My good friend Megan visited us this past weekend and we had a lot of fun! It had probably been over 2 years since the last time I saw her, so it was good to see her again. We picked her up from the airport around 4pm on Saturday and chatted for a while at our apartment. Then we walked downtown through the retail core, including Nordstrom and the Westlake Center. We briefly walked through Pike Place Market and stopped to get piroshkys at Piroshky Piroshky. Unfortunately it was close to closing time, so we didn't really see much of the market and most of the flower/fruit stands were closed. Megan seemed to enjoy the view of Elliott Bay.

After the market, we walked back to the Westlake Center and looked at some of the stores there. Then we took the Monorail to the Seattle Center. That was actually the first time for me to ride the Monorail, if you can believe it. We hung out for a while at the Northwest Folklife Festival, where we saw some tap dancers, live music, and lots of interesting people. I had my usual roasted corn on the cob and Troy and I shared some stir-fry noodles.

We were pretty tired after all that walking, so we decided to take the bus back to the apartment. The three of us played some Super Mario Kart 64 before going to Paddy Coyne's, the bar on the main floor of our building, to have some drinks and appetizers.

Sunday morning we went to Top Pot for donuts. It was really busy, but we were still able to find a table. Megan had an apple fritter, I had a chocolate covered ring, and Troy had a cinnamon sugar old fashioned donut. After breakfast, we toured the Museum of Flight near Boeing Field. They have 85 aircraft including the supersonic Concorde and the first jet Air Force One. We were able to go inside the Concorde and Air Force One, which was really cool. This particular Air Force One served in the Presidential Fleet from 1959-1996. The museum also had a small section reserved for space exploration, which was probably my favorite part along with seeing the inside of those two planes.

The weather continued to be cloudy with drizzly rain, so we decided to just drive around and show Megan the different neighborhoods in Seattle. We drove through Fremont, the U District, and Capitol Hill. We also stopped at Gas Works Park briefly for a view of Lake Union and downtown. By the time we were done with that, the rain had stopped, so we took a ferry to Bainbridge Island.

We went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants for dinner - Mamma Melina in the U District. The piano player was really good and even played "Got to Get You Into My Life" by the Beatles (because I suggested it when he asked what we'd like to hear.) After dinner, Megan and I went up in the Space Needle while Troy walked around the Folklife Festival again. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy and most of the mountains weren't visible, but it was cool seeing downtown lit up at night. For dessert we went to B&O Espresso on Capitol Hill before going back to the apartment to watch one of Megan's and my favorite movies, Back to the Future.

Megan thought she might have to leave Monday afternoon because flying stand-by can get tricky, but the flights were pretty open for Tuesday morning, so she decided to stay until then. For breakfast on Monday we ate at the very popular Portage Bay Cafe, just a few blocks away. Troy was nice enough to walk over there early and put our name on the waiting list. There was a 45 minute wait, so we just hung out at the apartment for most of that time before going there.

Then we drove to the Boeing plant in Everett to take a tour at the Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour. We saw the manufacturing facility Boeing is using for the 747, 767, 777, and the new 787 airline jets. The place was huge, in fact, it's the largest building in the world by volume at 472 million cubic feet. About 30,000 people work there and has over 2.33 miles of pedestrian tunnels running below the factory. It was really cool seeing how the planes are made.

Afterward, we drove to Snoqualmie Falls, made famous by the TV show Twin Peaks. This time there was probably the most amount of water I've ever seen pouring over the falls, which are 268 feet high. In comparison, Niagara Falls is only 167 feet high, but is much much wider of course. The tallest one in the world is Angel Falls in Venezuela at 3,212 feet high. Anyway, it was misty and rainy when we first got there, but then cleared up as we were about to leave.

Megan's trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without seeing the view from Kerry Park, so that's where we went next. Unfortunately most of the weekend had been cloudy with drizzly rain, but Monday afternoon the weather decided to clear up, giving us a decent view. Mount Rainier wasn't visible, but the overall view was still impressive.

We went back to the apartment briefly and then took the bus and Link Light Rail to the game. Megan bought us tickets in the right outfield lower level, which was very nice. I hadn't sat in the outfield in any ballpark in a long time, so it was a nice change. We sat right behind Ichiro, which was cool. I had some Thai food at the game and Troy and I shared the famous garlic fries. Unfortunately the Mariners couldn't pull out a victory in the bottom of the 9th.

After the game we took a taxi back to the apartment, which was a lot faster than the bus/light rail would have been. We were channel surfing when we got home and just happened to find Sleepless in Seattle playing, so Megan and I watched the rest of it and I pointed out all the places I recognized.

Overall everyone had a great time and I really enjoyed seeing Megan again. It was nice to catch up and show her our city. We're glad she came to visit us and look forward to next time!