Vacation summary: pre-Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) was September 4 - 6. I had a lot of fun there, but I also had fun hanging out with friends beforehand.

Several friends from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) were in town for PAX. The day before PAX, I explored Seattle with two of these friends, Joel and Adam. We visited a famous bakery, the Essential Bakery Cafe. They helped us find the house that inspired the movie "Up"!

From House from "Up"

The story behind this house and its owner is, well, enough to inspire a Pixar movie. And my pictures do not do it justice. Check out this story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A more recent picture than that is here. Finally, the latest chapter on this story is here; it explains the banner on the house.

Incidentally, the development surrounding the house contains a Trader Joe's, which I like. I am glad that the owner got to live this life out as she wanted.

Next, we checked out Gas Works Park. If you check out the official site for the park, it doesn't look special. However, I think it is awesome! Here, Joel raises the "ring of triumph" atop the hill at Gas Works Park.

Joel and Adam look out at Downtown Seattle. The strange pipes in the background are the old gas works.




Here I am!

From Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park juts out into the water of Puget Sound, leaving a clear view of downtown.







We also visited Green Lake Park, which is also very pretty.

Then, on the freeway, we were eyewitnesses to an accident! Two cars bumped into each other on the side, and one went careening off the freeway and into a ditch. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Finally, a dozen of us gathered at my place to hang out and to eat pizza and Ezell's Famous Fried Chicken. It was a great way to end an eventful day and to prepare for three days of video games, board games, and friends at PAX!