We made our annual visit to the Pacific Northwest from July 6-21.
We started with a couple of days at my sister Tricia's house in Puyallup. The girls love to visit the chickens and the horses. They made a daisy chain crown for one of the horses and collected eggs. We also had a homemade pizza feast using the pizza oven that Frank built last summer.
On Sunday we stopped at Carol's bother Bob's in Seattle for brunch. Torii served us a delicious Niçoise salad and Audrey and Charlotte got to play with cousin Alex, whom they love. Then we headed over the mountains to Richland.
Carol and I really enjoy that drive. The Cascades mountains are "home" for me so I always love being in them. We love the climate change evident in the flora, the panoramic views along the Columbia River and the desert landscapes as we approach Richland.
Our Richland visits are always relaxing. I haven't been there since we moved to Boston because I have focused on Seattle during our summer visits, but I really missed hanging out at the Guettlers'! We got to watch the Tour de France every day, go boating on the river, go to the city pool (sometimes twice a day) and enjoy Mary's delicious cooking. And Carol got to play cards with her parents for hours every night. (I'm anti-social. I read. But they don't mind.).
Coincidentally, Carol's Uncle Marty died shortly before our visit and the funeral was held in Yakima during our visit. It was the first funeral for the girls, and we met some of Carol's extended family.
Back in Seattle we hosted our annual picnic at Volunteer Park. About 30 people showed up and we enjoyed reconnecting with Seattle friends. The weather cooperated nicely.
The girls had sleepovers at Aunt Betsy's and at Aunt Tricia's and shopping outings with Grandma Kay. We visited the zoo with old preschool friends and then we visited the old preschool playground. We had a lovely evening at Alki, eating with my parents and Torii and Alex and Jade at Pegasus Pizza (our old hangout) and then Bob joined us and we visited Whale Tail Park. Carol had a sleepover, too, on Vashon Island with her dear friend Gregory.
During one kids transfer Carol and I were in Federal Way and visited the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection at the Weyerhauser headquarters. I have wanted to visit it for years but never got off the freeway to do it. It was fascinating! I didn't realize how some bonsai trees are "started" - by finding a very old (typically gnarled) tree in nature, removing much of it to achieve the desired base form and then grafting on a different species to get the correct leaf scale, for example. Some of the trees we saw were started as bonsai more than 100 years ago.
I had hoped to take the girls for a hike in the Cascades during our visit but the schedule didn't work out. While searching for potential hikes during the trip planning I came across Twin Falls near North Bend. I had never heard of it. One day I had some time to myself and decided to check it out. I recommend it! It's relatively short and has just enough elevation gain to make it a real hike, and it "ends" at a bridge over a pretty series of waterfalls. (It doesn't really end there, it continues up the slope to join the Iron Horse Trail).
Just before we arrived in Seattle, two groups of Seattle friends posted photos of themselves at iFly Indoor Skydiving. Audrey really wanted to go. We had a little room in the vacation budget so we made a reservation for our last day in Seattle. It was really a blast. Charlotte backed out at the last minute, so Audrey got two double-long turns in the wind tunnel. She did very well. We had a fantastic instructor. At the end of Audrey's time he grabbed her and flew her all the way to the top of the tunnel about 40' up! She loved it!
After that we went to the waterfront with Aunt Betsy and rode Seattle's newest attraction: the Great Wheel. It's a big ferris wheel with enclosed cars that seat six people each. We lucked into riding it exactly at sunset. Gorgeous.
We made one more stop after that, to visit the Fremont Troll who lives under the Aurora Bridge. It was a fitting farewell to Seattle.
We had a fantastic trip. The weather was beautiful the whole time and we loved reconnecting with family and friends.
Don't forget that we have a newly renovated guest room in Boston and we welcome visitors!
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