Seattle Coffee Tour

Went up to seattle on wednesday night for Drew's defense yesterday. He did a great job and was very, very happy to be finished... especially since he leaves on Saturday for Rochester, NY to get married.

Anyway, his talk was at 2pm, meaning I had the whole morning to amuse myself. Iced white mocha at Vivace and then took the bus downtown to Pikes Place market to be a tourist for a while. Yeah, that place is awesome. Makes me sad Portland doesn't have a daily market like that.... I would love to buy all my fish and produce from open air markets if I had the chance. Anyway, did the length a couple of times and then walked around the corner and grabbed a pastry to go (for lunch/snack later) before I found the Crumpet Shop wedged in between two chain coffee houses. Lots of tea and the owner said they've been there for 30 years. I'd never had a crumpet before, but since a lady was standing in line to buy a pack of crumpets to go (plain), I figured they had to be good. I ordered a fresh crumpet with smoked salmon blended with cream cheese topped with cucumbers and a large iced vanilla latte for a total of 5.50. And it was awesome. Ken would love that place -- he's not really a coffee drinker but found that he loves chai (tea infused with sugar, spices & milk) -- so a tea house that makes their own chai could be his dream come true. Anyway, caught the bus to UW. Another cup of coffee. Listened to the talk and then went with my boss and Bob to Ivar's, a salmon house on the water for happy hour. Very fun and it was a beautiful day as well. Left Seattle around 6:30 (another cup of coffee, this time decaf) and headed back to Portland to find an empty, dark house around 9:45. Turns out Ken got called down to California for work and flew out around 3 that afternoon. He gets back this evening, but I sure did miss him when I got home.

TGIF.