they would be more high strung with all the coffee. But it a quality I learned to appreciate, and would mind experiencing every day if I lived in the area-except for the driving.  Anyways, except for some weird traffic signs, and ridiculously narrow 2 way streets the driving was without incident!
 
Our house was adorable. A three story house (I think it was technically a town house, but I’m always bad with those kinds of classifications), with lots of light, and it looked like it was styled for magazine. We were in photographer interior design heaven. We decided we all needed new headshots in this perfect space and should get all dolled up on our last day for some photos. We’ll take some over here with a coffee mug. We’ll take some over there with our computers-perfect!

​We got all settled and freshened up and ventured out to find food. Let me tell you, Seattle food did NOT disappoint. Everything I ate on the entire trip was not only good it was amazing! We found a cute little burger place called 8oz Burger & Co. I got the fondue burger and truffle fries. Just a tip in general if truffle anything is on a menu-get it! It was all so so good! After that we went to the mall to walk around and enjoy. I don’t exactly remember all the details but I think a friend told Rachel Z about Molly Moon’s and if we saw one we had to go. As we were walking around the outdoor mall I could smell it-fresh waffle cones! At first we just kind of looked inside. I was still full from our meal we had an hour before-but once I saw the flavors that was it, I had to have one! I’m the kind of person when I’m in a new place I try the weird thing on the menu (I mean within reason). The second I saw earl grey tea ice cream I had to try it. It was incredible! We found another molly moon the next day and got it again.
 
 I know walking around an outdoor mall doesn’t sound like a roaring good time. But after the long week, frantic packing, and early flight it was really nice to meander around for a while. I know this sounds silly but my favorite part was going into restoration hardware. It had 3 floor plus a rooftop. It was kinda like going to a museum. My mind wondered around dreaming of what my house could look like one day. I would take that couch-no this one, wait let me sit on it first and make sure it’s comfortable. Let me assure everything was comfortable. Especially this one ridiculous looking chaise. It kind of looked like a muppet-not my style. But the girls swore it was the most comfortable thing. I sat down skeptical, and the second my body laid flat all my trouble melted away. It was magic. Sometimes it’s the small things in life, haha.
 

​At the end of the day we were still pretty beat and didn’t really feel like going to a restaurant for dinner, so I offered to cook. Nothing too fancy just some pesto pasta with salad and chicken. This was one of those times that it was really nice to be renting a house instead of staying in a hotel. The kitchen was equipped with everything we needed, and it was nice to sit around the dinner table and enjoy a home cooked meal together. 

​The next day we were off to do our touristy stuff! We bought a tickets that included the space needle, Chihuly glass museum, and the aquarium. First we started by going to Pike’s Public Market. It looked just like I imagined- stalls of iced fresh fish, rows of brightly colored vegetables, and bundles of fresh vibrant flowers. Next stop the Space Needle. This however was not what I expected. I really did expect it to be much taller. We got our awesome badge passes (and passed all the lines) and hoped on the elevator. Now none of us had ever been, and when we got onto the elevator we thought we were going to another floor to get the actual elevator to the top. When we rose up and saw the light of day and realized this crammed elevator of people WAS the elevator that was going to the top I had a little moment of panic. Funny enough once I got passed that, it was the short periods of darkness, when you couldn’t look out that freaked me out the most. We got to the top in one piece and ventured out to the observation deck to look over the overcast Seattle skyline. I really did expect to be higher up. We took a couple photos, and a lap around the top. Then off the Chihuly glass museum which was right next door.  If you’ve never heard of Chihuly, but have been to Vegas. It’s the same guy that did the glass ceiling in the Bellagio Hotel. It was incredibly beautiful. They even had a demonstration outside of how that make each piece of glass. It’s incredible to me how long these huge installations must take to create then actually install! 

​After the Chihuly we took an Uber to the Aquarium. Being from Monterey, which has a world renowned aquarium, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Not to mention we made it with about 15 minutes to space before they were going to start closing and not let anyone else it. I loved the aquarium! Especially the otters! They came to close to the exhibits edge and you could really see them all turning, and cleaning, and playing. I loved it! 

​We could another Uber to our car so we could get to our Escape room appointment. We got to the address and walking into a building that was full of offices, and dance studios and we followed the printed paper signs taped to the wall that said escape room. We had been in such a rush to get here on time were all a little slap happy. The guy giving us directions was even concerned we were drunk! Haha, I assured him none of us had drunken all day and that it was the end of a long day and we were just having fun. He looked at me and said “ you look like a team captain then” and handed me a walkie talkie. The room was themed like an army mission. With a computer control center, helmets, plastic grenades, and gas masks. We had a blast figuring out all the rooms codes and secrets. It took a while for us to get started, and I so with we had had more time. When we had started the instructor asked us why we had chosen their hardest room.  We all looked at Rachel, who had booked it, in surprise and maybe a little bit of horror. She had no idea it was their hardest room, just that it was at the time we needed. We had a blast and I would do another one in a heartbeat. 

​Our shoot was really loosely planned. I knew I wanted a maternity model couple and Laura and Rachel and Rachel Z wanted and engaged couple. We didn’t know till the day before where we were even going to do the shoot. Our friend that we had met for brunch, Whitney, told us the cherry blossom trees were in bloom now and we should check out the University of Washington, also known as “U-dub”. We had driven over the day before and couldn’t believe our eyes as we drove around campus and as we started to pass the building we could see the thick puffy pink trees peek though the buildings. I’m pretty sure our entire care squealed. This would definitely have to be the location.
 
Our Models showed up at the house to get their makeup done, and as we sat in the living room we could see the sun start to come out a little. My model told me that we were actually super lucky that the cherry trees were blooming now. The should have bloomed a few months earlier, but because of the weather they had bloomed later. All I could think was “good thing we didn’t plan our trip around these trees!” We were totally lucky to have them bloom when they did. We headed to the campus and while we all thought there were a ton of people, Rikki, my model told me this was nothing. They had actually been here the week before that the quad was packed with people. I’m guessing it was partly cause it was a weekday, but more because of the on and off rain that kept people away. I took photos till there wasn’t any light anymore. The beautiful trees, plus my beautiful maternity couple was a photographer’s dream. By the time we got home we were all damp, tired, and ridiculously happy from the day’s adventure. 

​The next day was our last and this was the day to take photos of each other, and since our flight didn’t leave until later it also left us time to do all the little things we missed out on earlier. We took photos around the house and outside near some cherry blossoms. I had brought my huge golf umbrella, cause I figured I’d need it at some point. Since it had been raining a little outside, I brought it with me for the photos- not realizing it totally matched what I was wearing! We packed up our things and put the luggage in the rental car and headed off the Pikes Market again. Rachel Z really wanted to go to the Crumpet Shop and when we were there before they had been closed! The crumpet shop is an adorable little hole in the wall with maybe about 4 tables and a small counter by the window. I wasn’t really sure what a crumpet was but knew I wanted to try one. They had both sweet and savory. I got one of each. They basically where the texture of an English muffin, but didn’t have that sour dough taste. The savory one was ok, but the sweet was incredible. Rachel Z and I sat at the counter window and enjoyed our crumpets and looking out at the people in the street walked by. We took one last turn through Pikes Market and then headed to the airport

It’s always bitter sweet when a trip ends. I was so happy to be going home to my husband and our little fur baby Martha Washington. I had missed them both terribly. But I had had such a good time with the girls that part of me didn’t want it to end. Everything had been so perfect! We talked about doing another trip again all the way home…next time we will do this or that. I’m so blessed to have these incredible women in my life, and to be able to go on adventures like this.