Pre-Surgery Night Out

So, this post is not about cancer.  Or about surgery.  Or chemo/radiation/whatever.  It isn't.

Deb and I are Seattle Sounders FC season ticket holders.

Yes, I have a point to make with that - I'm getting to it.

As you attend games, and buy merchandise and food at the games, you got a certain number of points in your account that you could use to either get certain promotional items or bid for things being auctioned off (though I think they are changing how that all works this year).  Late last season I had a large number of points to use and they were auctioning off a game-day experience package (yes, I won the auction).  Part of that package was for four tickets in the club section (we took our friend Greg and my friend Tom).  And the Sounders won the game! Hurrah!

No, I'm still getting to the point.  Here it comes.

Another part of the package was a voucher for a free night at the Hyatt at Olive 8 (at the corner of Olive Street and 8th Avenue - how creative...) and a dining credit at their on-site restaurant, Urbane. Fortunately, they didn't require that we take the free night on the night of the game.  The voucher was good for a calendar year.

We used it last night.  That, by the way, was the point.

We know that Deb has a long period of recovery ahead of her.  We know that she's not going to feel up to going places and doing things for a while.  But she needed to have one last pre-surgery fun day. So yesterday around 1:00 PM we checked into the Hyatt and then went over to a place over on 4th called Lola that she's been wanting to take me for lunch.  They have excellent salmon kebabs.

We then went to Pioneer Square to one of the smallest National Parks, sort of.  The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is actually comprised of sites in the states of Alaska and Washington.  The Washington part is in Seattle and isn't much more than a few thousand square feet in a historical building (the former Cadillac Hotel).  Deb has been wanting to go find it ever since she heard about it a few years ago, so now we've done that.

Another place Deb's been wanting to go for some time is the Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle Center.  Some of the things they've got on display are astounding in their dimension and complexity.

We also got to watch a couple of glassworkers put on a display of some of the types of glassblowing projects they do.

We went back to the Hyatt and went to dinner at Urbane.  Following that we went back to the room and crashed out for the most part.

This morning we got up and worked out at the hotel gym (wow - very nice ... better than any hotel gym I've been in).  Probably Deb's last workout for a good while.  That was followed by getting cleaned up and walking down to Pike Place Market for breakfast at The Crumpet Shop, one of our favorites that we rarely get to go to anymore (though the owner still recognizes us every time we see him).  Following that we bought a few things at the market and went back to check out of the hotel.

On the way home we stopped off at our church to see the pastor for a moment.  She had a prayer shawl for Deb that one of the church groups had made for her (very nice - she'll be able to wrap up in it while she's recovering on the sofa or recliner).

So, while this post didn't really have anything to do with her cancer or surgery, it was all about getting her into a good mental space ahead of Friday.  24 hours of pleasantness.  Maybe that's something she can look back on while she's down and out over the next while.  Something she can look forward to doing again after all this cancer stuff is behind us.