A bittersweet farewell to Seattle...for now.

I really shouldn't call it "bittersweet"...it just seems only slightly appropriate.

That's Loretta last Monday waiting in Sea-Tac airport for flight 1920 to Modesto. As I looked at the picture I took, it just seemed to evoke a feeling of sadness about having to leave Seattle.

Even though both of us had just a super time staying with my daughter Jenifer and our son-in-law Roth, we were both a little anxious to get home after 5 days there. Loretta was worried about the dogs. I had things that needed to be attended to.

Loretta also knows that I have always wanted to move to Seattle. I have had this desire for many years. Having never been there before, my perception of the Emerald City was based on, well...my preception of it!

Microsoft...Boeing...Starbucks...and many other well-known corporations are based there. Seattle is somewhat linked to trendy, Pacific-Rim cuisine...and certainly to great seafood. It has been quite the mainstay for movie-making the past 20 years or so. The culture, the architecture, the environmental ethic...all of which have always made Seattle such an enigma for me. It seems but for one thing, we would have been there years ago. The rain!!! It supposedly rains a lot there. And, your point is? I like the rain. I don't know if I like rainy, overcast days for weeks at a time...check that...months at a time. But so what? That is the tradeoff for living in the beautiful Northwest. The entire 5 days we were there, the weather was very, very cooperative...sunny, mild, some clouds, cool nights and mornings, warm afternoons. I hear the months of dreary weather are right around the corner...October through May, something like that.

Jen and Roth chose to move there for their own reasons, many of which are similar to my attractions to that city. Afterall, my daughter and I are a lot alike. The bottom line? My perception of Seattle before the trip has become a vivid memory of a place I am convinced would be a great place for us to live. I can't wait to go back and see more...and eat more! What a plethora of restaurants from which to choose. I'm sure not all of them are the cup of tea we would enjoy, I'm postive Seattle has culinary clinkers as well. But at least there are choices to be made, not only where to eat, but where to live...and where to play.

Seattle isn't the biggest city. In fact, Seattle proper isn't all that big geographically...downtown is quite small in fact. But roam the outskirts to Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Fremont, Lake Washington (all outlying sections of the Emerald City), and you find new scenery all the time.

Did I mention the lakes and the water? Not for this blog entry...maybe for the next trip and a ferry to Bainbridge Island...or a tour of Puget Sound...or a jaunt to Vancouver, B.C.

Yes, we miss my daughter and son-in-law. But now, I also miss a new city that I would like to know better.

Waiting for our next Northern Exposure...soon.