June 26, 2008, Honeymoon day 2

We awaken to a cool, cloudy morning (who woulda thought we're in Seattle?). The Monorail, which is directly beside the Space Needle just blocks away, opens at 9:00am. We catch the second train downtown on our way to the famous Pike Place Market which is an incredible Farmer's market. We arrive at Westlake Center which is the only other stop made by the Monorail trains at 5th Street and Pine. We head West on Pine Street for five blocks until we arrive at the market. The market is filled by beautiful flowers, succulent fruits and vegetables, and highlighted by numerous fresh fish shops featuring enormous Alaskan King crab legs, Salmon, and many other selections. We will try to make another stop through if time allows when we are back on July 4th.

10:00am PST - We venture into the Athenian Inn which is a diner in Pike's Place Market which boasts being part of the movie "Sleepless is Seattle". We head upstairs to a small booth to get a view of the Puget Sound. After scouring through the menu, we both decide our choice will be the creamed crabmeat omelet. I enjoyed the very same thing when Tom, Shaun and I came here in October and again it was delicious!
We eat as much as possible before throwing in the towel and heading back out to see the rest of the market. The artwork, crafts, flowers, and food available there are amazing. If you ever make it to Seattle, a visit to the Pike Place Market is a must see!

After leaving the market we spend nearly three hours walking through downtown Seattle shopping for a rain/windbreaker jacket for Colleen. We go shop to shop and get the same answer everywhere, "Sorry, we don't carry jackets right now". Finally, we find Pacific Place mall where we search three floors of shops before we finally find one! By this time our legs are staring to ache, so we head to the monorail station and head back to Seattle Center and back to the Hampton Inn. Nap time!

6:00pm PST - We wake up from our nap, get ready for the evening and start walking. We head West toward Chopsticks, a dueling piano bar, about 8 blocks from the hotel. We round the corner there and head South until we find oursleves enjoying an alcoholic beverage at a bar called Bandits which is just down the street from Tom's apartment. Tom joins us for a beer and we head back downtown for dinner at P.F. Chang's. For those who don't know, Colleen and I ate at P.F. Chang's in KC the night I asked her to marry me, so we always enjoy eating there. Dinner is fabulous despite our waiter taking forever because we are right beside a party of eight who want their bills separate! After dinner we head back toward Seattle Center and up to Queen Anne Hill which boasts one of the most beautiful views of Seattle one could hope to see. We snap a few pictures and head back to the car as the air has become quite chilly. Just down the hill is Chopstick's, our next and final destination for tonight. It is ladies night with $3 you call it drinks so the place is packed! We find a half wall to stand against with a good view of the pianos and performers. A couple of drinks and hours later we head back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep. Big day tomorrow!

June 25, 2008 - Honeymoon day 1

We leave our apartment at 6:45am, headed for KCI airport for a one stop flight to Seattle. Everything goes smoothly as we arrive at the terminal about 75 minutes before the flight is scheduled to leave. As we check in, the lady assisting us tells us our first bag is 2.5 pounds overweight...what exactly did Colleen pack? :) Instead of pulling clothes and shoes out and moving them to different bags, we just pay the small fee and move on. We board the plane close pretty close to the scheduled time, but then sit for 15 minutes past our scheduled departure time because a wheel on the plan has to be changed.

9:45am Mountain Time - we pull up to the gate in Albuquerque in a bit of a panic. 15 minutes before our connecting flight leaves...please Southwest Airlines, get our bags transferred in time!

12:00pm - Pacific Time - we have arrived at Seattle/Tacoma Airport. We see all of our bags unloaded from the plane allowing us to feel a sense of relief. We pick up our luggage at baggage claim and head to the nearest
shuttle service. Timing is on our side as we check in and are almost immediately loaded on to a shuttle bus headed for downtown Seattle. We are the last to board so once our bags are loaded in the back of the van, we are off! A few minutes into the trip, the driver asks what everyone is doing in Seattle. Colleen pipes up and announces we have arrived from Kansas City on our honeymoon. The lady sitting next to us, Paula, congratulates us and asks us about our plans for the honeymoon. After a brief overview, she asks for confirmation that we are from Kansas. She proceeds to ask if we have ever heard of a town called Paola. In disbelief, we tell her that Paola is, in fact, my (Nate) hometown! It turns out her mother grew up in Paola and Paula lived there for a year herself.


2:30pm PST - We finally arrive at the hotel, and we are hungry! We check in without a hitch and head down the street to a bar and grill called McMenamin's. We each order a drink and a cheeseburger with tots and devour them as soon as the hit the table. Next, it is nap time back at the hotel! We are meeting my old roommate for some fine dining this evening so we want to be ready for an evening of fun!

6:30pm PST - We have taken our naps, showered, and dressed for dinner tonight. To kill some time before Tom is back from work and ready to head to West Seattle, we walk 4 blocks to Seattle Center to check out the Space Needle and surrounding area. The Space Needle is pretty impressive, but instead of paying to go to the top, we decide to keep looking around the small carnival and eventually end up at the Seattle Center Water Fountain. Our waitress at McMenamin's had mentioned this to us earlier in the day saying it is Seattle Center's version of a public pool. Well, there were certainly plenty of families there with the children running in and out of the water. Right at 7:00, the fountain completely died down for a few minutes before beginning a synchronized water show along to music which we barely could hear, but the patterns of shooting water spouts was pretty neat to watch.

7:15 - Tom calls and is on his way to pick us up. We meet him in the parking lot of the Seattle Duck Tours which is right across the street from the Space Needle. We are now off to a restaurant called Salty's which is in West Seattle. Colleen's Aunt and Uncle recommended this place while we visited with them at the wedding reception. It is located right on the edge of the Puget Sound overlooking the water and downtown. Our reservation is for 8:45, but we head over early to take some photos and make sure we get a window table which is first come, first serve. After walking down to the pier to visit and catch the last remaining rays of sunshine before it disappears behind the hills of West Seattle, we head back toward Salty's to check in. The restaurant is busy, but certainly not packed as we are easily able to find a table at the bar while we wait for a window seat to open up. About 25 minutes later, the waitress asks if we are the Scherman party and tells us our table is ready, woohoo! She takes us over and sits us right by the window which has an incredible view! We begin by ordering a couple more beers for Tom and I and an Alaskan and Dungeness Crab dip which was then covered in cheese and mixed with artichokes. Needless to say, it was fantastic. Tom orders a the Northwest Seafood Risotto plate which is a mixture of Clams, Mussels, Scallops, Salmon, Tuna, and Dungeness crab meat with Pecorino Cheese. Colleen orders the special of the day, Salmon with mashed potatoes and asparagus and I order the Alaskan Halibut Oscar which is mashed potatoes topped with a more than filling portion of Halibut which is then topped with crab meat and covered in a delicious cream sauce. When the food arrives, we all make sure we try a little of each other's food before really diving in to an absolute delicious meal. The night was filled with great conversation, great food, and a wonderful view of Seattle as the sun set; absolutely beautiful! Thank you Mark and Michelle for the recommendation!