Paddling the Aboretum

Once the sad part of the day had passed we focused on having fun.  Taking fun advantage of the day we headed south to Lake Washington and the paddle playground of the University of Washington.  Its a fantastic place to go at this time of the year with spectacular views everywhere you look - to one side is the iconic "Husky Stadium" where the University of Washington Huskies play football, to the other is Mt Rainier.  You can also see the floating bridge with freeway traffic going east west....course, Gaz and I couldnt quite get to the freeway view, sadly our paddling prowess is one that will only be shared with you dear reader.  My apologies if it happened to be your sail boat we collided with as we were steaming towards the lillies ... we couldnt stop ourselves and you could not be avoided....the ducks had the good sense to give us a wide berth after watch us circle incessently, even going to the lengths of bringing their babes in close - I guess they witnessed the yacht collision?  Anyhoo, once I left the paddling to Gary everything went well, neither of us ended up in the water AND incredibly we did end up back ashore - though I have to say my exit from the boat was less than graceful. 

Following the paddling we were thirsty for a frosty beverage - we thought we would go to Agua Verde - http://www.aguaverde.com/ (if you havent been there you've got to add this to your calender for a must-go-to place.  They almost always have a wait time, yesterday it was over an hour so we decided on http://www.neighborhoodgrills.com/eastlake/ .  We didnt think we would have a show of getting a table on the deck but as luck would have it they had 8 or more tables open.  I sat down on the shady side and let the others be in the sun, I burn like crazy so we glad that there was one seat with shade.  I'd just let out an ahhhhh (the sun, the view the little breeze, the two sips of my lemon drop) when I felt something hit my arm, oh yes .... bird crap.  But not just any bird crap - explosive bird diahorrea.  The waitress did apologize (yeah, train your birds better lady!)...and we went on to have a nummy dinner from the happy hour menu.  Eastlake Bar and Grill has a great view - but their happy hour is just incredible, coconut prawns, $5, chicken jalapeno mac and cheese $5.

Next stop on the tour was Big Picture in Redmond http://www.thebigpicture.net/ to see Knight and Day a very fun movie with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise.  I think Tom is crazier than a boiled owl but you got to give it to the man, he can entertain - and he didnt disappoint in this movie.  Film aside, Big Picture is well worth going to and I think that this will definatly be someplace we will visit again multiple times,  Its only $11 per person (which is the same as the normal movie theaters).  There wasnt one kid there, all adults drinking wine and cocktails from the bar there (Fantabulous bartender by the way - she was cheeky, I love that!)...the perfect way to watch a movie.  I dont know who did the decor there but its wonderful.  See you soon big picture!

Still hunting for the illusive purple picture to submit to the www.iheartfaces.com weekly photo challenge...any thoughts?