The Seattle Area

We have marked the half way point of our trip and Happy and Sad emotions arise.  On one hand, Joe and I have already started planning our "We're Back!" party and Loralai's birthday party and we are so excited about Loralai starting school, and even getting back to work and seeing our parents, and being back in our house and still very excited about the parts of our trip to come too!  On the other hand, we've come to really like all the time together and seeing new places each week.  Every time we come to a new place, L says "Is this where we live?"  We have definitely caught the traveling bug!  The world seems a little smaller now, less intimidating, less far apart.  New possibilities are possible.  One thing is certain, we will come home changed and will have many more adventures in our lifetimes.

Our 2 weeks in “The Seattle Area” was an experience.  It was really 3 trips in one.

1. We spent the first week at Dash Point State Park in Federal Way, about 45mins to an hour from Seattle.  I was bummed to be so far from the city, but it was the closest we could find at the time.  State parks are nice since they are treed and the kids have a little room to run around and not be in the street. 

This was a stage at the ampitheater near our site.  L and Bean (mostly L) put on lots of shows for us!

Our week here was packed with events, since it was both Joe’s and I’s Birthdays!  So we spent a lot of time eating out, and shopping for birthday goodies (went to the mall and Walmart), etc.  On my actual birthday, I took the girls into Seattle and did a Duck Tour of the city where they drive you around the city and then drive into Union Lake.  It was the perfect thing to do.  Loralai got such a kick out of the driver wearing different silly hats as we went along and we got to see a lot of the city.  Bean liked the duck song and sat nicely on our bench looking around until she fell asleep.  However, after having to park our monster truck in a garage that was only 6” taller than it, and walking all around the city with a phone that was practically dead, finding quick emergency bathrooms in a strange town, and doing the tour, Mama was done and headed back in traffic to home base.  My husband had sweetly cleaned the RV (Best present you can give a woman!) and we went to Olive Garden for dinner (I was craving something FAMILIAR and was just tired at this point of “trying” things out).  Olive Garden was a good call. 

We had some fun "girl time", playing dress up.

For Daddy’s birthday, we were all super sweet to him, made him cards, bought him a cake (cause mama don’t bake), and took him out to Denny’s since all wanted was a bacon filled waffle.  Weirdo.  And with that, our 1 day a year of being the same age came to an end. 

We also visited some local parks and the park's Nature Center.  There was a young ranger that worked there and he talked to Loralai a lot and did a short craft with her.  She asked me if we could "go back to where that boy was" about a million times.  I think she liked him.

Our last day at Dash Point was our best!  Loralai talked me into exploring a hiking trail on a whim with Bean.  So in our flip flops, we started down the trail.  I did have some water and a few snacks with me, thank goodness.  The hike was beautiful and ran along side a stream and had lots of cool bridges.  Bean insisted on walking a lot of it, so it was slow going, but gave Loralai more time to touch the water and pick Salmon berries to eat as we went along.  Then all of the sudden, we came out on the beach!  Great beach, great sunny Friday, equaled TONS of kids and families playing!  Loralai found friends to play with in no time and luckily they had toys to play with!

Our time at the beach was short lived, since we were headed to Mt Rainier National Park as soon as Joe got off work at 2pm.  I was not very equipped or excited to climb back UP the trail to our RV, but made it somehow with two wet, hungry kids.  And off we went to arrive just outside Mt Rainier NP less than 2 hours later at the best RV park we have stayed in yet, Mounthaven!  $38 a night, but totally worth it (especially if you count the 5 magazines I accidently took with us when we left)!

You can never have too many sleeping baby photos!

2. Mt Rainer is amazing and a great national park as far as national parks go!  Most of the park is the glacier covered mountain and there are 5 major "villages" on it's outskirts, most on the south end.  Our place was just 5 minutes from the entrance gate on the SW side.  As soon as we were parked, we got in the car and drove to see some of the park.  Waterfalls were everywhere it seemed, even more than we saw in Yosemite! 

Mt Rainer

The snow at Paradise.

Frozen Lake



She wanted to slide down this hill in her dress.

Valley of the Giants



The only village where there was snow, was Paradise at higher elevation.  The other areas were pretty warm.

Ranger Loralai

Saturday was our main day there, and we did 2 hikes, and visited all 3 main "villages" on the south end.  We stopped for lunch at Paradise and listened to a ranger talk and saw the film on the park.  We also toured a tiny museum and all the visitors centers.  Lots of driving and looking a the beautiful scenery.  We stayed in the park as late as we could and returned home to make dinner, do laundry, etc.  Sunday we just popped into the park long enough to visit the gift store and get L's Jr Range badge and then headed to Bellvue, WA just 25 mins from downtown Seattle (Yay!) to stay at Trailer Inn RV Park (TIGHT!!!  Very small spaces and a little over budget), the ONLY park anywhere near the city, or so we thought at the time.  We later found out there was another one just across the freeway that was a lot more spread out (Vassa Resort and Waterpark). 

3. Living so close in a parking lot was not the ideal place to let the kids run free, but they had an indoor pool and playground there and WE MADE FRIENDS!!!!

Making not just 20 minute friends, but actualy real (3 day) friends was by far the coolest thing that happened to us while in Seattle.  One of the negatives of traveling like we are, is that it can get a little lonely at times.  Sometimes you need to talk to someone that ISN'T your dad or wife, or sister!  It was really nice to connect with other, equally awewome people face to face for a few days!  So how did we meet these brave full-time RVers?  L, being the awesome kid she is, is always on the look out to meet new friends.  One afternoon after being at the zoo all day, she asked if she could go outside and within seconds had met some kids that live at the park.  We ended up eating our dinner outside that night, so we could watch her play.  Bean joined in shortly after.  They had a great time and we did the same thing for the remaining 2 nights we were there.

The Friend Bait.  Works like a charm!



These girls are so sweet!

WE MISS YOU Neeley, Emily, and Brooklyn!!!!!

They stayed for dinner (shrimp tacos)!



This lady was out hula hooping everyday at our place.  This day must have been a little chilly...she usually just wore shorts and a matching sports bra.  I hope to be as comitted to exercise as her one day!


We were pretty lazy in Seattle and did a lot of just hanging out in the RV (It rains there alot, don't you know), but we did manage to get out and see a few things!

Happy Father's Day!  Walking back from his Outback dinner.



Freemont Troll Under the Bridge...of behind which you will find several homeless people sleeping.



The Gum Wall (My only regrete, we had no gum to add!)



ZOO!!!



Some of us were not so happy to feed the garaffe.



Great zoo!  Very educational.  $17 adults, $9 kids 3-12, and $6 to park.



Pikes Place....EXPENSIVE...but very cool to visit



Coffee?  You bet your ass!



I also managed to find a teacher store while we where here, so our RV now looks like a classroom.  :)

Pictures, coutesy of Loralai (who is quite the photographer by the way).



We also have an alphabet strip over the seating area.



Things we would like to have done and the reasons we didn't.

1. See the view from the Space Needle.  It cost nearly $20 per adult, $12 kids.

2. Done the Underground Tour of the city.  RAIN!!!

3. San Juan Islands.  1.5 hour to get to ferry, 2+ hour ferry ride.  Don't know my way around.  Alone.

4. Cananda.  No Passports yet!

5. Date.  Too overwhelmed to find drop in daycare and we had peeps to hang with instead!

Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed by such a large metropolitain area.  I could have spent more of our time at their award winning science center or children's museum, but then I thought, Houston's is just as good and I know where I can park there!