Vacations

People take vacations for various reasons. Some vacations are planned to get away from a routine of work and daily living to rest and relax. Other times people go places to experience events, history, arts and crafts, weather, mountains, beaches, or restaurants. Often, these types of vacations do not allow for much rest or relaxation.

My wife and I traveled across the country to Seattle to visit our daughter and son-in-law who recently moved to Seattle from Cary, North Carolina to work for Amgen and Microsoft Corporation. Amgen is a leading biotechnology research company and Microsoft is a computer software giant.

Jennifer and Phil were excited about our first visit as we were eager to see their new home, city, and surrounding areas. They drove us to the company properties where they work. The top picture is at the entrance to the Microsoft campus in an area called Bellevue and Redmond. The first picture below is the building where Jennifer's office is located. This campus is spread wide with buildings and immaculate landscaping of trees, plants, rocks, and waterfalls.

The third picture below is Amgen's court in front of the company's buildings and the bottom picture is a farther away view of the same buildings. Phil's office is located here. Both these companies have workspace that would be the desire of any employee. In a later report I'll show you a pedestrian bridge built by Amgen that crosses a railroad yard. The bridge is amazing in design and construction.

We stayed three nights in the home of our family and they went all out to take us places to experience the sights and sounds of Seattle. We ate in magnificent restaurants, attended events like the car show and Powwow about which I've already reported on this blog. We drove one day to Mount Rainier which is partially reported on 7/23/06. Thank you, Phil and Jennifer.

We saw sights we'd never seen and experienced events new to us. It was a wonderful time in and around the city of Seattle.

I plan to share with you more about what we saw and did while on this vacation trip to Seattle and Los Angeles.

Return here on Saturday, August 12 for more.

Have a good day!