We said goodbye to our friends Ian and Anna for our early 4:45am direct flight to Seattle. We wasted no time upon arrival and went straight to a brunch spot to surprise our friend Demetra for her birthday. It was nice to spend some time also catching up with Lucas and Shelby, friends of Nick’s from university. Thankfully we were no longer jet lagged and could stay awake until a decent time.

In the late afternoon we walked along a nearby beach for sunset. The rocky beach had many young families and ducks. We love Washington, there are so many beautiful areas to enjoy. That was probably some of the coldest weather Nick and I had experienced in years due to our working remote in the warm parts of the USA and then being in a constant summer during the rest of our world trip. After our sunset stroll we had a sushi dinner at THEKOI for the birthday girl which we all enjoyed.

Our last full day in Seattle we spent nearly 4 hours roller skating, which was humbling and fun. Nick got into it pretty quick even though he hasn’t done it much before. It was fun watching him start to get groovy to the music. I got the hang of it after some practice rounds, but I’d be lying if I said I had any control whatsoever. The foodie tour of Washington continued after that with Korean fried chicken from Chicko Chicken Federal Way and then Korean sweet ice from Snowy Village. Both of which were insanely delicious. Nicks’ sister Emily came and spent the evening with us in Seattle.

In the morning Nick, Emily, and I walked the new waterfront area in downtown Seattle. After purchasing a few coffees (or a hot chocolate in my case) and a few pastries we started the drive to Bellingham. We were happy to get to spend some quality time with Emily and Gabe and see their new place. The last time we visited them they lived in Bend, Oregon. We cooked up some pierogi from a market they went to and met their dog Ladle.

The rest of our visit was during the week so both Emily and Gabe had to work. Nick and I spent our time catching up on blogs, taking the Ladle for hikes, and walking around downtown. Emily gave us a tour of her campus and lab, which was interesting to see. I also spent a few of the days going to her campus gym with her and working with her from the local coffee shop. They appreciated having stay at home chefs to come home to each day after work. On our trip cooking was a rarity so we loved preparing some home cooked meals finally. Our last night we had an amazing dinner at Storia Cucina. They had great pizzas and pastas. Of course we also got ice cream from Mallard Ice Cream with unique flavors.

Finally, the next morning at 5am it was time to start our journey from Bellingham to Chicago. After a drive and a train we boarded what was supposed to be the last flight of our world tour. So exciting! After nearly starting our descent into Chicago after 3.5 hours of flying we were notified that due to weather there was no room for our plane to land (as no other planes had been able to take off and make room). We began ascending again and flew all the way to Bozeman. In Bozeman we were stopped for hours as staff had to be changed out and our plane needed to be refueled. What a disaster. Our flight then left again from Bozeman all the way back to Seattle. After waiting in line for hours we finally got rebooked for the next morning. Just when we thought the chaos was over they stopped people from leaving the airport. We had to wait behind a roped off area for 15 minutes with no explanation. By the time we made it to our hotel for the night it was past midnight. Funnily enough that had never happened to us the rest of our trip, just right at the last flight.