Monday, March 2, 2009
Over the weekend we had heard some unexpected news. My great aunt Mary Francis had passed away. She was the last one of her generation except for my grandma Jean. She had Alzheimer’s and was ready to go. Still, it caught us by surprise. She is the mother of both Tom (Thailand) and Stephen (Seattle), which meant both were making plans to fly down to Texas, along with Susan, Ryan, his brother Aaron and his wife Maki and son Kai. Tom, who I thought I wouldn’t see again for a long time, flew into Seattle on that very Monday we arrived. It turns out I saw him a lot sooner than I thought, but it was fun that way. We both reflected on Thai culture, while back in our own U.S.
Devon and I were excited to see our first cousin Jamine in Seattle. She moved there a few years back from Chicago to get her doctorate in naturopathic medicine, which she’s still working on. She was excited to see us too and show off the city she has come to like so much. She showed us her favorite highway and quizzed us on which mountain ranges were which. We went to school with her one afternoon and took a hike on her campus. She took us to a diner that had been highlighted on a TV show for it’s 12 egg omelette. We met her boyfriend who is opening up a coffee shop in April and walked around with him critiquing coffee shops around Jamine’s neighborhood. He also schooled us on the bus routes.
Devon and I caught a bus downtown to check out the famous fish market. The wide selection of random objects impressed us. On the way back we stopped at the Experience Music Project. We played around on various instruments and listened to tutorials on mixing music. We saw a letterpress exhibition centered around concert posters. We wandered through the Jimi Hendrix exhibit, learning about his life and looking at famous guitars. After we had our fill of music we visited the Science Fiction museum. It’s a little known fact that we grew up as trekkies, so we had to pay homage. I like to say I learned my morals from Star Trek. At the Science Fiction Museum, we saw android parts, the Death Star, ship models and just about anything else you can think of. The exhibit space itself is kind of sci-fi in its design so that added to the fun.
Seattle
fish market sign
Seattle sky
Seattle coffee
Experience Music Project building
guitar cyclone
space needle
troll under the bridge- a public art project, yes that's a real VW bug
Jamine and I (with Devon in the background)
a world of coffee
green forests
clear blue waters
mountains too
Our time in Seattle was much too short. I’m still happy we decided to drive up the coast, but the whole trip was rushed. It was more of an introduction to the West Coast than anything. It was just a teaser. We have to go back again. There were people we didn’t see and so much we didn’t do. We did get to have one large family dinner before we left and Jamine’s boyfriend made us a Spanish coffee (Jamine maybe you can describe it because I’m at a loss for words at how wonderful it was). I’m happy to have seen Aaron, Maki, Maki’s mother in town from Japan and their little one Kai. All in all, thanks so much to Jamine for being our tour guide and to Stephen and Susan for playing host. Devon- good times brother. We’ll be back.
family
