Christmas Lights in Leavenworth

One of the last "hurrahs" for this trip to Washington was a day trip up to Leavenworth (the German themed town V & I visited earlier this year). After a light breakfast, Vince and I hit the road, and his parents met us in Leavenworth later that afternoon. The plan was to see the town in the winter, try to stay warm (it was colder there than it was on the same day in Alaska!), visit some of the shops, and watch the official Christmas Lighting Ceremony :)

View from the truck driving into town- very pretty

This is BEFORE it got busy!

Engelwein at Baroness Cellars was a great way to warm up!

Here's our crew enjoying a bit of the hot German wine

No trip to Leavenworth is complete without a stop inside

the original Cheesemonger store… where I found a new goodie:

Hawt Stuff Buffalo Cheddar; my brain has been thinking of ways

to use it ever since hehe :p

The Hat Shop was fun! Tons of fun winter hats in there :)

The crowd gathering for the start of the ceremony...

And a final picture of the town. Great way to cap off a lovely visit :)

Hanging out in Wenatchee

The day after our Thanksgiving feast, Vince took me around Wenatchee to see a little more of the town and to visit one of our favorite spots- the Pybus Market. 

Pybus Market is an old industrial building in Wenatchee that was refurbished and turned into a great indoor marketplace. There are some great places to eat AND some great places to pick up goodies for you own creations at home :)

Inside the market

Fire: for brick oven pizzas

Ice: for gelato & espresso

Cha has a fantastic assortment of high-quality spices & teas

Nice little wine store and tasting area

One of our favorite stops: The Cheesemonger :) The Source

for awesome beer, cheeses, charcuterie, and other bits of deliciousness

After our trip to Pybus, we walked around downtown for a little bit

and found this store- super fun for anyone who enjoys cooking (a.k.a. me)

Inside the store- pretty!

Time to re-caffeinate...

Cool spot!

…and then it was time to go home and chill (see Roxie's example)

& to hang out with the fam (see Zeus beg) hehe

(Late) but WONDERFUL Thanksgiving

The next stop on this trip to Washington (same trip as the Seahawks Game and the EMP) was Wenatchee. Vince's mom invited me for a late Thanksgiving/early Christmas since both he and I were working on Thanksgiving and would also have to work on Christmas. I am so thankful I was invited, because we had a lot of fun and a lot of delicious food :p

Almost there! This is the sign by the gate to the farm :)

View of the house- Vince's mom had cute decorations set-up to greet us

Prep time! Vince was in charge of the turkey and found an excellent brine!

He decided to brine the turkey for 36 hours and then smoke it with apple & alder- mmm

No true smoker, but this setup on the barbecue worked like a charm

Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen. Here are the chive popovers I 

made- with my new popover pan I got from V as an early Christmas gift :)

Pumpkin pie- that I later topped with homemade spiced rum whipped cream

…and the gravy base (don't get very many drippings when you smoke a turkey)

I made garlic mashed potatoes to go with everything, but they were such a hit that

I didn't get a chance to snap a good picture before they were all gone!

Impressive! The skin got blackened from the smoking process, but 

boy was this turkey good! Honestly, this year was the first time I was 

excited about eating leftover turkey for the next few days hehe

A little bubbly to celebrate- and it came from the winery Vince

& I went to in Napa Valley earlier this year ;)

Then it was time to play some cards and make room for dessert...

Which of course was pumpkin pie AND pumpkin cheesecake :)

EPIC Thanksgiving!

EMP

Vince & I decided that since we were going to be in Seattle for the football game, we should at least spend another day looking around. My pick for Day 2: a trip to the EMP. So glad we got to go while the Fantasy exhibit was there; it was really fun! I felt like a kid in there. The other exhibits were great too; I plan on being a frequent visitor to the EMP once I'm a Seattle resident :)

Almost there! Here's an exhibit flag on the outside...

Inside the EMP: super cool bar & lounge near the ticketing counter

The Nirvana exhibit

Sick- in a good way ;)

The Experience Hendrix exhibit- full of great memorabilia

and letters from fans. Love it

The prodigy himself

The Sound Lab: a place to play with instruments and test your skills

Cool guitar display

The Guitar Gallery- very educational and fun!

A little history...

Fun exhibit about horror films… Muahahahaha...

Ew! A facehugger!

…and an Alien- awesome!

And my favorite: Fantasy!

The door to Fantasyland- cute!

Armor from a shining knight… Unfortunately it was a little dark inside,

so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but it was great anyway.

There were original works from C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien; costumes from 
Snow White & The Huntsmen, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, The Princess 
Bride, and other fairy-tale movies; great props; and interactive games. 
Way fun :)

My first NFL Game

Woohoo! Football season is well underway, and I got to see my first NFL game with Vince on 12/2: the Seattle Seahawks vs. the New Orleans Saints. Talk about an epic game! We had a blast!

Pic from the Light Rail… can you spot the Seahawks colors?

First view of the stadium

Almost there!

Made it in :)

The doors to the club level rooms- cool!!!

Club seats have their perks ;)

Our first glimpse of the field

The drumline- doing a great job of getting the fans pumped!

Garlic fries is an understatement… good thing we both like garlic hehe

Did I mention we had awesome seats?

Waiting for the Light Rail back to the hotel; fun times hearing 

the happy Seahawks fans :) What a great first game! 34-7 Seahawks