Trip to Washington

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Trip to Washington (June 24 to July 1, 2016)

Day 1

We flew out of Nashville in the afternoon via Alaska Airlines. They had our seats mixed up initially, but the lady at the gate made it reasonably good for the flight. Otherwise the flight was uneventful. Boring is always good on a flight!

We arrived at SeaTac on time and got our rental car. We drove over to our Airbnb apartment and found it alright, a nicely finished basement. It only had one bathroom though, which was quite a bummer since we were met there by Doug, Brook and Elizabeth and Abby. Along with Me, Rob, Laurel and Mom, there would always be someone waiting to go pee! Otherwise it was nice and we slept well that first night.



Day 2

We all got up and around and the four of us (Rob, me, Laurel and Mom) decided to go look for an anime store for Laurel to browse. We found one a little ways away called Sweet Kitty. Unfortunately, it wasn't open yet when we got there, so we found a nice little tea and coffee shop nearby and had some caffeine. At 11am, the shop opened and we all went in to look around. I think Laurel was in heaven. She wanted it all! Luckily she was limited in cash, so she just got a bag and a keychain.

After the anime store, we ate at Denny's and then went back to the apartment to get ready for the main event of our trip, Ella's wedding reception. It was a costume reception, so we all dressed up in costume, even Mom. It was held at a public park, so we got a few looks when we arrived in medieval or steam punk dress. It was so much fun. There was a very good turn out, great food, a costume contest (my brother Dan won) and lots of pictures taken. I think Ella was happy with it all. We were there until near dark, it was a blast. I think that the karaoke was a hit. Hahaha.



Day 3

Doug and Dan found this great little amusement park just south of us and since the price was only 12.99 a piece with a group of 12, we all decided to go. Mom stayed at the apartment for a much needed break. The rest of us packed up swim suits or just comfy clothes (there was a water park too) and headed out. The park was pretty great for the price and included several awesome roller coasters. We all really liked the wooden coaster best. It was hot so the water rides and the water park were a nice cool off for us. We stayed from just after opening to just before closing. We were all exhausted, but what fun. Afterward we all went and picked up Mom and went out for pizza at the Round Table pizza joint. We were a bit ruckus so it was good they gave us our own dining room.



Day 4

Rob, me, Mom and Laurel set out for our adventure around the Olympic peninsula. Our first day we were headed for Port Angeles. I drove and nearly crashed the rental car while looking at the lovely wooded scenery and bay views. We did manage to reach the hotel in Port Angeles in one piece and checked in before driving up to Hurricane Ridge.

The drive up Hurricane Ridge was every bit as beautiful and worthy of the high rating on Trip Advisor as I had hoped, but it was the views from the top that were really amazing. Like the Swiss alps there were snow capped peaks and hilltop rolling meadows. I even took a pic of Laurel spinning in the meadow with the mountains behind and it was just like the Sound of Music. At least that was the song in my head as I took the picture. 😊 There were deer everywhere and they were absolutely not afraid of humans at all. We even encountered a mom and two little baby fawns on the drive up, right by the road, eating like we were not even there.

After our drive, we came back down the mountain and ate at a wonderful dinner place overlooking the Puget Sound. We slept well at the Days Inn in Port Angeles.

Day 5

The next part of our drive around the peninsula took us first to another Trip Advisor winner, Crescent Lake. The lake was gorgeous. The water was so clear that you could see dead trees that had fallen in many feet down. I have never seen water so clear before in my life. Amazing.

Onward we went to Ruby Beach along the Pacific Ocean. We took the trail down to the beach and enjoyed tide pools and the cool (make that cold) Pacific waters. We had a great time frolicking on the sandy coastline, even if the fog did obscure some of our views.

Rob and Laurel took another trail down to another beach while Mom and I stayed in the car and napped a little. When they got back, Rob drove the rest of the way to Quinault Lake where our resort awaited. We got our room, which had fantastic views of the lake through a huge window. Not too shabby for us. It was actually two rooms, which was nice.

Rob and I decided to drive into the rain forest and take a little hike on a short hiking trail while mom rested and Laurel played on her phone back at the resort. The drive was pretty cool, we encountered an entire herd of elk along the way. The hike took us into the magical world of moss covered rain forest. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

We had dinner at the Salmon House, so I had salmon with dill. Yum!

Day 6

It was awesome waking up to the sight of the lake in the morning. The fog had come in through the night giving the lake a surreal look and making everything damp. Me, Rob and Laurel went for a short hike near the resort on a trail that followed a pretty little creek gorge. It was still part of the rain forest so it had a lot of the same mossy trees we saw the day before. Quite lovely.

We headed back to SeaTac right after the hike. We were back fairly early in the afternoon, so we did laundry and then we called Dan and Shawna and asked them and Jo, Ella and Cameron to meet us for dinner. Doug and Brook and the girls had already left, but at least we could get together with everyone else. We met at Pete's BBQ nearby and had some really good food. Ella brought games to play so we went back to the apartment and played a game sort of like Apples to Apples but with a Princess Bride theme. It was so much fun, we all laughed so much and so loud that I am sure our hosts upstairs were annoyed. They all left by 10pm as not to bother our hosts too bad. We were so tired, we crashed right after they left.

Day 7

Our last full day. We got things together and drove into Seattle for our day of playing tourist. The first thing on our to do list was to drive by the Seahawks stadium. Seattle was a mad house and it seemed like the whole city was under construction. We passed by the stadium and got the obligatory pictures and then decided to go eat by the space needle. After getting turned around, confused and annoyed, we finally made it to the Space Needle, but it was so packed there was no where to park. We had an appointment for a float plane soon, so we decided to find a place near there to eat instead. I got us to the wrong address, then to the right one finally and things started to go our way a little better. We ate at McCormick and Schmidt's right next to Kenmore Air and got to park right in front of the Air Port.

Rob and I went on the float plane. It was really cool. The take off and landings were smooth as silk. Rob got to ride up front with the pilot, which I thought was great since it was his first seaplane ride. We saw the stadium, the space needle and all the sights from the air, so cool.

We then made our way back to the mad house that was the Space Needle area. It was a whole sight seeing area with several sights, shops, street performers and the whole nine yards. It would have been nicer without the crowds. We did the valet parking, since it wasn't much more than regular parking and Mom didn't have to walk as far. We stood in line to get our tickets, then decided to do the Chihuly gardens first. It was pretty cool, the glass sculptures were amazing. There wasn't too much to it, but that was okay because our turn for the Space Needle was due anyway.

We waited in line to get into the Space Needle, got to enjoy views from the top, then waited in line to come back down. It was worth doing once. Once only. 😊

It was still fairly early when we left Seattle that we decided to meet everyone else again, this time near them. We met at a Chinese Buffet that they all loved. It was pretty good and Jo's folks and his brother met us too. 12 of us total. A very nice end to a very nice trip.

We flew home the next day.

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