Road Trip: A Long Weekend in Seattle

Long time, no see compadres. I'm sorry if you think I've deserted you. I promise that isn't the case.I'm not going to lie, I was feeling a little less than inspired and needed a break. Between work, a death in the family and some sibling struggles we've been a little preoccupied. I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive over the past couple weeks. And for those that weren't in the loop I would like to say thank you for continuing to follow the blog and like me on Facebook. I have well over 100 likes now and for a little blog like mine that's a big step.So, thanks to all!One good thing has come from my lack of posting, and that's that we have been just as busy as usual so I have a lot of stories to share. I'll start with Labor Day weekend and we'll go from there...For those that don't know, we got married over Labor Day weekend in 2010. So we decided to celebrate by going to visit family and relax in Seattle.Kyle's parents got tickets for us all to go to the BSU vs. UW game (they're all BSU fanatics) so that was our initial motivation to get out of town that weekend.The game sucked. As a husky hater I was hoping to see some purple and gold blood spilled on the field. I don't know what got into (or rather out of) the broncos, but we were really disappointed when they were slaughtered. Kyle is still recovering from the loss.On the plus side, our niece Gabbi looked adorable in her BSU cheer outfit and we got to see the whole Nagel clan. I'd say that part was a win.Kyle's cousin Cassie and her husband live in West Seattle and always let us stay with them. I hope they come visit soon so we can return the favor! They always know the best restaurants to go to and sights to see. You know, the stuff only locals know about.We went to a restaurant at Alki Beach called El Chupacabra. It was amazing! The decor was awesome, the food great and the margaritas were out of this world. And I'm not even a tequila drinker.We also did a lot of fall shopping. Kyle needed some new work clothes, and I'm rarely one to pass up a shopping trip. We hit up the usual stores that we don't have around here. I think I started losing Kyle by the time we hit up Anthropology by Sunday. Can't say I blame him; I was shopped out too.We headed out a little late on Monday and made a stop to hike up Wallace Falls. It was a challenging hike even though the trail was made for tourists and sightseers. I think I found it challenging mostly because I was tired from a busy weekend, and was sore from paddleboarding for two hours the previous day. By the end of the hike my quads hated me.The views were totally worth it though. We hiked up to the upper falls, and apparently there was one more viewpoint after that. We hiked three miles total, but it was fairly steep and felt a lot longer than that (please keep in mind that I was SO sore and was being a bit of a baby).After our hike we drove along highway 2 for about 45 minutes until we got to Leavenworth where we collapsed into two patio chairs at a pizza place (whose name I forgot to note due to fatigue - pretty sure it was the Leavenworth Pizza Co. or something). We didn't end up getting home until after 1 a.m.Let that be a lesson - always take the day after vacation off. So glad we did!That was our Labor Day weekend in a nutshell. How was your long weekend? Did you spend the rest of the week in a vacation hangover too?Until next time,Andyxo