In Washington

Hey guys!
So yes, I am in Washington now! I've been here since last week, when I lugged bags full of stuff to last me 10 weeks in the Pacific Northwest. It was sort of a mini college reunion of Larkin ppl as well. Cynthia and I came in around 9 on Thursday night, and we had delicious apple and ice cream crepes at the local crepe place.

Friday we picked up Sabrina at the airport, had breakfast at one of my favorite places, The Athenian, and shopped around Pike's Place Market, Belltown, and Pioneer Square. Inspired by the handmade crafts at the Market, we decided we needed to go to a craft store to buy stuffs to knit and make jewelry. Yeah, it was funny to see the three of us knitting in Tim's bare bare apt. (His roommate moved out and took all the nice furniture with him!) We then had Pho and hung out at Mikhail's place with Aileen and Gray.

Saturday we had a great breakfast at B&O's then crashed a wedding that Cynthia was invited to! Afterwards we decided we really wanted to fly kites at Gasworks park, but unable to find kites, we ended up just buying lots of little knick knacks at Archie McPhee's and walking around Ballard. Then we had an amazing dinner at a Moroccan place called Marrakesh, complete with belly dancers and huge messy dishes you share and eat with your hands. We wanted to go to bars, but it was too early, so we set out for the piers and walked around the American Indian Pow wow that was happening this past weekend. The girls all got turquoise earrings and we all got various prizes from the "Casino" booth. Went to a hip lounge called Bada, where a kung fu movie was playing in the background with Spanish subtitles. Afterwards we played two games of liars dice which I proceeded to dominate! hehe!

Sunday we had a HUGE breakfast at the Brown Bag Cafe near Tim's apt. We met up with everyone adding Tuan to the mix, at Alki beach, where we hung out a bit before dropping off Sabrina at the airport and eating dinner at Malay Satay. Then. . .BROOMBALL!!! It was awesome; Tim set up a game to surprise Tuan and got all the Microsoft and Amazon ppl to play against us Stanford ppl! Tons of fun! Tuan had a back injury but played like a pro!

Monday we all relaxed and tried to visit the Science Fiction Museum, only to be turned away because it was closed. So we had Japanese food with the Amazon kids, walked around Capitol Hill, and then met up with ppl again for dinner at La Louisiana for some awesome southern cooking! We then played poker. I did miserably, but Cynthia managed to beat everyone!

Tuesday I had an amazing dive with Tuan at Edmonds Underwater Park, which really is a park for SCUBA divers! Complete with Jungle gyms and such. It's a man-made reef and is a part of a marine sanctuary, so there are some amazing wildlife down there. Including 5 foot lingcod, starfish with 19 arms bigger than your head, and fighting dungeness crab! Very cool! After two dives, we returned to land, and got ready for what we really were not ready for. . .Big Wheel Bingo. It was quite. . .well, it's hard to explain, but think of a crazy nightmare with bingo, singing, flashing lights, a psycho host and hostess, and prizes like a newspaper neckcollar and a moving talking elephant. Plus add in some drunk bingo players, and you got what we went to Tuesday night. It was all very interesting, and I have to admit, entertaining!

Wednesday we had lunch at dim sum and then Cynthia and Tuan went to the airport. NOT before reeling Tuan into knitting! Yes, he's knitting a scarf for his fiancee. Hehe! Can you imagine!

That's all for now, I did some errands today and yesterday. Not up at the remote island yet, but I will have internet access!