Keeping caught up on the blog is difficult in the summer. I had intended to write this right after my last post, not a week+ after. But, I have too many neat photos to not log these memories for the family archives.
Loran was officially done with meetings on Thursday afternoon. I’d been trooping around the city all morning, after lunch I had a little siesta and watched some fine cable television – otherwise known as reality television. Loran and I met up and headed up a block to Columbia Tower where Amazon had previously be located to go up to the observation deck. Spectacular views and mostly clear, it was fun! We had a little bit of time to get ourselves ready for dinner with a couple of Amazon guys, Loran’s coworker Angela and Angela’s husband who had just flown in for the weekend. After consuming a great farm to table dinner, we walked over to the Olympic Sculpture Park for sunset. There was much fun had as we cruised around town in our Kia.
Friday morning was a little drizzly, but that burned off quickly while we were at lunch. After lunch, we buzzed over to the Ballard Locks for some fish ladder action. There were quite a few salmon in the ladder, but they were pretty lazy. I saw one jump when we were looking down into the locks and saw a few jump in/out when we were in the underwater viewing area. The size of the salmon is pretty impressive. They were getting a little help to move along by some researches who were working there. Every once in awhile, this guy would reach down with a net and scoop the salmon up and move them to the next ladder. He really had to use his muscle to heft them up. Lazy salmon.
Friday afternoon we boarded the ferry to Bainbridge to meet up with Loran’s friend, former 3Mer, David. David picked us up in his convertible, top down, and we got a whirlwind tour of the island. It was beautiful! I could see why David chose to commute to 3M St. Paul from Bainbridge…it was quite the commute though!
On the ferry going away from Seattle.
As we approached the island, gorgeous houses, and little Opti sailboats buoying around the bay to greet us during sailing school. As we disembarked the ferry, it was interesting to watch the order of release for all of the vehicles on board. First the bicycles – they take off like it’s the start of the Tour de France. Then the motorcycles and scooters followed by cars, then the passengers on foot. Another interesting part of the ferry was the ticketing. You needed to buy a ticket to go to Bainbridge, but not to return. I guess they figure you’ll eventually go both ways, so you just pay once to leave Seattle. Cuts down on lines and boarding time.
As we drove around, we had great views of the city. David showed us a neat little garden that had recently sprung up that had interesting details, along with a view.
We saw an eagle perched out by the water. We meandered along narrow winding roads and up and down some pretty serious grades.
After our tour, we met up with David’s wife at Harbour Public House for some good food overlooking the water and city in the distance. Good food, great company and after awhile, we were off on the ferry again. Back to Seattle to pick our car up from the parking garage that closed for the night at 9pm. Then we were off to our new hotel for the weekend, Cedarbrook Lodge. Located about two miles from the airport, we were questioning all of its wonderful reviews. It had been a corporate retreat, and it was beautiful. We felt like we were in the middle of the woods, not next to the airport in a neighborhood. I didn’t take any photos on my camera, so I’m borrowing this one from the hotel’s website. Not only was the campus gorgeous and the rooms lovely, they had lounges that were stocked full of complimentary snacks! I love snacks. Varying flavors of malted milk balls, Tim’s potato chips, yogurts, string cheese, fruits and waters. Just gorgeous and relaxing!
Saturday morning, we had reservations to go on the Boeing tour. While you can’t take any photos, or even bring cameras or phones on the tour – I highly recommend going! It was amazing and interesting. I was able to snap a few photos from the visitor center/museum and the observation deck.
We were able to see the new 787 DreamLiner coming together. And, we were able to see the DreamLifter, the giant plane that carries the body sections of the 787 from their assembly points. That was neat, and a rarity they told us, that the DreamLifter would be parked.
After our Boeing tour and a stop at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers – only three locations (various locations around Hawaii, Woodinville, WA and Tokyo, Japan) I now only need to visit a Teddy’s in Japan! Once we were fueled by yummy burgers, we were off to visit some wineries. We didn’t do any touring, but did do some purchasing and some tasting.
Once we had our fill with wine in Woodinville, we were back on the road towards Seattle. We drove through some neighborhoods and even went to an open house, just to see what life in Seattle is like. It’s expensive! We visited a little house, sized and aged similar to ours, but much more expensive and missing a bedroom. We didn’t put in an offer! :)
After the open house, we headed toward the water to Discovery Park. Good news, beautiful views. Bad news, it’s quite the hike down to the water since they have limited car passes per day for people with children or senior citizens. We had neither so we had to be athletic. I had an idea to use one of my running apps to track our hike, which turned out to be 3.4 miles round trip with quite the descent and ascent in a short span. It was a good workout for the calves.
Mt. Rainier was out, and beautiful. I also got this very Seattle-esque shot of Loran drinking coffee with Mt. Rainier in the background.
A beautiful area with beach, driftwood, a decommissioned lighthouse and mountains. The hike back *down and up* from/to the car was equally beautiful, meandering through wooded, densely growing forest with views to the water.
As our adventure continued, we drove to the Queen Anne neighborhood to enjoy the neighborhood and find a local park known for its spectacular views of the city, Kerry Park. It did not disappoint.
After the park we found some dinner at an artisan pizza place, Tutta Bella, in a rather Bohemian part of town, Columbia City. Great food! After dinner, we took a little walk around the grounds of our hotel.
Sunday is a blur, we went into Seattle and walked around Pike Place Market for a bit. Bought some cherries for our families and strolled along before heading to the airport. Loran got upgraded to first class, but let me have his fancy seat and he took my seat in the back. I enjoyed my dinner and relaxed with a book. As we were beginning our descent into MSP, I was hit by the realization that the next morning is when I said we’d start with the potty training, hardcore. We picked up our sleepy girls from my parents’ house and the next morning, vacation was just a memory and we were back to reality. Rugs rolled up and big girl underwear on.
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