Weddingville 2007 Information

August 11, 2007

The Golf Club at Newcastle

Newcastle, WA

Here's some info you might want to know about the wedding...

Most of our guests will be arriving sometime on Friday, August 10th and leaving Sunday the 12th. If this fits your travel plans, here's the scoop; First of all, we recommend renting a car to drive to/from the airport to Bellevue and the golf club. The cost for a taxi to/from the airport is approx $45 per the website but can be much higher, especially if you arrive during rush hour (4-6:30pm or so). Therefore it might be more cost effective to rent a car. Keep in mind that you will probably pay for parking at your hotel.

Before diving into the hotels, here's the overall SOE (Schedule of Events) for the weekend. If you're part of the wedding party, we have a rehersal on Friday at the golf club at 3pm, then dinner that evening at Maggiano's in Bellevue from 6-9pm. The wedding is on Saturday at 11am at the golf club. The ceremony is formal, followed by the Weddingville reception (feel free to bring a hawaiin shirt) unitl 4pm. Between 4-7pm is your own time, but we suggest; eating dinner/napping/relaxing until 7pm at which time we will all meet up in hawaiin shirts at the Westin to go bar hopping. We have 2 in mind... Trader Vics, an island style bar and the Tap house. Trader Vic's is located in the Westin and the Tap house is 2 blocks away.

HOTELS in Bellevue

Carolyn and I will be staying at the Westin Fri and Sat nights. So far we're the only ones at the Westin as it is pretty pricey. The families have already booked their stay at the Courtyard by Marriott. We have a couple of hotels with a group rate, the Hyatt Regency and the Extended Stay America. (All prices besides the group rates are estimates from Hotels.com)

1. Westin -- No group rate. Around $200 per night. Call (425) 638-1000 for reservations.

2. Hyatt -- 1 Block from the Westin. Group rate $155 per night. Blocked 10 rooms for Fri night, 20 rooms for Sat night. Call 1-800-233-1234 and refer to the "Cockle Rawson Wedding." Book by July 10 to ensure rate.

3. Courtyard by Marriott -- 4 bloks to the Westin. Out of group rate rooms. Approx $170 per night. Call (425) 454-5888 for reservations.

4. Sheraton -- 6 blocks from Westin, long walk or short cab ride. No group rates. Approx $120 per night. (425) 455-3330 for reservations.

5. Extended Stay America -- A short cab ride to the Westin. Group rate $79-$89 depending on bed size. (425) 453-8186 for reservations.

There's a few more hotels in the area if none of these work for you. Use any search engine such as Hotels.com, Orbiz.com, etc to find more hotel info or better deals.

Registry Info We are registered at Macy's Home and Crate and Barrell. You can access both of these using www.weddingchannel.com and searching for either of our names. Once you see our names and wedding date, click on the "multiple regestries" link. It should be self explanitory from there.

Wedding Location The wedding is at The Golf Club at Newcastle in the Prestwick Terrace. Here is a link http://www.newcastlegolf.com/gallery.aspx?ID=44 and a link for driving directions http://www.newcastlegolf.com/Directions.aspx?SecID=369 When looking at the directions to the club, you will start out going South on 405 if staying in Bellevue on Friday night, or start out going North on 405 if staying in DuPont around our house.

Arriving Early Some of you will be arriving earlier in the week to hang out and party. If you're one of these brave people, there are 2 hotels right by our house;

1. The Liberty Inn -- (253) 912-8777

2. Guesthouse Inn & Suites -- (253) 912-8900

Not sure about prices or availability, however we do recommend these to stay at if you are coming earlier in the week. For those extra brave souls, we do have a couple blow-up beds and floor space if you want to save some cash.

Al Faw Palace

While in Baghdad, I was able to accomplish two goals; see an old friend I haven't seen in years and see one of Saddam's palaces. Mission completed! We were able to get a quick tour of Al Faw Palace...

The quick history of the city of Faw: It was an oil rich city that lies on the Al Faw peninsula. Having both water and oil, it became a target for Iranian control and in 1986, the Iranians captured the city. In 1988, the Iraqi military recaptured the city and following the gulf war, this palace was built in honor of the soldiers who freed the city from Iranian control.

As with all palaces, it had a huge front door and all of the floors and walls were made of marble.

Here's a pic of Joe and me in the palace.

This was a type of throne in the main section of the palace. Did Saddam sit here? I doubt it, but you never know...

It was really interesting to see all of this. We only had about 30 mins to see the whole building so we got the fast tour. We didn't see the basement where all of the horrible actions took place like tortures, etc., not that I wanted to anyway. I also have a few pics of one of his wife's palace's across the lake. He evidentally wanted to kill her but couldn't b/c of her populartiy with the people and the wealth in her family, so he built her a palace to keep her away from him.

Anyway, it was an awesome yet chilling experience!

Capaddocia, Turkey

The last 2 weeks of the deployment were a blast! There were many nights of partying and relaxing while getting ready for the trip back home. Between the parties, a bunch of us took a trip to Capaddocia Turkey, incredible! It was a 3 hour bus ride to get there but well worth the time.

The first stop of the trip was at an underground city the early Christians built circa 300AD, while hiding from the Romans. The city was 8 stories in depth, about 150 feet deep. Here is a pic of a kitchen and a passage way.

The "halls" were really tiny, but the rooms were tall enough for a 6.5 foot person to completely stand up. There were many rooms for the different families. One family from grandchildren to grandparent shared a 10x10 foot room to chill and sleep in. The city also had every support function you needed as well... kitchens, a church, and even a winery (not joking either).

The pic on the right is a Millstone. These stones were located in many of the passage ways and were used as a vault door. It took 5 men just to roll the stones into place for their protection against intruders. The hole in the middle was used as a peep-hole.

The next stop on the tour was at a carpet factory where we were taught how the Turkish culture makes their carpet. We also learned the difference between real and immatation carpets. If you want a real Turkish carpet it will cost you as 1 carpet, depending on the size, material, and area where the carpet was made, will run anywhere from a few hundred to multiple thousands of dollars.

Here I am ruining a carpet which a lady had been working on for over a month. Again, depending on the variables listed above, 1 carpet can take anywhere from a few months to a little over a year to make.

This is at lunch looking at the tallest hill in which people lived in. This area was great to see b/c there were both cave homes right next to the more modern style of living. We were told that the Capaddocians were forced to live in "regular" homes starting in the 70's b/c the Turkish government believed it to be a national embarassment to live in caves

The last stop on the tour was at an open air museum of the "caves" the early capaddocians dwelled in. There were literally hundreds of caves, which included 6 churches.

Here are a couple of pics of one of the churches we saw. The most amazing part of the churches was the artwork on all of the walls and ceilings as you can see.

The pic on the left is inside one of the caves. This was evidentally the dining room table, carved out of the mountain. Not a bad place to sit and eat... if only the table was a little higher!

Oh yeah, we also saw a camel...