Lola in the Big City

This last weekend, the family and I packed our cases and hit the road. We rolled up North and crossed the border into Washington. Our destination was "The Emerald City" of Seattle. As we pulled into town the sun was shining and there was a brilliant blue bird sky. After all the rain we have been having, it was an instant mood lift and we all had smiles ready for the adventure.

It's been years since I had been to Seattle, even though it is a mere couple of hours away. The city has such a different feel from my own home city of Portland, it reminds me a bit of the San Francisco of my youth.

We stayed at the historic Moore Hotel downtown. If you are looking for an affordable option and aren't wanting to get too fancy, I can recommend this hotel with a vintagey feel. The suite we had was lovely and clean with peek-a-boo views of the Puget Sound.

One morning, we went to Le Pichet for breakfast, a wonderful French cafe. I had the best croissant I've had in years, possibly the best ever...served with an amazing rhubarb preserve and an excellent cup of coffee. It was heaven. You may think I exaggerate but then, you may not be aware of my fierce love of good pastry. Let me assure you, it is no frivolous matter! This croissant and I were meant for each other and I dare say it will haunt me with it's memory for a long time to come.

image from here

Oh dear, I do believe I am getting ahead of myself. When we arrived in the city the first order of adventure was a meet up with a blog buddy of the 'utmost kind'. A woman whom I first made acquaintance with when I was searching out chicken coops on the internet. I came across her blog as she herself (and her Mr.) was in the midst of building a hen house of her own. Since that time, we had struck up one of those sweet acquaintances that you do from time to time in blogland. And now we had made arrangements to meet face to face. Yes, I was about to meet my friend Dottie Angel!

image from here

We had arranged to meet up at the entrance to a certain thrift shop, we recognized one another (from the knees down) immediately. What a lovely time I had! We thrifted, she took me to a Japanese bookstore that had me quite faint with it's plethora of gorgeous craft books, we had lunch and we chatted away the hours. It was such a joy to meet in person and get on so well. Thank you Dottie, for your kindness and for sharing a bit of your time with me.

On Sunday, we headed to The Fremont Market where I picked up a few treasures.

Then we stopped off at Alki Beach to let Pony Girl play at the shore. We parked a ways from the main beach lane and not 20 steps from our car I came across a rather sweet roadside find! Two dandy chairs for the big people and a wee chair for the smallish one's dolls. The Engineer and I will be giving the granny rocker an overhaul and the yam colored industrial is a perfect fit for my "by the roadside" desk.

As we headed home with the sun still shining, we all had a feeling of tired contentment. A mini family holiday adventure was just what we all needed. The rain has returned but, we have some wonderful memories to carry us through.