seattle

in my current job, we are only allowed to report 40 hours a week, but (given the nature of this job), i often work over this time. we can save up all that extra time and take days off in the future. my job is also limited to 1040 hours, so in these last few weeks, i realized that i have quite a lot of this "comp time" leftover and so figured i'd not spend those days off bored at my house in corvallis, but that i'd take a trip up to seattle and get paid for it. :)



[seattle skyline]


i took the amtrak up and let me tell you, the train is about 100 million times better than the bus. i will never take the bus again if i can avoid it. how nice to sit comfortably, be able to walk around, have a dining car, real bathrooms. way, way nicer.

and i had a fabulous time. i really enjoy traveling by myself - with my tendency to run around like mad, i just do better on my own schedule without having to worry about anyone else's (brad is the exception to this, i suppose, since he puts up with my desire to do absolutely as much as possible (couldn't tell you if he'd travel the same way given an option)). i stayed at what was probably the best hostel i've ever stayed in, and it comes highly recommended. it was a bit out of downtown in the ballard neighborhood, but near the beautiful shilshole bay and golden gardens beach.



[yachts at the marina]


[sunset view from the hostel]


i of course had to visit the pike place market and enjoy the sights and sounds - flowers, fish, fresh produce. i also stopped by the "first starbucks" but really it's just like any other starbucks. gotta love those pumpkin spice lattes though.









really, i did a little bit of everything. wandered through the downtown, saw the space needle, visited "u dub", saw museums, art galleries, drank coffee and read in a lot of cafes, rode a ferry through the sound, went to the central library with it's cool architecture.



[central library]


[view from tenth floor looking down]


i took heaps of pictures. i love that the city is surrounded by the sound. it's great. here's a few more pictures:



[fremont troll]


[puget sound]


[view of city across union lake]


so i'm now in my last week of work and then off to boston for a week. i am so excited to see my friends there and soak in the city again. excited to move on to the next stage.