Chillin' in Seattle and Freezin' at Mount St. Helens

Mi hermano (my brother, for those of you who don't watch "Arrested Development" or speak Spanish), Kris, moved to Seattle, WA for three months for work, and being the mooch of a sister that I am, decided that my friend Meriel and I should go out to visit him for a long weekend. Ahhh shucks, I'm not really that selfish, from that moment in Jr. High that I first heard Pearl Jam, I knew I would, nay, must visit the mecca of Indie music known as 'Seattle'.

While we saw some AMAZING live music at a seemingly endless number of clubs - I've legit never been so impressed by the vibe of a live music scene - and saw some really cool landmarks:

Pike Place Market

The Space Needle. Which is accessible via a monorail...the concept of which still boggles my mind. What's the f-ing point of a MONOrail that isn't in a loop. I just don't get it, I don't...also was the only sunny day of the entire trip!!

Not to mention Easy Street Records in the Queen Anne neighborhood for a little Pearl Jam worship and alterna music worship. Okay, this might not be a true landmark, but dude-ski it is where the band played a live concert, and they sell all sorts of rare singles and records.

It actually turns out that one of the most enjoyable (and at the same time disappointing) moments of the entire trip was when we decided to hop in the fire red Pontiac Grand Prix (rental car - woot woot), and take a road trip to Mount St. Helens about 96 miles outside of Seattle. Going to see a volcano, fun times, right? Well...I think I may have forgotten to mention that it was November...

We start out the morning, hit our first Starbucks of the day, and start busting down the highway listening to Johnny Cash and Black Star. It actually really isn't a bad drive (not overly scenic though) if there isn't bad traffic, and you've got some good, sleep deprived conversation. The weather was overcast as it had been all weekend, but nothing too messy as we took the exit off the highway. However, as we got closer to the Mountain and higher in elevation, the snow started to come. While snow would normally excite me - if i were heading to a mountain with chairlifts and groomed pow-pow - we were going to see an active volcano, and I WANTED to see that gosh dern volcano. Going 15 mph for the last 5 miles due to treacherous roads, I think we all kind of realized there would be no volcano peeping that afternoon, and we were right.

Complete white-out at the base of the Mountain only allowed us to see about 20 ft out of the observatory. Even with this disappointment, I still feel like the trip was a success.

Main accomplishments:

1. The observatory (even without the view) at Mount St. Helens does a great job of telling the story of the eruption that occurred in 1980, and paying tribute to those who perished.

2. Had some great bonding time with mi hermano and my friend.

Minor accomplishments:

1. I hit mi hermano with a snowball at the base of a volcano
2. I got the most delicious Taco Bell at the end of the day.