Seattle in the Sunshine….Mostly!

Hi!  Time for a new adventure!!!

Neither John nor I have ever spent time driving around in Washington or Oregon…..and my brother Lyndon planned a family reunion for me and my three siblings on the coast of Oregon at a condo resort for a week.  So we added our grandson Michael to our group and left to explore.

We flew into Seattle on an amazing day, catching a glimpse of Mount Rainier and then downtown.

We stayed at the same place where we had stayed about 20-25 years ago when we first came to Seattle, The Inn at the Market. I feel sure we stayed in a nicer room this time — a suite overlooking the water with Michael in the living room on a rollaway (that kept losing it’s center support).  The hotel is across the street from Pike Place Market – itself a magical experience!  It was so beautiful that we decided we needed to flip our planned schedule around and go to the Space Needle and Chihuly.  We took the monorail; we had quickly determined that Seattle is NOT a fun place to try to park.

After buying tickets for an hour later for the Space Needle, we wandered through the Chihuly Garden and Glass.  WOW! It is just fabulous!  Even though we had seen his exhibition when it was in Dallas, there was lots more and so beautifully installed.

Pop Culture Museum

 

It’s tall!

Afterward we went up to the top of the Space Needle.  First we wandered around the outside both taking pictures and posing for some.

Then we wandered through the exhibits inside and played some games, our favorite being the reality bungee jump.  Michael and John walked down a couple of flights to stand on the revolving glass floor which they liked.

 

Once back at the hotel we went out on the rooftop deck, conveniently located just outside  and across from our room, then watched the sunset before walking a few blocks for dinner and ice cream.

Michael loves milk shakes and gave this one high marks!

On Sunday we began the day by picking up my niece Heather who lives in Seattle.   Heather is affectionately known as Sweet Baby Heather – or SBH.  She towers over me now, but has always called me Auntie Beth and I have loved her for it! We went to a funky and wonderful breakfast café; I loved the menu covers.  We went first to our first lookout over the city.  It was much cooler and overcast.  We then went to see the Troll under the Bridge, then the Gas Works lookout.  All of that was fun. 

John  and Michael decided they needed to stop by the University of Washington — or U Dub as it is called in Seattle.

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This was especially amusing to John!!!!

We drove close to an hour north to our timed entry appointment at the Boeing Future of Flight Tour.  We stopped for lunch, then called to see if we could get in a half hour early.  It worked and we were off.

You may not take phones or anything electronic on the tour or into the factory – not even my “bike”.  Michael drew the black bean – he was going to have to push me in their wheelchair.  John and Michael were excited about this tour; me, not so much.  But it was really very interesting!  We went inside the factory where the 747’s and 777’s were built. The picture of the factory is one I took of a picture once outside of the tour. The assembly line was amazing. The main building is the largest building (measured in cubic feet) in the world. The doors they move assembled planes out of are 40 feet high and 300 feet long.  The plant runs 24/7/365.

We were trying to fly like birds….

I think Michael had had enough pushing!!!!

When we got back outside, the sun was shining – another schedule change – we decided to drive to Snoqualmie Falls.  We got there for some beautiful views of the falls in the late afternoon sun!  It was just gorgeous!!!

Worn out, we drove back into town and sat on the rooftop deck for another sunset.  We had dinner at Din Tai Fung, a soup dumpling place we first discovered in Shanghai!  Excellent and the perfect level of difficulty for a tired group.  Before we dropped Heather off we had to stop at an ice cream place near her apartment, Molly Moon.

Monday took us on the road – to Vancouver, BC.  Michael wanted to go to Canada; John wanted to go to Vancouver – only a two and a half hour drive – EACH WAY!!!  First stop was to be an early lunch with our longtime friends, Kay and John Dustan, whom we met long ago on a cruise from Osaka to Hong Kong. We explored (a little) while in Granville Island, ate lunch outside at Bridges overlooking the harbor & watching the boats moving around.  It was so very wonderful to see such fun friends again; they are just the MOST fun people we have ever met on a cruise – or maybe anywhere! 

John used the bathroom at the Dustans and loved their sense of humor!!!

Gorgeous trees!

We drove through downtown (our Vancouver tour) then briefly onto Stanley Island, then headed back to the US.  Just a 30 minute wait at the border – could have been worse!  All in all, a fun side trip—especially with a quick stop on the way back at a DQ for a Blizzard!!!

We decided to head straight to dinner – at a place where my brother Joe had taken John and me about 20-25 years ago when we first visited Seattle and he lived there…Chinook’s. OMG – John loved his halibut and the fried clams were just great.  Michael was surprised that they put mushrooms in his alfredo and chopped tomatoes on top – neither of which he likes – but he pulled them all out.  We were thrilled to chill out and watch a little tv once back in the room.

On Tuesday we awakened to a rainy day – finally, the real Seattle (unfortunately).  We ducked into Pike Place Market, looked around then stopped for breakfast at Biscuit Bitch; I order the Smokin’ Hot Bitch – of course!!!

Next we retrieved our car and drove to the Microsoft Visitor Center.  The exhibits were both historical and fun.  We played for awhile!

Michael standing. behind the first X-Box — he had it!

No surprise here — he changed the logo on the computer!

I LOVED the results 🙂

 

Very similar to Spence’s first computer!

Pops likes this one….

We found an Ivar’s Fish Place and I had more clams — seize while the iron is hot!!!!  Then had to try the ice cream at Salt and Straw.  I had the most unusual flavor — Beecher’s Cheese with Peppercorn Toffee…..and it was good.

We relaxed for awhile and then took off to celebrate our last night in Seattle in a wonderful and unique way……one we would not have done without having Michael with us to suggest it.  We went to see the Seattle Mariners play against the Oakland Athletics at T-Mobile Park.  What a fun night and only made better by being for the winning team!

We left Seattle the next morning to continue our explorations — more later!

Beth