Saturday in Seattle

10 Tuesday Jul 2018

I think we squeezed in just about everything we could in under 48 hours. Saturday dawned partly sunny, and in the upper 70’s. The girls got underway about 10:30AM for the Space Needle. We stopped at The Yellow Leaf Cupcake shop in Belltown for coffee and breakfast on our way. 2 cups of pour over coffee, a bagel sandwich, and an incredibly light and delicious bacon cheddar biscuit, and we were on our way. I was impressed with the number of restaurants everywhere we walked. Some larger than others, most what I would call “intimate dining.” Every type of food imaginable, and all seemed to have no lack of business.

We reached the Space Needle in time for our noon tickets, and got in line. The walk up to the elevator took about 30 minutes, but the history of the 1962 World’s Fair and the construction of the Space Needle was very interesting. Beautiful views, but we were bummed the restaurant was closed for renovations. They did have a snack bar at the top observation deck, but with all the construction going on even at that level, the ambiance was a bit lacking. We did walk around and get some great photos.

Not sure if they’re mosquitos or spiders, but it was a funny sight to see!

We found Mom and started off to the Chihuly Gardens. (She passed on the elevator ride to the top. Heights aren’t her favorite.) My husband joined us after his visit with friends we don’t see nearly often enough. There are never words to describe Chihuly’s work, and there doesn’t need to be.

A bite of lunch at Bambino’s on our way back to the hotel. The 2 salads would have individually fed 4 of us, the meatball appetizer was entree sized, and half the 10″ pizza left the restaurant with us. Another small place, but they had a steady stream of customers. We were back to the hotel in plenty of time to get ready for the wedding, and the reason this entire road trip became reality!

A 20 minute or so Uber ride to the Seattle Tennis Club on Lake Washington. Across the lake were very large homes where apparently the Gates and Bezos residences are. The Virginia Steamship came through just as the cocktail reception ended, and Mt. Ranier came out from behind the clouds during dinner.

We were back in our room about 12:30AM, and did think about going out with some of the wedding party. Sanity kicked in, fortunately for me, as we had to begin our return trip the next day.

Posted by andreapw | Filed under 1962 World's Fair, Chihuly Garden, Lake Washington, Seattle, Seattle Tennis Club, Space Needle, Washington

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Eastern Washington to Seattle

06 Friday Jul 2018

Our adventure hasn’t ended yet – we’ve just been enjoying time with family in Seattle, and then recovering a bit from all the fun. There should be daily updates from now until we return home a week from today. (I am so blessed to work for the company I do. 3 weeks of vacation is an absolute joy, and it should keep me going until at least September!)

We had an absolutely wonderful view of roughly 27 fireworks shows from our hotel window on Wednesday night – everything from neighborhood displays to the 3 professional displays over Red Mountain. I realized all that was missing was the patriotic music. Phone to the rescue – patriotic songs pulled up on a music app. A few card games after the fireworks ended, and we called it a night. We had a relatively short drive to Seattle, but we were both anxious to get there and see family.

We enjoyed fireworks displays in every direction!

No time machine, just using up the stash of left over napkins Mom had. At least they had fireworks on them! 🙂

We opted for the state highway 243 over the interstate for the beginning of the drive. Right on past the Hanford Nuclear Waste site. Fortunately the road didn’t go directly by it. As we wended our way through the Columbia River Valley, we passed miles of apple orchards, sprinkled with the occasional vineyard. We stopped briefly at Wanapum Dam for a pit stop.

Model of the wind turbine that powers the dam

As we started on I-90, we passed another “Little Brown Sign” for the Petrified Ginko Forest. I didn’t have to ask twice if we should check it out. The forest itself would have required a bit of a climb up a steep hill, and it was rather warm. We opted to pass on that for this trip, and headed back toward the museum and gift shop instead. Interesting information sprinkled throughout what is mostly a gift shop for rock and gem collectors.

We made a second pit-stop at Thorp Market for fresh off the tree Ranier and Washington cherries and a few gift items. By this point, we were both anxious to get to Seattle and out of the car. The drive over the Cascades was beautiful, and relatively easy compared to the Rockies. Traffic into Seattle was light (at least in comparison with Atlanta area traffic!) We found the hotel easily, unloaded the car (well, technically the bellhop unloaded the car), and had parked it for the next three days.

We met my brother briefly for a beverage and snack before he had to head to a pre-wedding function. We were joined shortly thereafter by my daughter, and eventually my husband. We found a great Italian restaurant around the corner from the hotel which was open late. A bottle of wine, some amazing pasta, and a cannoli for dessert. A perfect end to the first half of the roadtrip! And the view for the next 3 days was pretty amazing.

Posted by andreapw | Filed under Apple Orchards, Cascade Range, Columbia River, Columbia River Valley, Petrified Ginko Forest, Seattle, Thorp Fruit Market, Wanapum Dam, Washington

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Red, White and Blue

05 Thursday Jul 2018

Northbound adventure began about 10AM today. For a holiday, traffic was fairly light. We opted not to stop along the way to our destination as we didn’t know what traffic ahead would be like. I also wanted to be in for the night before folks began heading home from their BBQs and picnics. The temperature in Idaho Falls this morning was a balmy 45 degrees. Not exactly what we’d call summer weather, but it did warm up rather quickly. (When I checked about 6AM it was 38 degrees with a 4 degree windchill.)

Through northern Idaho and the northeast corner of Oregon and on into Washington. Watching the topography change was a treat. The flat, vast farmland of Idaho into the rolling hills and Blue Mountains of Oregon. Two 6% grade descents today – the last overlooking gorgeous views of the farms and grain fields in the valley below. I enjoyed the view, at least. The passenger is not really keen on heights, especially when wending around mountain passes.

“Bessie,”as I have named her, hit 50,000 miles just over the Oregon border. Fun to think that I have helped put about 14,000 of those miles on her, and it will be closer to 16,500 by the time we complete this journey.

We crossed the 45th parallel today – halfway between the equator and north pole. Unfortunately no picture opportunity as we crossed it, just a sign on the side of the road as you drove by.

We checked into the hotel at 3PM, settled into the room, and then decided to see what fun we could find in the Columbia River Valley area of Washington. Hello, wineries! We managed to find one open, about 3 miles from the hotel.We had a very enjoyable tasting at J. Bookwalter Winery, and then stayed for happy hour at the restaurant. A perfect little meal at the end of the day. We are hoping to see fireworks from our room window when the sun sets.

We managed to get our red, white and blue in today (red wine, white wine and Blue Mountains!)