We've all been mislead.
Seattle is sunny and warm.
At least that was our experience. We LOOOOVED Seattle. LOOOOVVVEEEDDDD Seattle. Really can't emphasize how worthy of extra vowels it is.

First of all, the company -as has been the case at every stop along our journey- was the bee's knees in running shoes. Jesse WILLIAMS, another friend from the running world, put the three of us and our runner-buddies Danny and Katie MacKey, up in his Greenlake Park pad. (Katie is also a stellar professional runner for Brooks specializing in the mile and 5K. Her lovely blog is also worth a gander for anyone interested.)
The fellas and Katie were eager to kick our Seattle experience off with a bang, and, thus, the obvious choice was Karaoke. After a wee bit of liquid encouragement, we were all set to cross number 6 off of the official Runnin' the Streets Bucket List "Go Karaoking."

What a gem that is. Our most sincere apologies to Outkast.

The next day we set out to hit the famous sites of Seattle. We started with organic, free-range eggs at a local breakfast place. As stereotypical as that might sound, it was exactly as delicious as we didn't want it to be. 
We followed amazing breakfast with fish throwing at Pike Place Market! MTV's Real World Seattle opening credits really didn't do the place credit. Famous chocolate covered cherries beside famous seafood beside famous fresh flower bouquets beside famous cheese vendors. And BONUS! they're none too stingy with the free samples. The most astounding part... this giant free for all goes up every single day by 10am and comes down again at 6. The sidewalk returns to normal, the vendors -some of whom have such elaborate set ups that it seems unfathomable that it all emerged from the big black trunks they're sitting on- pack up, and the largest market I've ever been to virtually disappears. 

See below for fish-tossing excellence.

Did I mention that the birthplace of the global epidemic (with which the three of us are blissfully infected) that is Starbucks is right across the street? It's small and far more rustic than any Starbucks you'd find in Manhattan or even up the block, but the coffee is worthy of having birthed an international obsession and we were particularly charmed by our barista who was coincidently from the glorious city of Chattanooga, TN (mine and Phoebe's hometown). 

Subplot:
The Starbucks meeting was actually the 4th oddly coincidental run-in we've had with Tennesseeans. In Montana, the bed we took over in the employee dorms had only recently been vacated by a Chattanoogan. At the border of Glacier National Park, the ranger that took Phoebe's license was thrilled that she was from her fiancee's hometown, Signal Mountain. In Canada, the three of us were taking bets in the back of a shuttle as to what VERY southern state a rather harried woman with a terribly country accent was from. Unfortunately, it was not only Tennessee, but also Chattanooga. 
Moral of the story: This is the smallest world in the world.

Back to Seattle.
We ended our Seattle experience by getting stuck in an hour and a half traffic jam that once again drove home the America-needs-to-get-on-the-public-transport-bandwagon message. It's a testament to how amazing Seattle was that even after Phoebe threw up out the car door from her stop-and-go motion sickness, we were still sorry to leave. 

Our journey continues through the thus far very sunny, Pacific Northwest. Next time: Portland: where the nineties did, in fact, come to die.