The reason I haven’t updated in three days is because my mother-in-law is in town and we’ve been running around entertaining her. I know you all must have missed me TERRIBLY.

Anyway I will tell you all about my favorite parts of today, which were spent in The City of My Birth.

Though the sky was overcast from one end to the other, we nonetheless paid $16 each to ride an elevator 50 stories up to the observation deck of the Space Needle, which I seriously haven’t visited since… high school? It’s glorious on a clear day, but even when cloudy it’s pretty neat. I think the Hancock in Chicago is taller, but the view in Seattle is, IMO, much lovelier, what with the mountains and islands and lakes and hills and so on.

The other favorite thing today was visiting the main public library an hour before it closed tonight. The stillness; the stunning architecture; the fourth floor with its blood-red floors, walls, and ceilings; the glass elevator bank on the tenth floor, exposing the pulleys and cables in the chamber; the neon green escalators and elevators… I could go on. But it really is one of my favorite buildings on earth. Oh and it’s also full of books.

Lastly, we were killing time before the ferry left and went to Pioneer Square to check out an ice sculpture competition. I do love this city.