This past weekend, our family attended my brother Tom and Gaelyn’s wedding in Seattle, WA. I was Tom’s best man and Sarena was one of the flower girls. It was an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect. They must’ve been praying for good weather cause it practically rained every other day while we were there except on Sat.
We stayed at the La Residence Suite Hotel in downtown Bellevue. I was fairly inexpensive compared to all the other hotels around that area at $105 a night. The downside was that it was a 2 star hotel and had a musty smell in the first room we got. But we moved into another and it wasn’t as bad. The room layout was very convenient since it had a separate sleeping and living rooms. It even had a small kitchen. The service was very good. And they had a very convenient breakfast bar that you could just grab stuff from. It was supposed to have internet access also, but unfortunately it was down most of the time. It was right across the street from the shopping mall and close to the park. Overall, I’d recommend staying there if you don’t mind staying at an older place.
Seattle has great weather. Yes, it rains and is overcast a lot. But, the cool weather sure beats the hot and humid weather in Atlanta. Flowers are everywhere and it’s not uncommon to see flower pots bursting with color. The windows in our hotel didn’t have screen windows. So apparently flying bugs are not much of a problem in Seattle.
We visited two stores in the area – Whole Foods in Bellevue and Costco in Issaquah. And they were both huge. It’s an experience just to go shopping at those places.
We visited Tom and Gaelyn’s church, Lighthouse, while we were there. And we met a couple from Atlanta, James and Jenny. And also a family (Rebecca and Stephen) from Atlanta that was passing through.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to do much sight seeing while we were there. We did get to walk the harbor at Kirkland a little bit and played at a park near the lake. And we got to drive through downtown Seattle for a bit.
I was surprised at how expensive houses are up there. It’s at least 40% more expensive than in Atlanta. But, salary actually seems to be lower than Atlanta. And there doesn’t seem to be much new housing construction there either. Whereas in Atlanta, there’s new housing everywhere. Gas and food is also a bit more expensive than in Atlanta. But I guess the cost of living is offset by the quality of living.
I’ve got some pictures from the trip in my photo album.
Other photos:
Tiffany’s photo album
Ming-Hui’s photo album
Dad’s photo album
Jenny’s photo album
Fang-I’s photo album