Ahoy, Midwest
What a day. I've been up and traveling since 5AM (Pacific Time); nothing but planes, trains, & automobiles until we got home at 6:15PM (Central Standard). All traces of enthusiasm over getting to use the special United Red Carpet Room at the airport (because I was with my dad) have vanished. I'm too jetlagged to bother unpacking, but I'm not tired enough to take a nap. Thank goodness for the 30 e-mails I have to sift through, right? Yeesh.Seattle was really cool. I've never been that far west before, so all the trees and mountains just blew me away. It's no Chicago, but it's not too shabby. ;) Did the normal touristy things - Seattle Aquarium (watched two octopi being fed, saw otters do cute human things with their hands, spoke in a French accent), went to the top of the Space Needle (had a smoothie), walked through Pike's Market (saw people toss around a huge Alaskan King Salmon), shopped downtown (glass-blowing factories, funky pop art stores, upscale department stores), and hiked at Mount St. Helens (learned all about pyroclastic flows and assigned everyone famous explorer nicknames - mine was Balboa). Had fabulous food the entire time. I particularly enjoyed the plate of sashimi-grade Ahi tuna at McCormick & Schmidt's, the pizza from Zeek's, and the ice cream at Coldstone Creamery.The wedding itself was nice, if not a little cold and slightly boring. The ceremony lasted all of 15 minutes- not that I saw much of the ceremony, because Mom appointed me the family photographer - while the cruise lasted 2 more hours. The high point was sailing past Bill Gates' grossly expensive semi-subterranean mansion. Sigh. What a waste. At least it was sunny. I still haven't figured out if I really like my new sister-in-law, but Monique's so shy around the family that I don't know if I'll ever figure that out. But it's not like we're gonna see them all that often, anyway. In true wedding spirit, I wish them well but am completely apathetic. Besides, I was mainly focused on trying to not succumb to the urge to kill my aunt. I tell you, family only exists to drive you crazy most of the time.