And here I am, again without a wireless connection even though the T-Mobile site swears it has a HotSpot in SeaTac and my AirPort swears I have full signal. Bah. And this woman near me keeps lifting her toddler in the air and blowing raspberries on the poor kid’s stomach. I mean, really LOUD raspberries. Ah, airports.

My whirlwind trip to Seattle was wonderful. The MSG dropped me off early Sunday morning at the Oakland airport and I boarded an Alaska Airlines flight to the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. Jon and another friend picked me up at SeaTac and we headed to lunch in the lovely Seattle sunshine at Ray’s. I remembered to take photos while at the restaurant, but that was about when I forgot about it, too. We chatted and had a leisurely lunch there, and then went to Archie McPhee’s, which contains just the sort of random goodness I enjoy. I bought a few weird things there, among them a Pig Catapult for the MSG, because it was bizarre and I thought he’d enjoy shooting me with small plastic pigs.

Afterwards, we killed some time at an open-air market. I found the ugliest jacket ever created and promptly bought it for fifteen bucks. It is made out of overwhelmingly ugly grey/white fake fur, prompting the joke: “Do you know how many Muppets had to die so I could wear this jacket?” I love it. We spent some more time cruising around the city before dropping our friend off and heading back to Jon’s to change clothes for the wedding. I got to meet Jon’s wonderful tortoiseshell cats, Willow and Souris, and spent some time attempting to pet them. Willow was more into it than Souris; Souris reminds me a bit of Zen a few years ago, when she was still somewhat antisocial. After admiring the kitties, Jon and I drove to Bellevue over an hour before the ceremony was to start, and I was glad to get there so early because it gave us some time to get acclimated to the space, which I had only seen in pictures. Josh and September seemed a bit anxious, but since they were getting married and all, I understood. As guests started to arrive, we milled about and welcomed them and had a lovely time chatting with various folks, especially Uriel, Merlin, Cat and Andy, whom I don’t get to see nearly enough. I felt very Muppet-hooker-chic, wearing my new jacket. (Yes, I took it off for the ceremony.)

The ceremony began mostly on time, and I think it went very well. September started to cry while reciting her vows, and that nearly set me off too. It’s difficult for me to keep my cool when there is such overwhelming positive energy in a place; I just want to bounce and laugh and not be Serious Wedding Officiant Person. At any rate, I managed, and everyone seemed so happy, most of all the bride and groom, so that was just wonderful. I again forgot to take photos of any of this, but many were taken by other folks, so maybe they’ll share them with me.

We had yummy chocolate cake and chatted with some new people we met who also have LiveJournals. Jon and I were starving, so we soon left for the city and had dinner at Palace Kitchen. Holy moly, did we have dinner. We had a fantastic cabernet sauvignon from Chinook that I have to remember to look for in the Bay Area. Since Jon is a regular there, one of the waiters sent us an appetizer of duck pate and rye toast that was unbelievably good. I had turnip soup with truffle butter as well as some olive poppers. Conversation was light and fun as we ate our way through a good part of a great menu. As dinner was winding down, two of the wedding guests – La Motocyclette and her date – came up to our table and repeated the Muppet jacket line before we realized who they were. It was amusing. We chatted with them for a while, and then I stepped outside to call the MSG to say hello.

Back inside the restaurant, I had a glass of Bonny Doon framboise and Jon had a drink that wasn’t cognac but something close that I promptly forgot. Sleep came soon after, and I slept almost all the way through the night, except for a short moment in the early morning. I awoke with a very cold nose in my ear and couldn’t figure out how the MSG had made it to Seattle before I realized that it was Willow. Eek!

This morning, we got up and headed to Capitol Hill for coffee at Vivace. I had a spectacular latte, quite possibly the best one I’ve ever had. We wandered around Pike Place Market and ate chowder and I bought the MSG another gift: a cookbook by Tom Douglas, the owner of Palace Kitchen. I think he’ll enjoy it, if only as a springboard to other recipes he might want to make up someday. After the Market, we went to see the University of Washington campus. The main library is impressive beyond words. I loved just walking around and listening to college students' conversations. Two women walking behind us at one point were talking about movies, and I was trying so hard not to laugh as they compared “The Passion of the Christ” to Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood”. I mean, like, they were totally, like, dissing Kevin Costner in favor of “that hot guy who played Jesus”.

We spent some time back at Jon’s, checking email and having more coffee, and then he dropped me off at the airport. I’ve been reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom during this trip, but I can’t decide if I like it yet, and I’m almost halfway through. Certainly there are some interesting ideas in it, but I’m not sure that I care much about the protagonist or any of the other characters. It’s a fast read, at any rate, and then I’m going to start in on The Da Vinci Code.

My plane for Oakland is about to board, so I’ll close for now. It’s been a nice mini-vacation, but I’m eager to get home. The MSG is picking me up in Oakland and we’ll have a late dinner at his place. Plus, there are plastic pigs to be launched at my head.