Click here for all our Washington pics and other WA stuff!
Washington for me was whale watching on the open sea. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous... It wasn't the whales (we didn't see any the first time out) - it was the water, the mountains in the background, and working together as a team to find those pesky whales. So much fun. Our daughter took it so seriously and we smiled at her enthusiasm.
Mt Rainier also brought a smile with its majestic stance in the skyline. The National Park was wonderful with gorgeous trails and enormous rocks for the kids to climb. I must say as we passed numerous properties for sale approaching the white-capped giant, I thought about living here. The descriptions of rain and cold in Washington dissuaded me, however, and we mentally noted that we could see more mountains elsewhere.
After learning our lesson from crazy schedules in prior states, we de-stressed in Washington by staying all 7 days in one place, a little spot called Sumner. It was a cute little town with train access to Seattle and within reach of most of the Western part of the state.
Seattle was as expected - biig city with some cool things to see...oh and a little rainy. The most important thing according to our community at http://helpus.bestplacesintheusa.com/ was the guys throwing fish at Pike's Market. Very fun. We debated about shipping my folks some fresh fish, but frankly the fish there were too big to fit in my dad's little Fry-Daddy. (That's a deep fryer for you healthy people.) A fond memory of mine was when dad would make beer-battered fish which were always followed by home made french fries. (Some day when Sheri is out planting broccoli, I will secretly teach the kids about deep frying...)
It was Sheri and I's second time up in the Space Needle, and you do need to see it once but once is probably enough.
One thing we missed in Washington was the little town of Leavenworth. We had been there 10 years earlier, and I remember driving into the mountains through the clouds top get there. Your are surrounded by mountain tops which led to romantic walks with my wife. In the evening, the outdoor hot tub at our hotel held the perfect viewpoint for the sun setting into the mountains. Oh, and there's German saugage. Hopefully, it remains that beautiful as they did have a fire there server years back.
We also were reminded of a life lesson from many years earlier. Passion makes life worth living. So many people don't care about anything...and their life becomes a monotany of daily tasks. Care. Care deeply. Then act. It creates goals, makes things happen. Passion wakes you up from your your otherwise mondane life. Find it for something - your marriage, God, organ donation, going on vacation, your job...then do something about it.
Best Hotel: Wow, there were two - the Holiday Inn Express in Spokane Valley where the kids loved petting the hotel dog as well as a staff that went way out of there way to make my wife's birthday fantastic. The second was the Holiday Inn Express in Sumner. Great staff and they had complimentary apples, cookies, AND SOUP in the evening. It was a nice healthy, break for us.
Worst Hotel: Doubletree - SEATEC. Very nice rooms, and of course the cookies were good, but the front desk was horribly uninformed and instead of apologizing about it, they were somewhat rude.
Best Restaurant: I know it's wrong to pick a chain, but Charley's Grilled Subs had the best Philly Cheese-steak I've ever had. They tempted us all with a sample as we walked around downtown Seattle and 3 of us got hooked. The sandwich lived up to its hype and we will still stop at a Charley's as we travel because the taste left a memory. Things may change when we make it to Philly...
Best Memory: Sitting in the shadow of Mount Rainier with Sheri while the kids played on the rock. These are the times I love the most when we can chat together about life while our kids are having fun. Don't remember what we talked about sitting on the rocks, but I remember the beauty of the mountains, of my wife and the peaceful feelings it all brought.
Worst Memory: WalMart not being able to get the oil in our tank during an oil change and then not cleaning the mess up.
Mini-Golf Winner: Sheri keeps up her streak. Stats at the time: Me-1, Sheri-3, Levi-1, Chloe-0
Possible state to live in: Not at this time. We didn't find a place we would like to live in Washington...other than within view of Mt Rainier. The weather didn't sound great either, although we didn't give the middle of the state a fair shot at it.
-Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment