Seattle

Since two weekends ago Z has started his long journey of interviews for residency programs.  He is applying to become a plastic surgeon, which is one of the most competitive fields in the medical world.  It's a minimum of 6 or 7 years of supervised training program and he could possibly do a few more years of fellowship afterwards.  Yeah I get it, he will essentially be a student until his mid-30s.  Because plastic program is rather difficult to get into, he has also applied for general surgery programs as a backup. 

He kicked off the interview season with Seattle.  I had the opportunity to travel with him; actually, I pretty much begged my boss to let me go despite an important school event that same weekend.  Seattle is one of the cities we have been interested in exploring.  It has become rather popular amongst young professionals and people who are about to start a family, and many of the Z's side of family, relatives, and family friends happened to live there.  

We stayed with Nan & Audrey (Z's oldest brother and his wife), who recently moved to Seattle due to Nan's job.  They live in the downtown area, so we naturally spent the weekend mainly in downtown. 

The first day in Seattle presented us a stereotypical weather - gloomy, windy...and just dark.  It was what I had feared about this city, at least from what I have heard from people.  Houston was in the 80s when we left, so when the highest temperature in Seattle that day was in the high 40s, my body wanted to just curl up in the couch.  As the Beh's tradition, we immediately started out with a food coma at Salty's, which is an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant with an amazing view of the downtown. 

(from left to right) Me, Z, Nan, and Audrey 

We were rather surprised to see a miniature Statue of Liberty.  I wasn't quite sure why it was there, but I discovered that it was partially donated by Starbucks.

You might see a lot of pictures of leaves...It has been years since I have seen leaves actually changing colors, so I went a little crazy when I finally experienced the autumn scenery.

The second day in Seattle was a 180 degree change.  It was a simply gorgeous day as if I was supposed to forget about the gloomy day I was greeted by the day before.  We did more touristy activities that day by seeing the Space Needle and walking around the Seattle Center, which is the prime site for international festivals and various cultural museums that happen in Seattle.

Space Needle.  We went all tourist the second day in Seattle.

Later that day, Nan showed us the downtown area.  One thing I loved about Seattle was that it was very bike friendly and so many people were enjoying the walks instead of relying on cars to take them everywhere.  The view of the ocean was beautiful and even the downtown itself had so many little parks for people to relax.  

One of Seattle's major attractions is the farmers market.  The farmers market operates every day from 8am-5pm, where you can find gazillion coffee shops and virtually buy anything as fresh as possible.

Seattle is home to Starbucks.  The original Starbucks is located near the farmers market.  The line was perpetual every time I passed by. 

This is the Gum Wall.  Yes, GUMS...EVERYWHERE.  It was cool but also super disgusting. 

Seattle's public library located in downtown.

Our trip to Seattle was rather short but eye opening. We learned a lot about Seattle in a short period of time.  Some things we absolutely loved, such as the environmental friendliness, beautiful nature, and the outdoor life.  But, there are definitely areas that we become more practical about, and in that sense making Texas more attractive, like the housing/renting market.  Either way, it was a nice getaway away for both of us.  It was a nice change of scenery.  I think our first trip to Northwest was quite enjoyable.