Still a Washingtonian at heart
The last time I was in Washington when it wasn't the dark, cold of winter, was several years ago. I've visited over the holidays, but not during the summer. That, coupled with the fact that my parents now live on a lake and have a boat, made it impossible to stay away this year. And I wanted to see my family too, of course. So Steve and I made a plan to visit them over the Independence Day holiday weekend.
We landed Thursday afternoon, picked up our rental, and about five minutes into the drive we both declared we must move here. That theme continued for most of the weekend. It was just so beautiful; I had forgotten how beautiful Washington is in the summer. We had a lovely visit and did pretty much everything we wanted to do.
The first few days were spent almost entirely on the boat since the weather was so cooperative. We wake boarded, surfed, swam, saw the sights, and napped in the sunshine. It was heavenly. For the fourth, the city puts together a huge firework show from a barge on the lake. We took the boat right up to it as close as we could and watched the show. It was incredible, among the best I've seen.
On Sunday Steve and I took off to spend the day on San Juan Island in the Puget Sound. I've been out in that area many times over the years, but not on this particular island since I was very young. We walked-on the ferry to Friday Harbor (I love taking ferries) and once we got there we had a delicious seafood lunch and rented a moped to see the rest of the island. It was a lot of fun. We didn't see any whales though, unfortunately. We missed their passing by one hour. But the scenery and quaintness of Friday Harbor and the entire island were enough to make the trip worth it.
Monday dawned cool and cloudy and it stayed that way for the rest of our trip. Since we weren't able to get back out on the boat, we filled our time with other things. We spent the day seeing random sights in Seattle. It seems like in past when I've gone to Seattle we've only visited the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. I've been to those places too many times that it's just not that fun anymore and this time I wanted to see what the rest of the city was like. So as a family we drove around town and went to some random places like the Locks, and some beaches around the city. And of course we had to make a stop at Dick's to get my favorite burger, fries, and strawberry shake.
That night we went to a Mariner's game and had a great time. The Mariner's won 5-0 and the pitcher only gave up one hit. It was a pretty exciting game to watch. I'm not the biggest fan of baseball but it's perhaps my favorite sport to watch in person. I just love the atmosphere.
We left Tuesday evening, but not before we took a quick hike up in the mountains. I've been in parts of Utah where I thought it was as green as Washington, but my memory was very poor. There is nothing as green as the mountains of the Northwest. It was a short hike, but I enjoyed being out there. And then, just like that, our trip was over and we had to catch our flight home. It was much too short of a trip, but I enjoyed spending time with my family and being reminded of how much I love the Pacific Northwest.
Overall, Steve and I had a fabulous vacation and I think a summer trip to Seattle is going to need to be an annual thing.
Go here to see a complete set of pictures from our trip.
