Seattle Trip 2010 - Day 1

On July 3rd, we reached Redmond around 11:15 pm and slept around 1:30 am....That was late! Well at least Denver time, it was around 2:30 pm.  We were all tired, and very ready to call it a night.

On July 4th, we had initially planned something else and ended up doing something else.  First of all, we all woke up really late.  Got ready around 12:30 pm.  Our initial plan was to go to Olympic game farm which was around 2-3 hours away from Redmond and leave the house around 10 am to reach there in time to see everything.  Getting ready at 12:30 was kind of a sign that we shouldn't even try to go that direction since it'll be late by the time we get there and they'll be closing.  We did not have our lunch so we had to do a quick stop at a restaurant so that included another 30 minutes.  The Olympic game farm closes around 5 pm and the last entry they allow is at 4 pm, to go to the place, we had to take a ferry which was around 40 minute ride, and plus since even my friend was going for the first time, we had approximate estimate of 2.5 hours....in short, when you add up the time, there was no way for us to reach there in time!

First, we stopped by at the nearest paratha place from my friend's place and packed up some lunch and went to Snoqualmie falls.  It was nice place and they had picnic tables so first thing we did was eat our lunch there.  There used to be a hike where you can walk all the way down close to the falls, but unfortunately they closed the path due to construction which will again open in 2012 or 2013.  Looked around the falls, took pictures and came back to the car.  On the way back, we played taboo in the car, and somehow we decided to go watch a movie.  Initially the only choice to watch a movie was "The last airbender", not for its story but JUST to see the special affects!


We were so decided on that movie, but somewhere in the conversation my brother mentioned that we can instead watch "Knight and day".  Well then we were in dilemma and started the debate on who's in for which movie.  Everyone was up for either of the movie but still wanted to watch both movies except me.  We got to the theater, and after about 15-20 minute debate, we just blindly decided on Knight and day, because otherwise we were going to be there all night long w/o any decision.  We buy the tickets and my brother says "Wait!  I want to watch the the last airbender".....supporting him in the decision was my friend's brother in line and then my friend and then me and all of a sudden my brother says "Wait...I don't know ....I want to watch both movies"....What!  I just took my ticket and started walking towards the theater for Knight and day hoping they would do the same.  They did and finally we were in theater 10 mins before the movie started.  I enjoyed the movie, there was action and there was comedy, so it worked out well.

The fun day is not over yet!  Since it was July 4th, we had to see the fireworks!  My friend said that the Gas Works Park fireworks is really good.  But before going to fireworks, we went back home and ate.  We were all tired and was having hard time deciding whether we should go or not.  Again after much debate, we just decided to go, park the car somewhere and take the bus to the Gas Works Park.  Even after we took the bus, we walked down the street about 10-15 minutes to get as close to the park as we can.  The place was packed down the entire street, and the fireworks had already started when we got there around 10:15 pm.  We were lucky to catch the entire fireworks and I think it was fantastic!  But let me tell you this, whenever you go for fireworks at night, do not expect to take the bus back home!!!!  We came to our stop to catch the bus to go back to our car around 10:55 pm.  Our bus was scheduled for 11:10 pm, but there was no sign of it until 11:25 pm.  We finally see a bus but it did not move past a single traffic light in another half an hour!!!!  Finally frustrated, exhausted, and tired, we decided to walk to where the car was parked! HA!  No, it was not close by.  No, it was not the right time to just decide to take a walk.  And No, we didn't know of the neighborhood! But what we did know is that even if we waited for the bus, it would have still not moved past a single traffic light in the next half an hour.

I don't know what it was but as soon as fireworks ended, there were millions of cars which came out of nowhere...well it was definitely the fireworks traffic, but it was CRAZY!  The walk at the midnight that we decided to take was 2 miles within the neighborhood we were unaware of!  Hoping for the best, and chanting prayer (especially me), we got to our car after an hour of walk and soared legs...phew!  It was like a real mission accomplished to get home safe and sound.  Everyone got hungry again and ate Meggie except me.  This was another long day and we slept around 2 am.  I don't know how we're going to get up tomorrow to go to Olympic game farm in the morning.  Until then, stay tuned for Day 2!