Alki Beach Labor Day Staycation

Remember how my BFF, Katie, got married back in May at the courthouse? Well this weekend her and her husband, Josh, rented a house on Alki Beach in West Seattle and invited some of their besties to spend the weekend with them celebrating.

Friday after work I headed to West Seattle to claim a bedroom and hang out with everyone for the night. We chatted, walked down the beach to find some dinner, failed miserably, admired the sunset, took bowl-sized-shots of warm Patron at El Chubacabra, then ordered pizza back at the house. We played Taboo and chatted until bedtime.

Saturday morning I woke up early thanks to the sunlight coming through the blinds in my bedroom, opened the window and took a deep breath of the air that smelled like the real beach. It was magical. After I got out of bed, Katie, Kelly and I took a walk down the beach to get some coffee and check out the picnic shelter where Katie and Josh would have their reception/BBQ later that afternoon. After we got our coffee we walked over to the shelter to find some people had already set up a party at the same site. Katie decided she would go talk to them and let them know that she had booked the shelter and surrounding tables starting at 3pm. I was terrified to go over and talk to these people (who we later decided were likely gang members, no joke) so I, being the best BFF ever, let Katie go by herself. When I saw things weren't going so well for Katie I walked over and discovered that the parks department had double booked the space. It turns out the people already there were having their annual picnic and Katie was having her wedding reception. We eventually worked out a compromise and they agreed to move to two tables and a big grassy space Katie (but not them) also had booked on the other side of the sidewalk, which was super considerate of them. But gang confrontation at 10am on the day of her reception wasn't really what we had hoped would happen, ha! But thankfully it all worked out fine.

  I took this while avoiding confrontation like a good bestie ;)

We spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, prepping food (I got put in the basement with the guys making coleslaw, we crushed it!) and getting ready for the reception.

The wedding reception/BBQ was awesome. About 60 people showed up, we sat in the sun, admired the view, and ate pulled pork sandwiches. It was low stress and perfect.

 

After the reception was over, we spent the rest of the night at the house with a bunch of our friends catching up, listening to music, and of course taking more Patron shots.

Sunday, everyone but Katie and I were wanting to stay at the house and nurse their hangovers, so Katie and I bought some snacks and headed to the Colman Pool in Lincoln Park.

The pool is a beautiful, heated, salt water pool that looks out over the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. I was so happy to be there. We jumped off the diving board, perfected underwater handstands, saw some of Katie's old preschool students and Katie taught me to swim. I actually swam (without freaking out, and without dogpaddling) for the first time ever. It was the most amazing thing. I was the happiest! So nostalgic.

After a few hours at the pool we headed back to the house, cleaned up a bit and went to dinner at Duke's Chowder House. Afterward a few of us grabbed a beer at a bar on the beach before heading back to the house and going to bed.

Monday was all cleaning up, me convincing the apartment garbage truck man to let us stick our rental trash in his truck after we missed the regular trash man (because it was Labor Day and we didn't think they would be working), heading to our respective homes, and me laying on my couch finishing the last episodes of Orange is the new Black for the rest of the day. It was a really wonderful, relaxing weekend with good people. Staycation success for sure!