Starting in Seattle

How many things would you plan during a 24-hour period? On your vacation?!? Well, if you're me - or my mother - five seemed to be a good number. Excessive? Perhaps. Fun? Most definitely.

I.

We landed in Seattle at noon and had until noon the following day to check out of the hotel and make our way to the pier. Right after ditching our bags at the hotel, we hopped in the car and headed downtown to lunch at Pike Place Market - clam chowder that was heavy on lemon and thyme, cioppino, and deep fried oysters.

II.

Then we blazed past the line out the door of the original Starbucks, with a smirk and "resist corporate coffee" running through our heads, and headed out for the Fremont neighborhood to use my gift certificate to Theo Chocolate on a factory tour for four. We donned Caribbean Sea blue-hued hairnets for a sixty-minute taste and tour where we learned more about that Seattle-based organic, fair trade chocolatier. I've tasted their chocolates before and enjoyed them. But after learning about their practices and policies, I adore them, especially their fantasy flavor line, including their fig, fennel, almond in a dark chocolate; bread and chocolate; and coconut curry. Innovative, delicious, and good business practices. I'm a fan!

III.

We rendez-vous'd with my parents to go up the Space Needle, which definitely was not on my list of to-dos - but the 360 degree views were stunning. We even paused long enough to sample some organic, local beer. We tried the Leavenworth Whistling Pig Hefeweizen from Fish Brewery out of Olympia, Washington. Cheers!

IV.

I've always loved Dale Chihuly's work. So, when I realized that he had a permanent exhibit in the shadow of the Space Needle, it was a must. Breathtaking colors, shapes, and textures. And we all had different favorites. By the end of that adventure, we were all starving. So, I asked one of the gals in the giftshop: where do you like to eat around here? She smiled then jotted directions to an Indian restaurant named Chutney. We strolled through the park, away from where all the tourists were eating, and dined on some truly delightful curries - a fish curry, a chicken curry, and a lamb curry - with the most airy naan I've ever had. It was amazing.

V.

And if that weren't enough excitement for this stop, we squeezed in brunch with Eve, one of my friends from high school, and her family. Eve picked us up at our hotel and chauffeured us to one of her favorite brunch spots in West Seattle. It was nice to watch our boys skip stones together along the shoreline.

One of these days, we'll have to go back to Seattle for more than 24-hours. The city has a personality, some spunk, and lots of great places to eat and explore. Definitely my kinda place.

Pill Sensitivities & Pressure Points

While I do not like being confined to a ship, despite seventeen levels to explore and 24-hour culinary delights, probably my biggest aversion to cruising: seasickness. Almost no one gets sick on these monstrous floating hotels. Almost. Unfortunately, I do. So, I loaded up on Bonine which has worked miracles in the past. Non-drowsy, it claims. Okay. It was certainly my drug of choice when Jake and I worked as divemasters. But somehow, over the years, Bonine is no longer a friend.

I'll let my kids' reactions tell the story - "Mom, I know why it's called a pill. When you take the pill, you become a pill." Nice. Or how about this one, after I ditched the pills - "Hooray! Mommy stopped taking her grumpy pill!"

Apparently I now have a sensitivity to Bonine that not only makes me drowsy (I was dozing off two times in the middle of the day!) but makes me crabby. Needless to say, after a couple of days, I ditched the pills and relied on these very fashionable bands that provide constant pressure to the “Nei Kuan” pressure point. The Nei Kuan pressure point, according to acupressure practitioners, is used specifically to reduce nausea and vomiting. It works. At least for me. Thank goodness.

Eating My Words

My parents love to cruise - as in they enjoy embarking on a week-long, or more, voyage on a cruise ship to visit multiple ports of call. I, on the polar end of that "love to cruise" spectrum, did not inherit that gene. So, after my parents took me to the Caribbean when I graduated from Cal, I swore off cruises. They enticed me back for cruise number two to the Western Caribbean when Riley was just three-years-old and Dylan was just shy of two years old with stops that promised good SCUBA diving. Sadly, we spent the entire week shipbound, trying to outrun a hurricane which dashed all dreams of tropical reefs of Roatan and Belize. That ship, the Norwegian Dream, I dubbed the Norwegian Nightmare and, once again, swore to never set foot on another cruise ship.

Fast forward almost seven years. My parents invited us on a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage to celebrate their 40th anniversary and Riley's - belated - 10th birthday. So, here we are...with me eating my words.