Saturday we went to Pike Place market and wandered through a lot of it; the coolest place was a mineral and fossil shop owned by an awesome, happy guy named Jim. I didn't take pictures of the great ammonite fossils my dad bought unfortunately (I'll get some over Christmas), but I got a pyritized ammonite pendant from him that a friend of his who is a jeweler in France wrapped very minimally and cleanly in silver. It's really incredible and I've been getting a lot of comments on it having only worn it a couple of times so far; it's the only piece of ammonite jewelry I own because normally the mounting is done so cheese-ily or poorly, or using boring/cruddy specimens. I got really lucky with this one, and now I have an awesome new fossil connection in Jim.
We ate lunch at Matt's at the Market, where I had Oregon rock shrimp tostadas. My brother was intensely fond of the hot bacon caramelized onion dip with hand-cut potato chips. We'll have to take him back when he visits in December.
After lunch we headed to the Ballard Locks, which is always a cool walk along and across the canal. The variety of leaves on the ground is fantastic this time of year. My dad demonstrates a head-sized one above. We booked a tour at the Theo chocolate factory as well - everyone on the tour had to wear a hair net. My brother is trying to block me taking his picture in that last shot above.
Not pictured is our trip to The Noble Fir in Ballard and dinner after, with a stop off at Card Kingdom (huge board game and card game store) were we bought a few games. We spent the rest of the night playing those games, by far the best of which was Wits and Wagers. That's one I'll be hauling home for the holidays to play again for sure.
I don't have any pictures from Sunday because the flights out of here were in the morning, so this concludes my Family Visit blog posting. It was really great to see my family and get a chance to show them around my new house and new city.
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