Washington Park Arboretum

Before I proceed to give an account of the rest of our Seattle trip, I'd like to take this moment to thank the blue dot of the maps feature on my iphone, without whose help we would still be going in circles around this city. Even though we took many detours and had to drive miles to get back on track, the blue dot has guided us in the right direction a lot of the time. Not being used to the highway/exit/intersection mentality of Americans, I've struggled so much on this trip to be a good co-pilot and steer my husband in the right direction. Driving here a lot of stress, and I don't know how people do it.
To get back to our subject, we reached the Washington Park Arboretum after a pretty drive along the water. The beauty of the houses that face the water are beyond description. People were running along the shore, walking with their strollers, or just hanging out enjoying the sun. The spring blossoms were so beautiful that we had to stop and take pictures in front of strangers' houses. I was embarrassed, a little, but then we did the same thing with my family so many times. We just love nature. And I'm very lucky to have a husband that loves nature as much as I do.
The arboretum was just so spectacular. Imagine looking around and seeing only green grass, spring blossoms, ducks swimming around in ponds, and trees. And hearing only the birds chirping away. See, words do not do justice to the beauty, serenity, and happiness of that place. I will have to move on and talk about a shopping district or something, as that is something I am capable of doing. In fact we loved it so much at the arboretum that tomorrow we will go running there.
Check out these VRs that give 360-degree views of the place: Glen at Springtime, Springtime on Azalea Way, Woodland Garden & Pond. And more at vrseattle.com.

Pioneer Square

We've been exploring Seattle for the past 3 days. We wanted to take a little trip for our 1st year wedding anniversary, and instead of Oregon Coast which might have been fun too, I wanted to tour Seattle - I miss being in the city and I thought this could be the right fix. I was right! Seattle is full of nice surprises and beautiful sights. We started out by stopping at Pioneer Square on our way to our hotel. I loved the big brick buildings and the entry-level shops.We went into a glass shop where they also had a furnace and people who made things out of glass while you watch, we walked around, visited an underground shopping area with brick walls, went down to the water and took some pictures at the pier, walked back up to the square, and then had coffee at Cafe Umbria, a really neat European-feel cafe. All this time I wasn't feeling too safe as I had seen more homeless and weird people than I have for a long, long time. Throughout our visit, the number of weird people we walked by was to increase. But it was good coffee, and sitting outside in the sun enjoying the Square made it all the more worthwhile. I felt so much better and refreshed to have stepped into a city square again.