And we're back

Just had the most relaxing vacation of my life...God, where to start?
I got into Seattle late Wednesday afternoon...Mitch met me and another friend of his who came in from Tampa. We went for a few drinks that night, checking out some of the local bars...so many tasty microbrews to be had...yummy. On Thursday we got an early start and went to explore the city. We started off at the Pike Place Market...think of Columbus' North Market multiplied by a factor of ten - very cool. A proper fish and chips was lunch, and then we spent the afternoon visiting the Seattle Art Museum, which had an Andy Warhol exhibit and a really extensive one about Kurt Cobain...very cool, check it out if you're in the area before September. Then an evening at the beach before heading home. On Friday, Mitch, Jeff and I packed up the car and left to go camping up here, which was just incredible...off in the Cascades in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. I'd never really explored this area until now...it's really hard to describe how beautiful this area is. Many times I'd get choked up walking in the woods, just struck by the sheer beauty of it. And no, I wasn't drunk :) Please visit the Northwest before you die.
The campground is great, some really nice people there...I mentioned to Mitch I'd met more nice people there in the first 3 hours than I'd met in a year in Columbus. Definitely going back. A hard part for me was being cut off, as there's no cell service anywhere near the campground - we'd hoped to get out to dinner Saturday night to a restaurant up the road so we could make a few calls, but we decided not to...besides, we'd lost our signals on the way in long before reaching that place. In modern life it's so uncommon to be out of touch with people who aren't physically there, so it takes a little adjustment to going without the electric security blanket in your pocket. We're so spoiled nowadays.
On Sunday we broke camp and headed back to Seattle for a night on the town for Mitch's 24th birthday. Or 18th anniversary of his 24th...something like that. Very fun evening of dancing and enjoying $2 drafts, and basically terrorizing anyone who got within 10 feet of us....just like the old days. Then a hurried morning scamper to the airport and back home today...er, yesterday.
I can't remember a vacation that was more soothing than this one....with everything that's gone on in the past several months, I've never really had a break or a getaway. This definitely was the perfect prescription.