Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Seattle pictures

Again, this will be picture-heavy!

First, here is a picture of me and Carter with my friend Laura in Portland. We went out to dinner with her and her family on Friday night. Carter had a great time playing with her kids!



Doug flew up late Friday night, and the next morning we got up early and headed to the Amtrak station. I've always wanted to take a real train in the US, so I was really excited! The Portland train station is glorious and feels like you're stepping back in time.



Carter, of course, wanted to run around and explore.



When the time came to board the train, I was ridiculously excited. It was really a cool way to travel! Here we are about to board the train.



Carter had a lot of fun watching the scenery go by. We have a book about trains, and we pulled it out to talk about railroad crossings where the cars stop, train stations where people get off and on, and so on.



It was a really relaxing way to travel. Carter was still confined to our laps like on an airplane, but the atmosphere on a train is a lot more relaxed. We could wander down to the bistro car and get a snack, and walk around a bit.



Here is a cute little video of Doug and Carter on the train.



Here is a great picture of Carter with Michelle.



And of course, he eventually fell asleep. He missed the best scenery of the trip, too.



Once in Seattle, we had just enough time to go get lunch and visit the Pike Place Market. We had arranged to meet up with some friends we met while traveling in Africa, Joeann and Sandy. We even found an African restaurant to have lunch in, which was cool.



Here is Carter with Joeann almost exactly one year ago:



Doug and Carter at the African restaurant.



I intended to get a coffee at the original Starbucks location, but the line was INSANE. There is practically a Starbucks on every street corner in Seattle anyway, so we settled for just a picture.



Carter spent as much time as he could in the hotel window, looking out at the city.



He did the same thing last year, at the same hotel. What a difference a year makes, eh?



That night, Doug and I went to see Catch Me If You Can, a pre-Broadway run of a new musical based on the film. It was pretty interesting, though we both agreed they still have a lot of work to do. The cast was fantastic, though -- Norbert Leo Butz, Kerry Butler, Tom Wopat.

We got up crazy early on Saturday morning to take a transcon flight to New York. Carter LOVES the airport, and it's very easy to entertain him there. Basically, you just put him next to a window with a view of the tarmac, and he's good for at least half an hour.



He did great on that flight, which turned out to be 6 hours with a delay. He's really a good traveler. I don't know if it's because he's a pretty laid-back kid in general, or if it's because Doug and I are both such experienced travelers that we're good influences on him, but we've never really had a bad experience on a plane with Carter. The transcon was his 46th flight, and he handled it like a pro!

I'll post about New York when I get a chance to download all the pictures. We had a blast there!

2 comments:

Debby said...

Great Pictures!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!! Love you!!!

Emily said...

I love your life! And man, Carter is SOOOOOOO handsome. I just want to hug him!

Hope your birthday was great!