Travel fun

I am getting really close to time to leave for Washington DC. In preparation, besides the usual things like sorting and doing inventory of all my effects, making endless phone calls, trying to get my car fixed, and trying to make sure that I'm not missing anything, I've also been doing some traveling.
(Left - Me, Erin, and Heather) Last weekend I drove with Erin to visit Heather in Sidney, MT. It was a lot of fun because we were able to surprise her (which is hard to do . . .) and had a great time hanging out for what is the last time for who knows how long. After all, my being overseas will make it a lot harder to do something like that.
We went to the county fair there. It was a lot of fun. We even got some old time photos. I bought a new purse, one of those Miche purses where you can change the look. I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I got three shells with it. I'd be even happier if it didn't cost so much to get more. But, life goes on.
It was great to spend time with Heather and Erin.
Then this past weekend I went to Seattle to visit my friend Vitaly. It was a lot of fun. I'd never been there before. We went shopping and I learned about some stores that do not exist in Bismarck (perhaps that will prepare me for shopping in DC?) We also spent time in downtown Seattle. There is a great Russian piroshky shop, Pike's market, a wall completely covered in gum (ok, that was a little gross, but definitely interesting), and of course the famous space needle. We went up to the top. Although we didn't eat in the restaurant, we did step into it to see how it spun. It was interesting. Also, on the way up, we got a free digital photo (see right: Eugene, Lani, me, and Vitaly). Lani is Vitaly's sister and Eugene is their cousin.
We went to Soap Lake for the last part of my vacation. Vitaly is from Soap Lake. I guess it is one of two of those kinds of lakes in the world. We didn't go swimming there because it gives people rashes. But we did go out to a different lake. When we first got there, there was a bull snake and everyone kind of freaked out. The weather was beautiful. It didn't rain at all while I was there. I guess this means I've broken the curse (it always seems to rain whenever I travel: Florida, Egypt, etc). (Left - me near the water in downtown Seattle) Either that, or because Seattle is known for rain, it didn't. Hmm, that's an interesting idea. Then on my last night, we went out to a couple bars. We played pool at one, and then Karaoke and dancing at the other one. It was a lot of fun, I have to admit.
I got home late last night. I had asked my sister to do some cleaning while I was gone because someone from the moving company was supposed to be coming by today. When I got home last night, I was surprised (unfortunately not to see that she had actually cleaned, because she hadn't) to see that she had started packing her things. It turns out that the place she is moving into is available now, so she's moving sooner than expected. So instead of having a clean place, there were boxes everywhere when the moving guy came. There is one upside: packing will be a lot easier with more space and without having to worry about Elizabeth's stuff getting packed by mistake.