Egan Visit 2011

This year is the year of visitors. So far we have had Mr. & Mrs. Meier, Mike Meier, Billy, Amy & Aaron (twice) + baby Alexis, Chrissy's college girlfriends, Courtney and most recently my Parents and Brother. It is so wonderful to have friends and family visit. We always have a ton of fun hosting guests to this beautiful city of ours. While out on their seemingly short time here the Egan family accomplished many things. Because I had to work, Chrissy was kind enough to entertain my parents. It seemed that each day I came home, something new was done to our house or the yard. These included, but are not limited to, planting new flowers, extending the garden area, setting up the compost area/fence, cleaning up the yard, pulling weeds and erecting a trellis for the sunflowers. I'll grab some pictures of changes sometime this week and post them up here. The "Men" also ran Coax TV cable from the back yard, into the crawlspace and up into the living room; thus eliminating a giant cord running through the hallway. This took care of the cable, now I just have to take care of the internet.

Friday we went to check out the Horse Races. My employer has free box tickets for the employees to take advantage of. Emerald Downs Horse Racing is located in Kent and has an absolutely beautiful view of Mt. Rainier.

The first race out we all ended up winning money. My dad won about $60 just by a nose.

It was a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed themselves tremendously.

The next day started off slightly rainy and overcast so we decided it would be an appropriate mood to go see Jimi Hendrix's grave. Though a somber place, his memorial is beautiful.

On Sunday we went for breakfast at Alexa's Garden Cafe which is located in a giant greenhouse in the middle of a giant consumer garden. It features all natural, delicious food with a setting that places you in what feels like the rainforest. I could see my Mom's eyes light up the second we walked into the place.

Later that night we grabbed some food for grilling and had an equally delicious dinner. Being the head chef, I grilled the meat to perfection while my assistants whipped up the potato, corn and vegetable/salad sides. Really I could grill out everyday and not get sick of it. Afterwards we played some Hand in Foot card games as well as some Trivial Pursuit.

Monday was the day that my parents had to unfortunately leave. It always sucks when the time comes for those we love have to leave. We were grateful though that they were able to make it out. We look forward to when they come out again! Jesse ended up staying the rest of the week to experience some more of what Seattle has to offer. Monday night was the record release party for a local Hip Hop artists by the name of Grieves and Budo. They put on an amazing show at the same venue that we got engaged at. We even saw some local celebrities at the show (Macklemore, Sol, Onry Ozzborn & Grynch).

Tuesday we went frisbee golfing by the airport. We tried to watch X-Men Origins though ended up falling asleep due to not going to bed until 3 am the night before. Wednesday we meet up with my old coworker to do some practice climbing at an outdoor practice wall near our house. Llew showed us the ropes, literally, and made us comfortable with belaying and safety techniques.

Thursday we continued our Seattle adventures by going (back) to the Trapeze Arts School. Here Jesse was able to take his maiden voyage into the sky while we further refined our flying skills. We had gone once before about a year ago [see The Flying Trapeze] and had so much fun we had to come back for more. Jesse thoroughly enjoyed his first time flying and did an extremely good job. I also have some video that I will put together soon.

Friday me and Jesse went out to check out the Fremont scene and spent the night hanging with friends and drinking cheap beer. We called it a night early so we could get fully rested for Saturday's adventure. Saturday morning we went about 45 minutes into the mountains to go real rock climbing. The hike on the way there was filled with lush green trees and cool clear water.

The view from the climbing area was equally as majestic.

We began on a intermediate wall that is rated at 5.6 on the Yosemite Decimal Rating System. After destroying these climbs we moved onto something more challenging. We found a wall that was rated 5.9. After Llew made his way up as the lead climb, attaching hooks on his way up, we were able to safely advance up the rock face. Jesse went first and though struggled on one part, made it look fairly easy.

It was then my turn to take to the wall. Now keep in mind, I have never climbed before besides the small practice climbs earlier that day. Halfway up the climb I neared my limit as I had to stretch and use every bit of my strength to make it past the 5.9 part of the climb. Though I was not going to give up and made it past after some verbal hoisting from my friends below. It was an awesome experience that left me feeling very accomplished and proud to have made it.

Chrissy also attempted this climb and made it without any problem to the hard part of the climb. Once there the fact that she didn't have proper climbing shoes stopped her from progressing further up the wall. This was unfortunate because we all think she could have made it the rest of the way up had she had proper gear. She still enjoyed it though.

Before we left, Jesse and Llew wanted to push it further and try out the 5.10a climb that we noticed on our way in. This was definitely an extreme climb that was nearly 35 meters tall. Jesse accomplished this task and said it was the most rewarding climb he has ever done. He even said after that this might be the thing that moves him out here to Seattle ;) It's a good think he had some Coconut water the night before to give him the strength he needed.

Here was our trusty climbing guide and companion that made things look way to easy; Llew.

We had a tremendous amount of fun and is definitely something we will be doing again. I have some video of this too that I will try to get posted soon. I want to thank my parents and Jesse again for coming out. We loved having you and look forward to see you guys again soon!