Rosie takes Seattle!

Hello to all of Erika's friends and family! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Rosanne, but Rika calls me Rosie. I got here on Wednesday night (2 am Atlanta time) and was left to my own devices on Thursday and Friday while Erika was at work. Apparently I brought the weather here - it's been high 70s and 80s and the Seattlites (sp?) apparently are freaking out! On Thursday morning I started my journey by hitting up Pike Place market. I was in search of the first Starbucks ever being the rabid coffee drinker that I am. Unfortunately I did not see it! I saw a huge Seattle's Best, but I did not see my green lady. I nudged my way through the other tourists and made my way through the market (apparently I didn't go down far enough through the market - that's where the first Starbucks ever is). However, I did see the place where the guys throw fish at each other. This was actually really entertaining for two reasons:

1. The guys were a lot younger (not to mention cuter) than I had expected and 2. They sing these weird songs in weird voices as they do their act.

Next I went to the Olympic Sculpture Park. At this point the weather was gorgeous (in the morning it was gray and cold). People were everywhere in the park basically just laying out in the grass. The park itself was interesting - I'm not sure of the style of art, but it was somewhat out there. Plus the park is right on the water (I saw the house from Real World Seattle).

I went to back to Pike Place to get some flowers for my fabulous hostess. She wasn't kidding how beautiful (and cheap) they are! It was the best $10 I spent! I made my way back to the apartment and about 20 minutes later Erika and Joe came home from work. Joe is absolutely freaking adorable. I'm so glad Rika has such a good friend out here. I'm a huge fan.

So this was all day one! I already have over 200 pics (right now it's the morning of day 4 for me)! I have a tendency to get extremely long winded so I'll spare you all from my daily itineraries :) So far I've also been to the Seattle Aquarium, the Microsoft campus, Pioneer Square (Rika and I took the underground tour), and Safeco field for a Mariners game. Today we are going on a ferry and Erika, Joe and I are having dinner at the Space Needle. Yes, that probably guarantees at least another 100 pics. But before I let you all go, here are a few observations:

• There are plants & vegetations everywhere! Window boxes, big planters in the street, etc. It's really quite gorgeous and makes me happy.


• Everybody smokes. I was not expecting this. Erika and Joe said they haven't noticed this and perhaps this was because I was in a touristy section town, but I think they're just oblivious :)


• The city is really clean (well, except for all the cigarette butts). Again, a huge plus.


• Beautiful skyline. Joe told us that there was an ordinance awhile back mandating that none of the buildings could have flat roofs. View from Erika's apartment below -->

Okay, signing off for now! Thank you Erika for letting me be your first guest blogger. To the blogience (sp?), our girl is doing great out here :)