Sunny Seattle

We cruised into Seattle late afternoon and found my cousin, Ted's, apartment.  It was the greatest feeling to take a nice long shower, blow dry, and straiten my hair! Seattle has been having a heat wave and was incredibly hot and dry- something the people are NOT used to. Everyone kept apologizing and explaining that this "isn't really what it's like here". The biggest shocker was that nobody has air conditioning! Not even businesses! It was bizarre. 

We showered and changed and hit the town for the Sounders match that night. I had never been to a soccer game but I know the fandom is HUGE in Seattle, so I was pretty excited to get there. Ted offered to help us out by offering a Sounders scarf, but we declined because of the heat. 

The game was fantastic. Our seats were incredible and I learned a lot about the sport. We, of course, had to have a couple Rainers.... When in Seattle...

The Sounders won 1-0 and the stadium went nuts. Nobody more so than the hooligans across the way with their impressive flag collection:

We walked back to Belltown, grabbed some dinner and drinks with Ted and his friend, and hit the hay. 

The next morning we were up bright and early to set out for what Ted described as an "easy" hike. We wanted to get an early start to beat the heat and crowds. I wouldn't necessarily classify it as easy, but it was a beautiful hike through the forest and up to Rattlesnake Ledge. 

The view at the top was amazing and definitely worth the climb (two days later, my calves disagree). 

After a well deserved nap we took in the Starbucks Roastery and then hit the KISW rooftop deck to watch the fireworks over lake Union. I've never been off the east coast for the 4th of July and seeing the fireworks with the city and space needle backdrop was spectacular. 

The next morning we were up and out to take in the market and grab some breakfast before shoving off to Portland!