Thanksgiving in Seattle!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because it is the beginning of "the holiday season," but also because it is a holiday that revolves completely around food, and let's be honest, I LOVE food!!

This year I was particularly for Turkey Day because my mom and Don were coming up to visit me in Seattle. I love when people visit me up here because it gives me an excuse to ditch my homework and galavant around the city and do all the fun things that make living in Seattle so wonderful.

Thanksgiving morning, I went and met mom and Don at the airport. I took them back to my house to show them where I live and spend all my time before we went downtown to check into their awesome hotel.

(Mom and me outside my townhouse)

(Welcome to my lovely kitchen)

Mom and Don got an awesome hotel just one block above the center of Pioneer Square. It was literally just behind my favorite building in all of Seattle. It was so nice, had an awesome view and was the perfect walking distance from all my favorite places.

(The Pioneer Square Archway with my favorite building in the back)

(Sweet hotel room)

After we all got settled into the hotel, we took off across the sound to visit my step-half cousin, aunt and uncle, aka. Don's half brother and his family. They are seriously awesome people and I love getting to hang out with them. Thanksgiving at their house was awesome and all the food was so good!

(Don and I on the ferry)

(Yummy turkey dinner)

Friday turned into a major shopping day. There is this really awesome accessory store that my mom found when she went to visit my sister Brittani back east and my mom was so excited when she found out that there was a location here near Seattle. We spent about two hours in that one store on Friday and we definitely left with some awesome treasures to add to our closets. Don was such a good sport waiting around for us while we picked through things and decided what we liked best.

(Don and me in the mall)

(The awesome view from our hotel room! Right on the waterfront!)

Saturday was by far my favorite day of the whole weekend. We started off strong by going for a nice run along the waterfront. We ran along the piers and then over to this little beachfront trail. It was awesome to have the water and the Olympic mountains on one side and the towering city on the other. The air was the perfect brisk temperature and we had so much fun!

We also took a lot of picture along the way...

(Mom and me in front of a fountain near the sculpture gardens)

(Posing in front of the pier with the new Seattle "eye")

(Don wouldn't pretend to run with me for this one..)

Later on Saturday after a nice breakfast at an awesome 50's style diner in Pioneer Square, we went on the Seattle Underground Tour. I had been on it before when my friend Anna visited by last spring, but I was excited to go on it again with mom and Don. I love history things like tours and the Underground tour is so awesome I would probably go on it any day.

(Part of the underground beneath Pioneer Square)

After walking over to the main area of downtown and stopping in for some fun at good old Pike's Place, we finally went on to my very favorite part of the weekend. The thing I had been looking forward to most!

(Mom and me at the Seattle Center. Me at Pike's Place)

What was I looking forward to most?...................

My early graduation dinner at the Space Needle of course! I have been wanting to go up in the Space Needle since long before I moved up here for school and now I was finally getting to go! I asked Mom back in the summer if she and Don would take me there for my graduation dinner in June, but when they decided to come up here for the holiday, she suggested that we just do it then, and I have to say, I am glad we did. The Space Needle is cool enough by itself, but it is even better when it has all of its Christmas decorations up. Plus, they blow out fake snow from the top! It really looks like it is snowing when you sit in the restaurant.

The food was awesome and the atmosphere was even better. Fake snow, Christmas music, and the awesome high up view of the city was even better than I imagined. Thank you mom and Don!!!!

(I got the "Mt. Rainier" drink. So tasty!)

(Seared Ahi Tuna! So freaking good and fresh!)

Sunday morning was awesomely foggy and we were a little worried that it might rain again or something  but we decided to risk it and head to Mt. Rainier. I am glad we did too because it turned out to be an awesome day! The sun came out and the mountain was so clear and beautiful. Mom had never been there before so it was pretty cool to hear her saying "Wow it just comes up right out of the sea, out of nowhere!" I love people's initial reactions to how big it it.

I of course got a little car sick from all the winding roads so that put a little damper on my day, but it ended up being totally worth it.

(I love Mt. Rainier!)

Once we got back into the city, we went and got a quick dinner down at the waterfront before I had to head back home and back to the reality of school and homework. Once back home, I had to quickly adjust back into homework mode and crank out the last chapter of Ulysses before going to bed early enough to wake up at 5am for work and class. Now just one week of classes, one week of finals and then I will finally get to head home for the best time of the year! Christmas, family, skiing, and fun are all within my grasp....as soon as these pesky finals finish themselves.