West Coast Part IV -- Birthday Time

Sorry, it's taking me awhile to get through these pictures from the West Coast, but we're almost there.  We got back into Seattle on my birthday (remember this is back in October...), and from now on, most of the pictures will involve eating.

The first place we went to after getting back was this kinda fancy looking Thai place by the airport.  I initially thought it would be kinda dumb and overpriced, but it turns out that this restaurant had the best tom yum soup we've ever tasted.  Mango Thai - remember if you're in Seattle.

There it is.  We got it with shrimp.  I think one reason I liked it was that they somehow kept the soup really "clean", as in no little random chunks of weirdness floating around.

We returned the car in the morning and then went to the waterfront to grab some grub.  Ivar's is a great place to grab a quick fish 'n chips.

Here's Ritika about to chow on some chowder.

You can feed the seagulls outside your leftovers.  This one became good friends with Ritz.

Another awkward shot with a seagull.

That stone french fry looked so much better than the starbucks at the time.

"We have ice cream"...and a freakishly huge mammal.

We've been watching Grey's Anatomy on TV, and it seems like most of the characters like riding the ferry boats in Seattle, so we got ourselves a ride.

There's the space needle.

Space needle and the couple.

Space needle sans couple.

Couple sans space needle.

We went to Bainbridge Island, which was really different than downtown.  Did some wine tasting.

I'm acting like I understood all the things the waitress told me about this one particular glass of wine.

Then we found ANOTHER Thai place, so of course we had to try the tom yum soup.  Not as great as Mango Thai, but it had a unique flavor.  I'm talking to Fik about the Chicago Marathon, which I was supposed to be training for at the time...

Back to downtown...

...where Ritika treated me to a four-star hotel for my birthday!  Kimpton hotels are bomb.  YOU GET YOUR OWN GOLDFISH!!!

So many balloons :)

And wine hour.  Man, I love pretending to be rich.

The grand finale: Ritika also got me dinner at the space needle.  Rotating restaurant?  Yes please.

See how happy I am?  The shirt is from Ritika's parents when they came into town.  Fits great.  Thanks uncle, auntie.

I got to eat this...

...while looking at this (See the shooting star?).

Ritz, you're awesome!

After dinner, sleep ensued, then a gigantic breakfast courtesy of AAA in the morning.  Love that card.  Every guy with a car as old as mine should get an AAA membership.  It's saved my butt so many times.  And this time, it got me a ginormous breakfast burrito.

One more post, and we'll be done!  Going to Rochester tomorrow for Thanksgiving!