It's 7:00 am on Saturday morning here in Olympia, WA as I write this... my body has stayed on eastern time which means early to bed and very, very, ridiculously early to rise. We're staying in the home of a surgeon who is a member of the church I am leading worship and playing a concert at tonight. It may very well be one of the nicest homes I have ever been inside... our view out the basement window looks out over the Puget sound with the mountains in the distance. It's pretty fantastic!
Our trip so far has been really great! I had some drama early on... the day I woke up to leave (Thursday) I knew something in my throat wasn't right and by the time we had arrived in Seattle, my voice was almost completely gone. Seeing as how the whole reason I came out here was to play a couple of shows, as you can imagine I was completely freaking out! I spent all day Thursday after we got here doing every throat trick I know... hot tea and honey, zinc drops, original lay's potato chips, steam, you name it... it got a little better but singing wasn't an option. When I got up Friday morning I knew I had to do something drastic or singing just wasn't going to happen. So, I had a doctor friend of mine call me in some steroids... if you have lost your voice and need it back within 12 hours, this pretty much the only way. I took the entire day's dose (supposed to be spread out over 12 hours) all at once and wouldn't you know it... by show time, I was about 80%. I also now have massive biceps and some serious roid rage!
As far as sightseeing goes, we've pretty much done the standard Seattle tourist stuff so far. We spent some time in the Pike Place Market... I love to watch those guys throw fish. I could probably stand and watch that all day... I saw them drop one for the first time which according to them is pretty rare but I'm not sure I buy that. It was like a 50 pound salmon they were throwing... I would have dropped it too! Jessica really loves the fresh produce and especially the fresh flowers that are all over the market (at crazy prices). It's always a little sad though because we can't really buy any because we have nowhere to put them.
Jessica led me to a tourist spot that was very near and dear to her heart... the original Starbucks. Those of you who know Jessica well don't need me to tell you the importance of this... let's just say I think I saw her eyes tear up a bit as she gazed upon this most sacred and holy ground. I strangely felt my wallet getting lighter.
We had big plans Thursday night... space needle... dessert at Cheesecake factory... alas, we laid down for a short break in the hotel room (at 6:30) and the next thing we knew it was the next day! When you get a night in a very comfy hotel bed with no kids you realize you were a lot more tired than you thought.
After 14 hours of sleep we were good to go on Friday! After I ran down my steroids, we went back down to the market for an amazing breakfast overlooking the water and then we took a really fun tour of Seattle called "ride the ducks". It's a tour bus that turns into a boat. We drove all around Seattle for about an hour and then drove straight into Lake Union for some amazing views of downtown from the water. Highlight for me: up close views of the Mariner's and Seahawk's new stadiums... very impressive and incredible views. Highlight for Jessica: the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat.
We had to leave Seattle around 2:00 to head down to Olympia for the house concert I was playing Friday night. A 1 hour drive turned into about a 2 and a half hour drive... partly because I went 15 miles in the wrong direction on the interstate but mostly because Seattle traffic on a Friday afternoon is INSANE. Maybe worse than Atlanta. Not saying it is but man, it was close... but the fact that I was driving a really sweet Toyota Yaris rental car made up for it. Okay, not really. I will say that Jessica was not impressed with my joke about our car... "Do you know who would really like this car?" "No, who?" "Pirates. YARRRRRRRRRRRis!" Yeah, it wasn't funny the first time either.
Eventually we made it to Olympia and managed to have a really fun house concert. I decided to do something I had never tried before... I setup my laptop and did a webcast of the concert with a live chat room. I think between 20 and 30 different people stopped in to watch, listen, and chat. We had an intimate gathering of 12 or 13 there in the living room and I played for a little over an hour. I love house concerts... they really are a lot of fun and it's nice to be able to interact with the audience a little differently than you would in a church or club show.
We have kind of a down day here in Olympia. We don't have to be anywhere until lunchtime and then we're going to lunch with some folks from the church who brought me out here. After that I'm not sure what we'll do but sound check is at 4:30... should be a low key day. Tomorrow morning we're going to Mars Hill Church where we're hoping to hear Mark Driscoll preach.
Our internet has been spotty... I'm not paying $15 a day for it at the hotel so this might be the only post of the trip... thanks for checking in! We'll be home late Tuesday night, ready to spend some time with our little man!
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