The Emerald City, Evergreen State

I am not talking about the Emerald City of the Wizard of OZ; rather I am referring to the nickname given to the City of Seattle and to the State of Washington respectively.

So what comes into your mind when you hear Seattle? Most common would be the Space Needle, then Starbucks, among many things.

The main purpose of my trip to abroad last spring (summer for those who are in the Philippines) is to attend the 2008 Microsoft MVP Summit in Seattle and Redmond, Washington. Therefore, after spending two fun weeks in Vancouver, British Columbia I along, my uncle, three of my cousins and Jasper left early morning Sunday, drove south via Highway 99 (Interstate 5 after the border), and crossed the border to Seattle.

After approximately four hours of driving, finally, we arrived at the City of Seattle; our first stop would be Seattle Center, the Space Needle, which I will be discussing in my next post.

After that, we ate breakfast at a nearby Mc Donald's and checked in our hotel at the Westin Seattle and hit the road again once more to Tulalip, WA and visited the Seattle Premium Outlets.

All items there from everyday brands to high-end brands are on clearance; however, I did not purchase anything from here except for that very cheap mobile phone, because I am thinking of the free baggage allowance of United Airlines.

After that, we head back to Seattle, we were dropped off our hotel, and I said my thanks and goodbyes to my relatives. They headed back to Vancouver that same afternoon.

We went back to our room and rested for a while, contacted some friends and went out to pick our badges for the summit at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Then we joined our friends and headed back again to the Seattle Center where the Key Arena is located. Here we watched a basketball game between Seattle Supersonics and Dallas Mavericks; this was a treat for us by one of our friends, Mark Punzalan.

Unfortunately, I left my jacket in the hotel and I was left to "enjoy" the cold temperatures of this city.

After the game, we went up again the Space Needle, this time with our friends. Then after that, we looked for something to eat but unfortunately, Mc Donald's is the only open food outlet that night.

There it was, my first day in the City of Seattle and in the United States.