We had such a wonderful time in Seattle, starting with our first night! After checking in and registering for my conference, we explored the city a bit. While walking around, we even saw some of Seattle Police Department's mounted officers! After making ourselves familiar with the area around our hotel, we ate at the Cheesecake Factory - yeah, I know, pretty unique to Seattle - and Husband had what he said was some of the best gumbo he's ever had. We took a piece of carrot cake cheesecake to go for later in the evening!

The next morning was the start of my conference, and the start of Husband waking up to freshly brewed Starbucks in his own room! My conference was really good, this morning especially. Congressman Dave Reichert, Representative for the state of WA, was our first speaker, and boy, was he dynamic. What an amazing person! He was the King County Sheriff, and ultimately headed up the Green River murder investigation, securing not just one, but over forty convictions. He had everyone's undivided attention the entire time, and at the end, he received a well-deserved standing ovation. That was just the start of the conference!!

Wednesday night, we explored down by the Pike Place Market more. We saw the original Starbucks, along with many other shops and restaurants. I was surprised that by 6 or 7, most things in the Market are closed - it must be more of a place for people to stop over their lunch hour or after work to pick up a few things, including fresh fish and fresh flowers. We ate at a little restaurant overlooking the market, where Husband had a seafood sampler platter (with the best crab cakes ever, apparently!) while doing some good people-watching. We walked around more of downtown, and ended the evening with ice cream from Cold Stone!

Thursday night we ate at P.F. Chang's. So yummy!! (Really, I don't think I've ever eaten such scrumptious food as I did the 5 nights we were in Seattle!) We did more walking around and exploring, ending the evening with the most delicious Napoleon pastry/dessert from a little vendor shop and a Caramel Machiatto from Starbucks for the best Husband in the world!!

Friday morning I went to the last of my sessions, and on the way up to the room in the elevator, I thought, "Wow! We're really on vacation together finally!" I was so excited to spend the next couple days exploring with Husband and enjoying this beautiful city we were in and the amazing food we continuously encountered.