As I mentioned in the last post, Amelia chose a road trip to Washington and Oregon for her senior trip. After planning and saving for an entire year, we finally took the trip at the end of July. All together, we took over 600 pictures, so they'll be a lot on this post! Get comfy!
Day 1: Our trip got off to a bit of a rocky start. My sister Katie had expressed interest in going with us, so Amelia invited her. We met up with her in Hazelton at our aunt and uncle's house so she could hop in the car with us. While we were there, I noticed one of the rear tires was a little low. I asked my uncle where to take it, and after a quick visit we left for the service station. The workers there said they could check it out and asked if we wanted to wait. It was lunch time, so we decided to grab something to eat while the car was being fixed. The town we were in, Eden, is TINY. We ended up in a bar/grill and walked in. It was just like on TV when everyone stops and stares. I have never felt like an outsiders so much in my life. We sat down and ordered food. 45 MINUTES later, we were eating. Luckily, the food was excellent and after I dropped my aunt and uncle's name a few times so the locals knew we were friendly, the tension in the air dissipated. 😄 We finished lunch and went back to pick up our car. Turns out there was a nail in the tire. I'm so happy we had it checked out so it didn't go flat on the interstate or in Seattle when we were much further from home. We loaded into the car and took off, trying to make up our 3 hour delay!
Our bar/grill in Eden, ID.
After HOURS of driving, we finally arrived in Yakima, WA where we were staying for the night. Katie and I grabbed dinner for everyone, and Amelia and Cooper swam for an hour before we hit the sack.
Day 2: We left Yakima and headed to Seattle. It was a beautiful drive over Snoqualmie Pass, and the time passed quickly. It was so much fun to show my kids places I knew and tell them stories. They were impressed with the skyscrapers that shot up into view as we dropped down onto the floating bridges. We arrived in Seattle about 11, and parked the car before heading to our lunch spot. We'd chosen to eat at O'Donnell's in Smith Tower because it was close to the Underground Seattle Tour we were taking later on, and come on----IRISH FOOD. The bonus was a very attractive Irish man who welcomes us. He was the tending bar, and I almost ordered a beer just so I could look at him!
After a super delicious meal, we walked back to Pioneer Square to wait for our Underground Tour. A man was playing the violin, so Amelia went over to talk to him and throw a tip in his case. We looked at the pergola and then sat down to just bask in the essence of Pioneer Square. Cooper thought it smelled funny.
Next up was our Underground Tour. Both kids really liked it, and even though I had been on it before, there was a lot of things I'd forgotten about. Amelia and Cooper were amazed that a city could be built on a city. After the tour, we picked up our car and headed over to the hotel. It was a little dicey driving through downtown Seattle, but we made it. I had forgotten how tight the lanes are in a bigger city.
After checking into our hotel, we walked to the Seattle Center to see the Chihuly Gardens, International Fountain and the Space Needle. We walked via the Pacific Northwest Ballet so Amelia could see it. Unfortunately, the fountain wasn't on because it was being decorated for some event, but we walked through the Chihuly museum and gardens. The glass sculptures were so beautiful!
After the Chihuly Gardens, we went up in the Space Needle. Cooper is afraid of heights, so Katie stayed down with him while Amelia and I went up. It was such an incredible view of Seattle and the surrounding areas. We could even see Mount Rainer! Amelia was brave enough to even try the revolving glass floor. I was not. After we'd spent some time up there, I went down to stay with Cooper and shop for souvenirs while Katie went up to look around. It was the perfect way to end a long, fun, action-packed day! We walked back to the hotel and crashed.
Day 3: If you thought yesterday was long, today had it beat! We got up, ate breakfast, and took the Monorail to Westlake Center. Cooper loved it! He thought it was the coolest thing ever. We walked down cautiously to Pike Place Market. Sadly, the homeless population has increased quite a lot since I visited Seattle last, but we stayed with a group of other tourists and were just fine. We cut through the market and went to the aquarium first. I have to say........we were a bit disappointed. We didn't spend much time there.
We continued on down the waterfront to our harbor tour cruise boat. It was around lunchtime, but we didn't want to ruin our appetites before we could get to Pike Market, so we had some popcorn, drinks, and a $6 ice cream sandwich (Cooper) while on the tour. It was so cool to see north Seattle, then the shipyards. Those cargo ships are massive!
After the harbor tour, we trudged up the Pike Place Hillclimb and stopped by Post Alley. Amelia wanted to add to the infamous Gum Wall. It was so gross, but smelled really nice and spearmint-y! Cooper didn't see the charm, however. I thought it was so fun to see the Gum Wall because it started when I lived in Seattle a long time ago. The wall is right outside an improv comedy club I used to go to all the time with my friends. While people would wait in line they would put their gum on the wall---and so it began. Not to be left out, I also added my own gum to the wall, then quickly used some hand sanitizer.
Leaving Post Alley, we walked up to Pike Place Market and immediately snagged a table from a family that was leaving. Katie and Amelia held our table while Cooper and I ran to grab lunch. We ladies decided on piroshkies, while Cooper's life long dream of eating an authentic Parisian baguette was fulfilled. I must admit, I was super happy in La Panier also, it's a bread-lovers dream. The food was soooooo good and I wish I had more room in my stomach to keep eating! After we ate, we started to explore the market, but suddenly the fire alarm went off. I asked the store clerk if it happened a lot, and he said yes. We evacuated anyway, and waited to see if it was real. Two firetrucks and a distinct smoky smell later, we decided to cut our losses at the market and head back to the hotel.
We picked up our car and started driving to our next adventure---the Fremont Troll. Little did we know the real adventure was going to be trying to DRIVE to the Fremont Troll. The neighborhood of Fremont is older and has very hilly, very short, and very narrow roads. Added to that, there is no off-street parking so each side of the road had cars parked! When we'd come to an oncoming car, whichever of us could pull over first so the other could go by safely did. It was a hair-raising experience for sure. Luckily, we made it to the troll and even luckier we found a parking spot not far away. We took some pictures, looked around and continued on. Next up, the hospital where Amelia was born!
Since we had to go past the hospital Amelia was born at to get to the ferry, she wanted to stop. I told her it was bought by another company so the name was different, but she still wanted to stop. So we did! Here's a few pictures of us at the hospital18 years later!
You'd think our day must be close to finished because of all we've crammed in, but nope! We still had to catch a ferry and be in Sequim before the day ends. I couldn't believe how lucky we were to catch our ferry. I thought for sure it'd be sold out, but we only waited about 20 minutes, drove right on, and enjoyed the short crossing to Kingston. Cooper opted to stay inside with Katie, (that heights thing again) but Amelia and I took advantage of the almost empty boat and stayed on the balcony for most of the crossing.
After crossing, we opted to drive to Sequim before eating dinner. We checked into our hotel and then ate dinner at an Appleby's next door. We were all so hungry no one spoke for 10 minutes while we ate! Sequim is a cute little town and we ended up exploring it more the next day before we left for Forks. After our crazy packed days in Seattle, I think we all were ready for a change of pace.
Day 4: "Twilight Day"
This day was pretty much all about Amelia and the rest of us were along for the ride! We drove to Forks, WA first and went to the information center so Amelia could get a picture with Bella's trucks. From there, we went on a short driving tour before heading out to Second Beach. The hike in was beautiful, cloudy, and cool. The hike OUT, however, just about killed me. It was steps, going up, and my legs were killing me. It was a gorgeous beach though, and totally worth the hike. After we got back from Second Beach, we drove to First Beach and looked around a bit. We had another 4 hours to go until we reached our beach house, so we decided to head south.
After a lot of hours of driving through rainforest, we arrived in Long Beach and found our beach house. We unloaded and prepared for a few days of R & R.
Day 5: Cape Disappointment
After a good night's sleep, we drove the very short distance to Cape Disappointment State Park. I've wanted to go for years, and I was so excited to have finally made it! We started at Waikiki Beach, a spot where most of the pictures of the lighthouse are taken. We then continued on to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. It was really cool. It's perched on a cliff, built on top of an old fort names Fort Canby. We looked around for a really long time, learning about the Graveyard of the Pacific before starting the steep trail up to the lighthouse. The view at the top was stunning. Even more so were the Coast Guard sailors who were jogging up the same path for daily PT. 😉
After spending waaaaaay too much money at the gift shop, we left Cape Disappointment to grab some lunch in the small nearby town of Illwaco. Turned out to be the most expensive pizza I've ever had, but it was pretty tasty. After a quick stop in Long Beach for ice cream, we camped out on the beach for a couple hours. Cooper began digging a hole which turned into Rome. Amelia joined in while Katie and I just sat and watched the waves.
Day 6: Astoria, OR
This was technically our last day of vacation, and we were starting to feel a little sad. We drove over the huge Astoria-Megler bridge that spans the Columbia River dividing Washington and Oregon. We visited the Maritime Museum which was incredible! I could've spent hours and hours there. It included touring The Columbia, a decommissioned ship. When Amelia and Cooper were starting to lag, we grabbed lunch at Mo's on the river. It was a beautiful day to eat riverside.
After lunch we headed to see the Peter Iredale shipwreck. It's one of the many ships that ran aground or sunk due to the crazy shifting sandbars and massive waves of the Pacific Ocean and Columbia River. It's on a public beach, so we were able to walk right up to it. After we left the shipwreck, Amelia wanted to see the embattlements at Fort Stevens. Cooper opted to stay in the car and "de-socialize" as he put it.
We were all getting tired at this point, so we drove back across the river into Long Beach. The town had been holding a sand castle building contest the last three days, so we went to check them out and walk along the boardwalk for a bit. We grabbed dinner and headed back to the beach house to spend our last night. After dinner, Katie and Cooper stayed at the house while Amelia and I went out on the beach to try and find sand dollars. She lucked out and found a whole one and a partial one. We stayed out a little longer and then headed back. We had a quiet evening and just enjoyed sitting on the porch in the cool Pacific Northwest evening with the ocean roaring the the background. It was a perfect way to spend our last night.
Day 7: We drove. All the way across Oregon. Ugh.
Day 8: We stayed in Ontario, OR the night before so we only have about 5 hours of driving left. We left in good time and stopped in Hazelton to drop off Katie. We had a yummy lunch with our aunt and uncle, then hit the road again. We arrived in Rexburg earlier than I thought but we were happy to have the time to start laundry, unpack, and settle back in. It was a FABULOUS trip and I'm so happy Katie could come with us. Hopefully Amelia and Cooper had a good time and they'll remember the memories we made for a long time!
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