The Journey>The Destination: A Short & Sweet Visit to Beautiful Washington

Just a brief update before I talk about our visit:
Ryan finished off his internship with Apple this summer feeling fulfilled & satisfied with his experience. He came away from his summer with new friends, new knowledge, and a job offer! Apple offered him a position on a great team doing what he specializes in (graphics.) During the summer, the Microsoft recruiter had contacted Ryan about wanting him to apply for a full time position. Previous to summer, Ryan had turned down an internship with Microsoft, because Apple had a graphics internship. So after the recruiter contacted him, he had spoken to me and asked how I felt about him applying in Washington. I told him he had my blessing, as long as I could come with him to see Washington and get a feel for it.

Just weeks later, Microsoft had scheduled his flight, hotel, and interview. I was anxious, and truthfully freaked out. I immediately tried to picture myself moving to another state, and got a pit in my stomach. California is my home, and I couldn't imagine myself moving my entire life so far from my family, and my comfort. But I knew I couldn't stress about all of these "what ifs" until after the trip, so I shelved those feelings for a while.

So Wednesday, Ryan and I trekked over to my Mom's house to stay for the night since we were flying out of the San Jose airport early. We failed to check the exact time of the flight until this night, and realized that we were going to have to leave my moms at 3:30 am to get to the airport ontime! Gladly, getting up that early wasn't as hard as I imagined, since we were both running off of excitement.

We arrived to the Seattle-Tacoma airport at around 8:45 am. We got our bags, and headed for the rental cars. Microsoft gave Ryan a new mustang for his rental car, so that was pretty awesome to cruise around in during our visit. Then, not really thinking again, we headed straight for the hotel. It's amazing how your internal clock gets so messed up even flying for a couple of hours in the morning. We didn't even realize it was far too early to check in! Luckily, when we arrived at the Westin (yes Westin,) we were checked in immediately. So we unpacked, and figured we would go drive around and see Redmond (the town where Microsofts main campus is located.)

We discovered some amazing towns and neighborhoods along the way, one of them being around Lake Sammamish. It was the most beautiful lakefront community I had ever seen. Being from California, you don't see a lot of lakes that have primary residences, so this was refreshing to see. Both Sammamish and Issaquah are definitely where we would aim to live if we ended up moving. It's so close to Seattle, yet seems so remote and far away. Plus its gorgeous and green, but what part of Washington isn't?!

Ryan's interview process lasted from noon to around 7 on Friday, so during that time I decided to check out the public transportation, and get a little sight seeing done, as well as visit Bellevue College and check out their sonography program. Being from a small town, public transportation wasn't as easily accessible, so boy was I confused when I got to the transit station! I decided to wing it and get on one of the busses that would end up at the college and see what would happen.

....I got a little lost.

I ended up in Seattle at the University of Washington, where the bus driver said to get off because this was his last stop. So instead of being a big girl and asking him how to get back to the college, I got off and didn't say a word. I realized if I hopped across the street, that same bus would pick me up and would go the opposite way, so I gave that a whirl. Thank goodness I found my way there! I finally got to the college, but surprisingly wasn't a bit stressed along the way because I got to sight see, and experience something like that by myself, which is rare.

Ryan has a few friends he met interning over summer who live in Seattle, so they volunteered to show us around. One night we went to Capitol Hill, (a neighborhood in Seattle) and had dinner and grabbed some drinks at a cute & fancy bar called Tavern Law. Apparently, that bar has been voted one of the top 25 bars in America in GQ Magazine. We also had one of his friends available on Saturday to show us around downtown Seattle and University District before we caught our flight home. It was nice to have people who know the area, and are honest about the weather as well!

We didn't get to do nearly as much sight seeing as we had hoped, but from what we did see and do, I have truly fallen in love with Washington. But more importantly, Ryan got the offer! We will know the terms of the offer (pay, signing package, moving package, what team, etc.) tomorrow! I am so proud of all of his accomplishments, and I know it must feel amazing to be a coveted programmer after all of his hard work. It's very calming to know that we are going to be making this decision together, because believe me it's going to be a tough one for both of us. It doesn't just depend on where we feel like moving, it depends on where we plan on starting a new life, and eventually starting a new family. Neither of us want to be moving our children around and causing them the pain of leaving friends and their familiar life. But whether it's to live or visit, I know I'll be back in Washington someday soon. :)