Odd Birthday Weekend

Had kind of an odd weekend. Noelle and I flew up to Washington Friday night for Zak and Angie's wedding. Drove an hour late at night to beautiful Poulsbo, WA (which is charming Norwegian fishing village moved to Puget Sound). Got up too early Saturday morning to take a quick cruise around the area in a beautiful yacht that Zak's friend Frank rented for the weekend. Then lunch in Poulsbo (Noelle got a leather aviator hat after lunch she squeed about), then back to the hotel for a power nap, followed by the wedding at the Kiana Lodge which is far, far prettier than the pictures on their website would have you believe. It's surrounded by towering cedars and the lodge itself is right on the water with weeping willows, ferns, and all sorts of plant life around you. They have an explosion of flowers there there too. Words don't really do it justice. After a lovely ceremony, a wonderful dinner in the lodge (where we somehow managed to be seated at the head table), and great reception, Noelle and I headed back to get some rest at our hotel in Poulsbo. The next morning we checked out and paid the newlyweds and their families a brief visit before heading back to SeaTac with Zak's cousin (who had a flight right around the same time as ours). Getting back was a little rushed as we had to stop a few times (did you know that Washington state roads frequently have exits where you can't immediately get back on the highway again and if you do you might be heading in the wrong direction? I did not, but do now.), but we finally got to the airport. Where I discovered I had lost my driver's license. After a moment of panic, we talked to the gate agent and I found out you can board a plane (at least domestic flights on some airlines) without photo ID. Once we got on the plane, I finally relaxed a little bit. We got home in the afternoon and I got to rest a bit before going off to Kyoto Palace where Noelle had arranged for a bunch of friends to meet us for dinner for my birthday. Big fun! Wasn't able to catch the fried rice bits, though. Maybe another time. Anyway, it was kind of a weird weekend with lots of ups and downs, but overall positive.