I read a lot of books, most of them having very little literary value. It is one of my escape techniques and I tend to read in a cycle. Any new Stephen King is immediately at the top of the list. He is my favorite author and I believe that he has immense talent. I also enjoy his Bachman books. The style is different and it completely amazes me.
I needed to search for a new author after I had finished all the published King novels, so I randomly picked up a former bestseller $6 book at B&N that sounded interesting. I had purposely avoided romance novels, because I have an addictive personality and I knew that I did not need to add that to my list of vices. Little did I know when I picked up the suspense novel that Nora Roberts was the queen of romance novels. I managed to pick up several romantic suspense novels at first, but then I hit a situational romance accidentally and I gave up the battle on not choosing romance novels. I like her writing style and it does not change between those two genres; although her Robb series has a much more brisk pace and tone, I enjoy that even more.
I got over liking Nora Roberts and even the jibe from the friend that laughed at me for not knowing that she was the romance queen and I unabashedly read her books now. It also gave me the freedom (from myself) to explore other romantic suspense authors. I really enjoy Iris Johansen, probably more than Roberts and Robb. I have also found David Baldacci and Greg Iles, who have much more suspense than romance involved, although there are the occassional relationship aspects added into the plotlines.
I decided to try Karen Robards' Beachcomber, because I found the paperback for 75% off at target, so I got the new book for just over a dollar. I was not overly impressed with the book. While it was not the worst thing that I have ever read, (that award goes to a mystery book that was horrendous and is reviewed on my BookCrossing page) she had problems deciding which genre the book should be placed in. It was like she kept forgetting the plot and getting tangled up in the romance. It actually got distracting. The editor needed to do a lot better job cleaning this book up.
The problem this has created for me is that I now am undecided about what type of book to read next. Normally I alternate between situational romances, paranormal romances (Heather Graham), and suspense, so that I do not get bored or freaked out, but I am having trouble deciding which one I read to know what I am in the mood for next.
So here is my advice (and rant) to authors everywhere: Pick a genre! You can pick a broad genre and have overtones from other genres, but don't make me question where the book fit after I finished reading. If I am reading fluff, I do not want to analyze it. I can read and analyze classic literature quite well and choose not to.
I may have to expand my circle again to include another genre. I welcome any suggestions from those that enjoy the above authors.
So Chris had Tech Ready to attend in Seattle and we decided to take a real vacation with the whole family. Since Microsoft covered the hotel room and his flight and he had amassed enough points to fly the other 4 of us for free, it was going to greatly reduce the overall cost of a typical Seattle vacation. So here is a low-down on how/where we spent our time in Seattle.
Sunday:
Arrived and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half waiting on our luggage to come out of baggage claim. There were a variety of rumors that were circulating about why our baggage was not coming out. The first was that the baggage loaders decided to take their break at the precise moment our bags should have been loaded onto the conveyor. So we expected a 20-minute wait while everyone mumbled about union rules. Next, we hear that actually our bags got unloaded and then mistakenly reloaded thinking that they were for the next flight. So that the bags were so mixed up now that they were not sure where our bags really were. Than a conveyor belt broke down for another flight, but that "supposedly" wasn't going to affect our bags. Anyway, the kids sat and waited pretty patiently considering that they really had not had lunch (they snacked on the plane) and after a while they just gave up, sat down and napped. We finally got them though and headed off to Elliot's to eat.
Baggage Claim Grade: F
Elliot's: We had worked the kids up for Elliot's from the last time that I accompanied Chris to Seattle a few years ago. We really liked the food and the desserts are to die for. They had an awesome kids menu and the kids ordered salmon. Unfortunately, this is not the salmon they eat in Florida that is pink, but it is King Salmon, which is white when cooked. They were quite incensed about it not being "real" salmon and more or less refused to eat it, so I swapped plates with them and they ate my halibut. Both plates were fine and the kids are normally not bad about refusing to eat. We ordered Chocolate truffles for dessert and they were still awesome. Max kept wanting to go back to Elliot's all week just for the dessert. Chris is disappointed that they no longer make the bread pudding that they had a few years ago. Pretty pricey, but a good meal and awesome desserts.
Elliot's Grade: A
We stayed at the Residence Inn Lake Union, so that we could be comfortable and have a kitchen as well. It helps a lot on an extended trip with kids. The kids took 6 weeks of swim lessons this summer to make them proficient swimmers, so we spent almost every evening in the pool. The room was nice with a good view of the lake. It was nice to see all the sailboats on the lake. The kids saw seaplanes for the first time. They loved it.
Residence Inn Lake Union Grade: A
Monday:
Chris left out early and we got up to go the Seattle Aquarium. Since we were still on East Coast time, we got up early, ate breakfast and decided to walk the two miles to the Aquarium. Seattle had beautiful weather, but living in Florida makes a West Coast 65-75 day feel chilly. We took light rain jackets and jeans, but if we went back in July I would take lined rain jackets. Like I said we live in Florida, so we are used to warm, humid weather. The kids did fine on the walk over and we arrived at the aquarium 10 minutes after it opened, so perfect timing.
Aquarium:
I went to the aquarium the previous Seattle trip, so I knew that I wanted to bring the kids. While the main attraction to the Seattle Aquarium is the octopus, that is not the coolest part by far. After walking in you see the floor-to-ceiling tank that twice a day has the diver inside with a presentation. It's neat to see, but been there, done that before, and the kids are only marginally impressed with the diver. They do spot a couple of cool fish that we discuss, but we continue on quickly. Then we pass a cool "shoreline" tank that imitates even the tide. It is pretty cool. Then we walk into this big common area where the octopus is housed within a tank that has a doorway made into it. Again, neat, but hard to see much more than the bottom of the octopus because of the curvature of the glass. We walk around and get to the really cool part. They have an entire area that is essentially a seawater "petting zoo". It is the most awesome thing. You can touch everything that you can reach in the tank. The first shock was how cold the water was, the kids quickly realized to touch and then pull out your hand to warm it up. They touched sea anenomes, sea cucumbers, starfish, and Gabi and I touched a prickleback snake. Not your everyday aquarium experience. We finally left the area only because our arms were losing feeling due to the cold. I told them that we could come back.
We saw the rest of the aquarium with the otters, puffins, in the basement viewing area after lunch. They really enjoyed the aquarium and I definitely recommend that you see the aquarium with your family or without. Where else can you touch all those animals?
Seattle Aquarium Grade: A
Steamers:
We got hungry kind of early, so we started to walk down to the Crab Pot, but it was not quite open. We kept walking down and ended up at Steamers. This was a reasonably priced place (we ate for less than $35), as 2 of my kids rarely order kids meals. We got some combo meals that paralleled a you-pick-two. Bri and Max ate clam chowder and it was awesome. Gabi had clam strips and I had calamari. Everything was really good. I can definitely recommend this as a casual dining place, that is about $10/plate for a good-sized average meal.
Steamers Grade: A
We walked back to the hotel via Pike's Place and the kids visited the first Starbucks, which seemed to impress them. Once we got to the hotel, we jumped in the pool. Chris joined us for dinner that night, but none of us had the energy to go back down to the water, so we walked across the street and decided to eat at Duke's Chowder House, because it seemed the most casual of the available choices.
Duke's Chowder House:
Casual did not mean cheap in this case, but it was good. We ordered some steamed mussels for an appetizer along with the dungeness crab dip. Both were good choices. I had the Halibut Macadamia with a hazelnut beurre blanc, yum. Gabi had the seafood pot pie, which she and Chris both enjoyed. Chris ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon, which was another good choice. Pricey, but very good and we sat out on the deck with a good view of the lake. I recommend this place, if you don't mind the price.
Duke's grade: A
Tuesday:
We walked to the Space Needle. The only problem was crossing the major highway (I-5, I think). We had to walk a few blocks out of our way to cross safely at Denny. Max kept wanting to run across and jump the divider and only received encouragement from the biker that rode by and said, you can do it. Walking back, we tried a southern route and ended up having to take an underpass that made us walk single file on a sidewalk along the busy highway. Definitely cross at Denny, no questions, even if it is out of the way.
Space Needle:
So no first-time visit to Seattle is complete without a trip to the Space Needle. It is pricey and it is a one-time up trip with no re-entry once you choose to go down. Awesome view and it was not too busy, because we hit it by like 10 am in the morning. It started getting busy as we were leaving about 11:30, so the trick is to go early. A side note, Chris and I ate at the revolving restaurant on the Space Needle when we were there the last time. It is not good. Do not go for the food. If you want the experience, fine. Be prepared to pay through the nose for the food as well. It is really expensive.
Space Needle Views: A
Space Needle Restaurant: C (A for view, D for food quality, D for price)
Children's Museum:
Since I was trying to watch the amount that we spent on daily activities, we hit the children's museum in the afternoon after a picnic lunch. The kids love picnics and the park outside the Space Needle is really beautiful. Unfortunately, it was lightly sprinkling, but not enough that the kids wanted to cancel the picnic, so I obliged. The Children's Museum is cheap fun for the kids. It cost us $30 to get us all in and you can stay all day and go in/out. We hit the art area first and spent a long time there. My kids love art. Max painted several pictures, which I just realized we left there. Gabi made an awesome Northwest Pacific style totem pole out of clay, which I plan to display, once she mends it. (The protuberances fell off on the trip to the hotel.) Bri made a paper lantern. We spent well over an hour in that area alone. I spent a lot of it reading a book when I was not watching them.
The museum had a construction area, forest area, Japanese and African areas, library, grocery store area, and building block area. I am sure that I am leaving something out, but the kids had a great time. They culminated with a scavenger hunt that took the kids through the whole museum again. I was afraid that Gabi would be too "old" for it, but she seemed to enjoy it as much as the other two. If you have young kids (up to 8-9), I would say definitely go if you need a relaxed indoor activity or if your kids enjoy children's museums, it is cheap fun. It is not the best one we have been to, but still nice and gave us something affordable to round out the afternoon.
Children's Museum Grade: B
We hit the pool again and decided that we wanted to eat close again with Chris gone and the walking that we done (only about 1 mile each way, but still). So we walked over and having been advised that Daniels would set us back some serious cash, we choose Chandler's Crabhouse. It turned out probably just as expensive.
Chandler's Crabhouse:
They did not have a kids menu, but Max is the only consistent one to order kids meals anyway. Gabi wanted a half Dungeness crab. I told her no, because I don't like it and she had never tried it. I told them that they could order appetizers as meals, including the Dungeness crab if she wanted. We ordered the crab and artichoke dip to start and it was really good. They also had a French CDR (Cote du Rhone), which is one of my favorite regions of wine, by the glass. The only other place I have ever seen this is at a wine bar. I was very pleased. I ordered the Bairdi crab (which happened to be the cheapest) and the waitress tried to discourage me because it tastes more like snow crab. I go perfect, I don't like Dungeness, but I love snow crab. She promptly quit discouraging me. Gabi ordered the Dungeness Crab Leg Trio; Max ordered the Tempura Prawns and Asparagus; Bri ordered Steamed Clams and Mussels. Everything was good. Gabi learned that I was right and she did not really like Dungeness Crab, but she ate it. The waitress then brought out complimentary ice cream for the kids, so she scored points there. A very good dinner, but really expensive.
Chandler's Crabhouse: A (A for service, B for price, A for quality, A for CDR by the glass)
Wednesday:
We scheduled to go whale-watching by San Juan Islands on the Victoria Clipper. Chris dropped us off, since we had to be there at 6:30. I expected to pay a lot more. It cost us $150 for 1 adult and 3 kids (1 kid was free as a promo during July), so Chris and I thought that was not too bad of a value. The ride out there was uneventful. It took 4 hours to get to Friday Harbour. I rented binoculars for all 3 kids and the tour guide pointed out wildlife along the way, although there was not that much, especially for the first few hours. We had eaten breakfast, but a snack bar in an enclosed area always beckons to my kids. We got a midmorning snack basket and the value was pretty good for the amount of food you got considering. They got one hot cocoa and then we drank hot tea, which was all-you-can-drink after you bought the cup. We ate lunch on the boat when I realized that we would not be getting off at Friday Harbour before the whale-watching. The girls ordered the clam chowder, which they said was the nastiest they have ever eaten, and they love clam chowder. Max and I had hot dogs which were not good either. Bad lunch choices.
So we head off for the whale-watching. Come to find out on Tuesday (when I had originally planned to go and Chris said Wed would be better), no whales were spotted. They head off and we see some otters. Then they spot some orca whales, so they stop the boat. At this point we are at the mercy of the ocean and the waves are serious. Max gets extremely seasick. I take him up to the top, thinking that the fresh air will do him good, but it is no help. After a little bit, Gabi gets seasick. She and Max sit. Max is crying he is so bad and he goes to sleep. A lady takes pity on me and gives me a Dramamine for him and I give Gabi the other half. Max saw maybe two orcas surfacing. Gabi might have seen 10 surfaces. There were 3 pods that we saw and Bri spotted every one. She probably spotted the whales surfacing 85 times. I got a little seasick after a while, so I even sat. After 1.5 hours, we headed back to Friday Harbour for a couple of hours on the island.
We decided to get some food on the island since the fare was so bad on the boat. We ate at the Hungry Clam. Typical island fried food. Not great, really greasy, but better than the boat and it filled us up. We walked down to the drug store and bought Dramimine for the ride home. I gave Max and Gabi some and took one myself just to be safe. Then we searched for souvenirs. The kids were souvenir happy and had the money to back it. We walked into the kitschy island souvenir shops and don't find anything special, so I tell them to hold off. Then we walk into Arctic Raven Art Gallery with all Northwest Pacific artists. The kids all pick up necklaces that are awesome. Gabi and Max get wolves and Bri got an eagle. I picked up two eagles for me. Awesome gallery, but if you are family, do not order from here, because it is hard to match my Southwest theme, so I have to be very selective in what I choose to coordinate.
We get back on the boat ready for a 3.5-hour trip back. They follow a different course back. The highlight of the way back was the eagle's nest that was built on this little spit of ground. It was huge and there were a ton of bald eagles. There were also a bunch of otters on another little area of land. The kids were beat by this point, so they did very little watching and made friends with some other kids. Bri fell asleep and I alternated between visiting with the people across the table and reading.
We got back about 7:30 hungry and tired. We eat at Ivar's. Chris and I had eaten there before, but I forgot that it was not that good. The kids did not like their meals. Mine was fair. Actually I did not find anything that looked good on the menu, but I was too bushed to change restaurants by that time. I can't recommend this place. I tried to call Chris and get him to pick us up as we walked toward Pike's Place. I did not get him, so I started looking for a taxi and finally found one. He took us back to the hotel and we fell into bed.
Whale-watching Grade: B, It honestly gets a little redundant after a while, because you see so little of most of the whales. One came a little closer and we managed to get a good view. Then we had awful motion sickness issues. I am not sure that we would repeat this at least not for a while.
Ivar's: D, (B for service, C for quality, D for price, D for menu)
Thursday:
We slept in some after our exhausting trip, so we missed breakfast at the hotel. We headed to Starbucks and walked to the Pacific Science Center by the Space Needle. We all enjoy science centers immensely. It is the nerd in Chris and me and we have passed it on to the kids.
This science center has a 3-D IMAX and we got to see one of the oceans movies with admission. It was a good movie. They had a music area that was neat. Then the "normal" science center exhibits. There was a special racing exhibit, but it was fair. We did have fun in the human maze. I let the kids take their own way and we kept running into each other. It had us all laughing. Overall, I feel that this is the worst science center that we have been to but the comparisons are Chicago, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City, which has an amazingly good science center.
Pacific Science Center Grade: C, but maybe my standards are really high
We walked back toward the hotel and since it started raining decided to duck into a place called Zeek's Pizza. It had a very local feel and a lot of specialty pizzas. Since I have never grown up to eat more than pepperoni pizza, this place was probaly wasted on me and you might take my review with a boulder of salt. It tasted like Mr. Gatti's pizza (Chuck E. Cheese, etc.) a thin crust when I prefer a super thick, and sparse on the cheese and toppings. They also had cheap ($3.50/glass) wine, but it was bad. Don't go for wine that cheap, lesson learned. I didn't see anything special in the taste, but note the previous caveat.
Zeek's Pizza Grade: C, very average to me
Friday:
We hit Starbucks and decided to ride the trolley that Chris kept telling us would take us to the water. The ticket machine was not intuitive, but it did take credit card. Chris was wrong and the trolley did not take us to the water, but only downtown. The kids and I agreed that it was hardly worth the few blocks walking that it saved us to get on the trolley. When I pulled out the map to find the supposed connecting trolley to the water, a local told me that my husband was misinformed. I pretty much needed to walk the rest of the way to the water. We were headed to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), so we headed that way on foot.
SAM:
When you walk into the admission area, there were cars (Ford Tauruses, I believe) suspended from the ceiling with Christmas lights streaming out. The kids were impressed. A special exhibition was there that had Impression Artists, so the kids actually got to see Renoirs, Monets, Manets, Goyas, and lots of other artists that they knew and some famous paintings that they should know or learn. I was excited that they had the opportunity to see these.
Max was most impressed by the sculpture of the 6-foot mouse sitting on the sleeping man in bed. We all agreed that the African masks freaked us out. They were creepy. The kids were awed by the Northwest Pacific totem poles. I don't think that they had ever seen full-size totem poles before. I think that SAM is worth visiting just for the Pacific Northwest Native American section and kids under 13 are free, so it was $20 to get in, including the Impressionist exhibit.
SAM Grade: A
Chris called us as we walked out and we met him and headed back to the hotel to get the car. We decide to catch an early dinner and are looking for somewhere to kill some hours. We drive and find a place called Stanford's. Looks like a Houston's type restaurant, so we have high hopes. Chris and I have had enough seafood and all we want is a decent meal before we get on the red eye to Atlanta. Unfortunately, Stanford's was extremely disappointing. The food was not really good. It was too pricey. Just a bad experience all the way around. To top it all off, we see The Cheesecake Factory down the road as we head to the airport. We missed out on a safe, good meal by probably 1/10 of a mile. D'oh!
Stanford's Grade: D (D for price, F for quality, C for service, F for value)
Overall, we had a great time in Seattle and it is a very family friendly city. I definitely recommend visiting Seattle if you get the chance. It is beautiful country and has an awesome feel.