Several months ago I saw that Def Leppard would be performing
in Seattle in June and that Poison would be joining them on tour. Justin and I saw Def Leppard back in 2011
and the concert was awesome.
Poison sings my self proclaimed song “Every Rose Has it’s Thorn” and so
it was a no brainer that I had to go and see them LIVE. I immediately sent a text to Chrystie,
my high school friend and fellow 80’s rock and roll fan to see if she’d be
interested in flying up from Utah to join me. I was super stoked that she was and we asked a couple other
high school friends to join us.
Sandy, now living in Alaska was game; however, unfortunately, Somer
wasn’t feeling able to commit to it.
Here’s the four of us on our Senior Trip to Yellowstone a mere 22 years
ago.
Somer, Sandy, Chrystie and Me
Chrystie and I have kept in touch by following each
other’s blogs and social media accounts over the years but I think the last
time we saw each other was when we were in Utah for Christmas in 2010. Sandy and I have probably only see each
other once since I moved to Seattle over 16 years ago and our only other
contact has been the Christmas card I send each year. A reunion was overdue.
They flew in on Friday morning, June 9 – I thought
we’d head straight into Seattle for the day, but Sandy had brought a whole box
of frozen fish with her from Alaska so we took a detour to my house to get
those fish on ice :)
I’d asked several friends for recommendations on
what to do and eat while they were here.
We brunched at Lola – a cute Mediterranean restaurant downtown – it was
delish. Then we strolled through
Pikes Place (picking up a couple fresh bags of donuts from the Daily Dozen) on
our way to the Great Wheel of Seattle.
We’ve haven’t aged at all have we?
After the Wheel we walked over to Seattle Center to
check out Chihuly Garden & Glass.
It was beautiful!
It took FOREVER to get out of Seattle and to the
concert in Auburn. We joked that
someone from Waze was laughing at us following all their crazy directions. We ended up pulling into the wrong lane
as we neared the venue parking lot but thanks to some sweet-talking and bribery
a parking attendant moved some cones and slipped us in. We didn’t even have time to stop for
food so we grabbed some Beecher’s cheese sandwiches at the amphitheatre and
called it good.
Both Poison and Def Leppard were amazing. Really an awesome concert. They both played everything I would
have wanted and more. Def Leppard
made the comment that this year marks their 40th year touring – so fitting for
these ladies turned or turning 40 this year – yikes!
Justin asked how it was and I had to admit it was
even better than the first time I’d seen Def Leppard perform. He asked it was because of who it was
with and for sure that made it even that more awesome. We danced. We sang. Good
times.
Getting out of the concert parking lot was another
traffic nightmare, but we found plenty of entertainment watching all the intoxicated
and otherwise influenced concertgoer’s roam (and fall) around in search of
their cars. It was a late night
albeit very entertaining!
Sandy and Chrystie slept in until late, late
morning on Saturday. We ate
breakfast and Justin had the bikes loaded up on the van ready to drop us off to
ride nearly 20-miles down the John Wayne trail to Rattlesnake Lake. It’s been on my bucket list ever since
we moved here and I was excited to finally do it – even if the weather was
looking a little iffy. As we
adjusted the bikes in the parking lot at the start of the trail we spotted a
black bear just meandering on by – just to add to the whole welcome to the PNW experience.
Here we are ready to head into the 2-mile pitch
dark and freezing cold tunnel.
We’re smiling cause we didn’t know just how cold we were about to be.
Here
we are smiling once again after surviving the ride through the tunnel.
The ride was so beautiful! There were several bridges, countless
waterfalls, and so much greenery that I love about the PNW.
I originally thought we could paddleboard when we
got to the lake, but it was already so late in the afternoon and we were too
tired and hungry to bother.
Instead we headed back to the house to shower and clean up to go out to
dinner. We took advantage of
Justin’s BOGO prime card and ate at Pogacha in Issaquah and then it was back to
Snoqualmie to catch the sunset at Snoqualmie Falls.
We picked up a disturbing movie at Redbox for the
evening – next time I’ll be more insistent that we go the chick flick route
instead.
They were both heading home on Sunday and we
decided they needed to experience the views from Rattlesnake Ledge before
leaving. Never disappoints.
I hate this picture of me, but love the view (and
Chrystie looks cute too!)
I’d never seen so many people at the top before –
seriously, I blame social media for spreading the word about just how lovely it
is up there.
We had just enough time for one more venture –
Franklin Falls.
I was surprised how much snow was still there
Before we knew it it was time to get these two to
the airport to send them back to their families. Such a fun weekend!
