And we ran late...again

Woke up exhausted and had a million things to do...we repacked the car then while Rose got ready, I ironed her graduation gown. I put it back in the closet so the dogs could not lay on it. Then, she packed while I got ready. We walked the dogs and headed to Frank's where they were going to spend the night. Finally, we headed to the Tocoma Dome. We were only about 45 minutes behind schedule. Of course, by the time we got to the exit for the dome, traffic was backed up; we felt like we were sitting in a parking lot. After finally, getting off the Interstate, Rose decided to change shoes so that when we finally got to park she could hurry to the staging area. Not a problem, the shoes were in the back seat with her gown.  Uh, gown, what gown? There was no gown in the car! We had left it hanging in the closet at the hotel!

Rose texted a friend who was already in place. Jessi was kind enough to find where they were selling extra "stuff" any of the soon to be graduates might need. But, we were still stuck in traffic several blocks from the dome. When we kept moving by inches and the dome was in sight although still several blocks away, Rose changed out of the 5 inch wedges back into her flip flops. I moved into the driver's seat while she charged up the long hill in the rain toward the dome. I could only pray that all those people in front of me were going to the same place I wanted to go cause I had no clue exactly where that was.

We were suppose to park in lots B, C, or D but they were full as were the next two lots. I finally got routed around to G and had about given up getting in to see graduation. To make a long story short, all worked out. I got in just in time to see the graduates walk to their seats and the commencement ceremony begin. The dome was full. As you can guess, with 1549 graduates there were lots of family and friends who wanted to be there to celebrate.

After graduation, eight of us went to Engine House 9 for a celebratory lunch. The food was good. It was standard pub fare. The best part was the family and friends who came together to celebrate Rose's accomplishment. 

After lunch, four of us headed to Seattle. Our goal was to visit the Space Needle and Chihully's Garden and Glass exhibit. 

The Space Needle, which is located in the Seattle Center, was an interesting experience. It was chilly and breezy on the ground but downright cold and windy up top. The elevator ride took about 10 seconds to take us from ground level to approximately 525 feet. This was my first visit. It was really worth seeing. There was a 360 view of Seattle that included Puget Sound, the sky line of the city and Lake Union. Jillian had lived and worked in the city for several years so was a wonderful aerial tour guide. Megan's parents had shared their memories of the area during the 1960's World's Fair. Her retelling of those stories added even more interest to the visit. After deciding to go back in, we headed for Starbucks and a warm drink before going back down to ground level. Interesting how all these places have the exit through the gift shop.

I can't take these girls anywhere! 

Our next stop was Chuhuly's exhibit. There just are not words to describe this wonderful exhibition. The inside exhibits seem to become more stunning as we moved from room to room.  To really share what we saw, let me ask you to go to their website at chhihulygardenandglass.com. The gardens were so interesting we decided to go to dinner and come back after dark. It was so impressive!

Dinner was at the Skillet Counter where drinks were seved in canning jars and the dinnerware was compostable. This restaurant is a off shoot of the Skillet food truck. It began in an American vintage trailer and grew into a store front entity. Now it has this counter at the Seattle Center. Wonderful food!

We went back to the glass garden before leaving the center. The garden itself was created around Chuhuly's glass. It blends so well. It just looks natural. One fun thing we found was a bird nesting in a glass tree. I wonder if it found the nesting place to be warm with all the lights shining on it and the sun, when there is sun, adding to the warmth. The lights enhanced the glass sculptures. It was fantastic!