Then we had dinner.
Just kidding.
On Friday we went downtown. You might think that was an insane mistake of a thing to do but it wasn't.
We weren't shopping, we were just people-watching.
We took the bus down to Westlake Center, took another down to Pioneer Square and did some hunting for Nutcrackers.
We caught another bus (most of downtown is a "ride free" area) back to near Westlake and walked to the mall's namesake park across the street where the [Giant Corporate Sponsor] Holiday Carousel is set up and we watched young and old go 'round and 'round for two minutes per ride and cataloged a couple more Nutcrackers.
Like a couple of crazy kids giddy with holiday madness, we splurged on fancy coffee beverages. I contributed to the American economy in my own way: I peed in the six-floor Macy's men's room. (no pictures)
We decided to stay for the annual Westlake tree lighting/Bon Marché (now hideously Macy's) star lighting.
After being harassed by the heat for standing in the wrong spot, behind the barricades set up on the corner of 5th and Pine, I blocked out a spot next to the on-hand garbage truck and we waited for it to get dark. And waited. And waited. Through singing and music and the inanities of the "hosts" and "emcees" and then...shit!
Two Yuppie breeders squeezed in front of me, the Mumzie with a little blond on her back, the tall Dadzie with leather coat-clad Skippy Junior on his shoulders. Neither of the kids cared a fig about the ceremony as both kept covering their ears and shrieking at each song but, by God, they were privileged to be standing in a good spot in front of someonee who'd been waiting there for over an hour, and they were going to stay!
I finally got a few good shots to the back of Dadzie's head, er, no, by shifting to the right, although most of them contain Skippy Junior's skull in them.
The tree lit and the star came on to fireworks. The crowd dispersed peacefully even with the cops ordering us over loudspeakers to "use the sidewalks".
Saturday took us down to Seattle Center where Winterfest was going on. We scarfed some more fancy coffee beverages and watched the people skate on the annual Winterfest Ice Rink.
It was a good weekend.
