Ah, civilization!

Seattle, to be exact!

I got an all-expense-paid trip to Seattle this week, courtesy of some new developments in fisheries management. By day, I attended a conference at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center (In Seattle? What?), and by night, I hit Seattle for some fun and food! Oh, the food... uh, I mean, the, uh... probably no one cares about that as much as I do. So I'll move on.

Tuesday was a long day in the conference, so there wasn't a lot of time for getting out to see things, so I just spent some time shopping and eating some fabulous risotto at an actual risotteria (a place that specializes in it! Wait, how'd I get back to the food??). Wednesday, though, we were done a little earlier, so I got to do some real sight-seeing.

Armed with my trusty camera, I headed out for a nice walk through town (it was GORGEOUS yesterday down there) and over to the Space Needle. Deciding to forego the $12.50 military rate to go UP in the Needle (nevermind the fear of heights), I snapped some pictures from the ground, and then spent my $12.00 at the Experience Music Project instead. I wandered around in there for close to two hours... I totally couldn't get enough of the Guitar Gallery, and they have a temporary Jimi Hendrix exhibition that was hard to walk away from.

Oh, and how cool is this? It's a cyclone made out of guitars (mostly) and a few other random instruments. This greets you as you walk into the EMP. So cool!

Admission included access to the Science Fiction Museum, too, but I passed that up since time was getting away from me, and I really wanted to check out Pike's Place before the vendors starting closing up shop for the night.

I don't even know what to say about Pike's Place, other than we need one in Kodiak. Holy sensory overload! Fruits, vegetables, street muscians, smells of delicious baked things, the famous fish throwers, the FLOWERS! Oh my gosh! The flowers! Honestly, though, after becoming acclimated to my little world here in Kodiak, Pike's was a little hard to handle. I wandered around for a while, and then headed back up to the shopping, of course. Before I left, though, I made sure to get a shot of my favorite fish:

Ok, it's not really my favorite fish - I mean, look at it. BUT, the lowly monkfish definitely kept me entertained when on boardings off the east coast. Just in case you wondered - even if mostly dead, a monkfish on the deck of a fishing boat WILL clamp down on your boot if you put it in its mouth. Just sayin'....

Eventually, I headed back to the hotel, picked up the car, and found my way to the nearest Kohl's. Mom, you'd be so proud of me - I swear, I have Kohl's radar! Oh, and, lucky for me, there was a Red Robin in the same place. Shopping and yummy burgers - how can you go wrong!!!

After almost missing my flight this morning due to a gate change and change-back debacle, I made it back to a gorgeous day in Kodiak - only to find that the fridge konked out at some point in time (recently because some stuff was still cold) during my trip. Thankfully I have a wonderful neighbor in Christina, and she rescued the stuff from the fridge (the freezer was a loss, completely...), and she rescued me from having to cook dinner, taking me in for the evening!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a call from the repairman - luckily, it appears as though the fridge (if it's the compressor like I think it is) is still covered under the original warranty - with a wopping 6 days until it expires! YAY!

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip back into the real world, but was just as happy to get back home today. I would've been happier if I had a working refrigerator, but it's still good to be back in little ol' Kodiak.

Next up: The next visitors - Mom, Dad, and Heather! Looking forward to their arrival - hopefully we have a working fridge by then!