Paging, Dr. McDreamy

My parents recently moved to Seattle (i.e. two weeks ago!) and I am so excited to have them living in such a cool city that's at least a little closer to us! My mom's 60th birthday was in September so we flew out to Seattle to help them celebrate last week.

Let me start by saying Seattle is one of the coolest cities I have ever visited. It's seriously incredible. I felt cooler and a little more hip just by visiting! My parents live in Bellevue, a mile from unbelievable shopping (can you say Louis Vuitton?) and restaurants. So cool! Their house is so nice and their backyard has truly been declared a natural preserve. Crazy!

On Friday, Preston, my dad, and I played tourist while my mom was at work. We went to the Pike Place Market (just like on the Real World Seattle,) the Space Needle, the Waterfront, and even some Grey's Anatomy filming locations. I still can't figure out how I got to my dad and Preston to humor me and drive me to Meredith Grey's house. In retrospect, they did want to kill me and of course they stayed in the car while I had my own photoshoot in front of the interns' house but still!

The Pike Place Market is incredible. They had rows and rows of gorgeous flowers and they were dirt cheap. I'm talking huge bouquets for $3-$5!

This where they throw the fish!

We went to the freakiest store ever on the waterfront. Think mummies, two-headed calves, Mexican jumping beans, and fudge and you have the Ye Ole Curiosity Shoppe.

(P.S. This is Sylvia the mummy and clearly she is not eating the fudge. I did, though. Pumpkin fudge to be exact because I love Fall and all things pumpkin. Sylvia is missing out.)

After walking around the waterfront, we stopped for some fish and chips at Ivar's on the water.

(Oops. They're standing in bird poop.)

Ugh. I hate seagulls. They harassed us the entire time we ate. And let me tell you, those suckers are LOUD. And rude. This is right before I pelted him with a fry.

We walked around Pioneer Square and looked in cool store windows like these.

And my dad considered buying a utili-kilt like this...

and posed with Chief Seattle.

We went to the Space Needle and the views from the top were surreal.

Oh and they gifted us with these sweet souvenirs before we left.

I asked the Space Needle tour guide about the Seattle Grace Hospital from Grey's and he pointed out that it was right next door. It's actually the ABC News building in Seattle.

The Space Needle is only a couple miles from Meredith's house on Grey's so I begged and pleaded and my dad and Preston humored me long enough to do a dive by. Only when we got there, I whined enough and they pulled over. Little did they know a 15 minute photo shoot would ensue. Ah, they live and learn. I was in my own little world. At one point, I looked around and they were nowhere to be found. I eventually found them. They had driven around the corner. Didn't even notice.

It's a miracle I haven't been chased off by angry homeowners as much as I do this.

This is the view of the Space Needle from Queen Ann where Meredith's house is.

On Saturday, two of my mom's sisters came over with their families for a little birthday bbq for my mom. It was rainy (surprise, surprise) but part of the backyard is covered so it worked out perfectly.

Later that night, Preston and my dad went to Husky Stadium to watch ASU play Washington. I was supposed to go but it was pouring and tickets were expensive so I went to the mother of all Goodwills instead. More on that later.

We are obsessed with Seattle (and that amazing Goodwill!) We're planning on going back next month for Thanksgiving but some medical appointments we have might conflict. The jury is still out. Hopefully, we'll see you again next month, Seattle!

Thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome trip!