Vacation Part 2: Seattle and Portland

After we returned from our relaxing getaway to Orcas Island, we spent two more days in Seattle. On Monday, Jason's parents treated us to a trip to the Seattle Aquarium. It's a huge aquarium with all kinds of sea life, and Nicholas did well on his inaugural visit. He loved the touch tank and some of the large sea creatures, including the sea otters. I'm sure he'll love to go back as he gets older.

Since he was too little to reach into the touch tank himself, they took out a sea cucumber and a starfish for him to touch.

Later that evening, we met up with some of Jason's family friends at a Korean restaurant for a delicious meal of Korean barbecue-- but not before a stop at a nearby park in Bellevue to burn off some energy and take some family photos.

It may not look like it in this photo, but Nicholas was fascinated by the soccer field and goal. There was also a team of adult men practicing, and he kept trying to run onto the field and get in the game!

On Tuesday, we enjoyed a low key day at home, followed by a quick visit to Green Lake to see my sister and brother-in-law (we planned to spend more time with them down in Portland later in the week.) We ended the Seattle portion of our trip with a barbecue over at Jason's sister's beautiful new house in West Seattle. We had so much fun that I forgot to take an photos, but we loved checking out their new digs, ate our fill of gourmet burgers, and spent some quality time with Jason's family and our best man and his wife who also joined us.

On Wednesday, we scrapped our plans to take the train down to Portland and ended up with a last minute car rental (more on that in another post-- ahem, traveling with a toddler.) After an uneventful ride, we made it to my parents' house. All three of us enjoyed long naps, followed by a low key dinner with my parents. 

On Thursday morning, we made the short trek over to Luscher Farm to check out the community gardens (impressive!) and chickens. Nicholas picked up an apple beneath and apple tree, and proceeded to carry and throw his "ball" all around the gardens. 

Big fan of the chickens!

On Friday, my parents hosted a big family dinner at our house. My aunt and uncle (on my mom's side) from New Hampshire were in town, so it was a great opportunity to get everyone together-- including my brother Geoff and his wife Brooke, my sister Laura and her husband Mike, and my uncle and his girlfriend. We enjoyed an awesome meal of barbecued Chinook salmon in my parents' gorgeous yard. 

Siblings! (And G&B's baby K, due in October)

On Saturday, we headed over to my parents' country club to enjoy some pool time, followed by another big family gathering-- this time with my dad's side of the family. He has four siblings, all of whom have several kids, and we had almost everyone in attendance, including my grandparents, my aunt and uncle who live in the Bay Area, and most of my cousins. It was a fun evening!

Muggin' with Uncle Geoff's shades

We flew home the following morning, August 4th. All in all, it was a fabulous summer vacation. Fortunately the plane trip back went a little more smoothly than the way out, but it's always tough to leave, especially when we don't have another trip on the horizon just yet. But, I know we'll be back soon, and we already have a Thanksgiving visit from Jason's parents to look forward to!

Vacation Part 1: Orcas Island

We left for our summer vacation on the evening of July 24^th. Despite our best preparations for a 4 hour plane ride with a toddler, the flight out was a little rough. That’s a post for another day, but in a nutshell Nicholas screamed for the last hour and a half of the flight. He was officially that kid and we were those parents. But, once we landed, we put the plane trip behind us and proceeded to have a wonderful vacation.

We spent our first day in Seattle, catching up with Jason’s parents, and getting Nicholas acclimated. Then, on Friday we got up bright and early and left for our first overnight getaway without Nicholas. To say we were excited is an understatement. Our destination was beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juan islands, where Jason’s good friend Marc was getting married the next day. After a two hour drive to Anacortes and an almost two hour wait for the ferry, we boarded for the hour trip to Orcas Island.

It was a little chilly that morning, but we got a spectacular,  cloudless day to enjoy the gorgeous views of the Puget Sound and surrounding islands.

Once we arrived, we made the short drive from the ferry landing to the cute town of Eastsound. We parked, and eagerly hit the streets to explore. We wound up getting one of four outdoor tables on the deck of the Madrona Bar and Grill overlooking the bay. Gorgeous.

After lunch, we checked out some of the local shops and galleries, and then headed over to Rosario Resort to check-in. Our room wasn’t ready, so we met up with some other friends who had arrived and were relaxing down by the pool. When we were finally able to check into our room, we were rewarded with this beautiful view off our balcony looking back down at the main resort area and harbor.

That evening, we went to the rehearsal, and then we boarded shuttles over to The Kitchen for a fun outdoor rehearsal dinner.

The next morning we slept in until after 9am, which was bliss. (Best night of sleep in 18 months!) Jason had to start getting ready with the groomsmen at noon, so we had a few hours get breakfast and squeeze in a little sight-seeing. We headed back into town, where we strolled through the local farmer's market (my pictures below don't do it justice, but the flowers and produce were gorgeous) and then enjoyed omelets and cappuccinos at Mia's.

After breakfast, we made the short drive over to Moran State Park so that we could make the drive up to the top of Mount Constitution. Standing at just over 2,400 feet, Mount Constitution is the highest point in the San Juan Islands and offers stunning panoramic views of the entire Puget Sound-- as far as Mount Rainier to the south and Vancouver, B.C. to the north. We were probably there on the most beautiful day of the year.

Afterwards, I drove Jason back to get ready for the ceremony with the other groomsmen. Then, I headed back to Moran State Park for a four mile hike around Cascade Lake. I wound up getting a little bit lost and found myself back at the resort when I was about 80% done with the hike. This would have been fine-- except that my car was still over in the park. So I jogged back to the car and wound up getting a little more of a workout than I had planned.

Fortunately, I still had plenty of time to get ready for the wedding, so I headed back to the room to read and relax for a little while. At 5pm, I drove down to the ceremony, which was on Rosario's beautiful Point Lawn overlooking the water.

(Handsome groomsman and I post-ceremony. Check out the deer behind us!)

After champagne and light appetizers on the lawn, we moved over to the restaurant for more appetizers, dinner, and dancing. Such a beautiful Pacific Northwest night!

The next morning we were up bright and early to beat the ferry lines and head home. After a short stop for a Thai lunch in Anacortes, we finally made it home around 4pm. It was wonderful to have two days away, but it was also pretty great to see the look on Nicholas' face when we walked through the door. He had a wonderful time with his Dzia Dzia and Grandmama, and we are so grateful that they watched him for two and a half days, but we missed him and were happy to be reunited.

Next up, a recap of Seattle and Portland...

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

I've always been (nerdily) fascinated with geography, particularly within the United States. I love poring over maps to figure out how various cities and states are situated relative to each other-- especially for those parts of the country that I'm not very familiar with. As a girl from the west coast, where are the states are all big blocks and usually take at least 5-6 hours (or 18 if you're in California) to drive through, it still blows my mind that one night in college, while I was visiting a friend in Pennsylvania, we drove about 20 minutes from her home in Pittsburgh to pick up her good friend in West Virginia, and then drove another 20 minutes to go to a movie-- in Ohio. Crazy town.

Anyway, not surprisingly, one of my goals has always been to visit each and every one of the 50 states.* So I started keeping track a while back, and realized that now, due to our move to Texas and my job here, I'm making pretty good progress. Behold my "visited states" map (oh and the color coding is totally arbitrary-- it's just for pizazz):

Clearly, the middle of the country has not been my forte. Then there's New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Alaska. I'm confident I can knock off a few of these, but North Dakota? That will take some creativity. Some highlights:

• Oregon: Born and raised in Portland.
• California: Lived in Orange County for a few years during elementary school, LA during college, and San Francisco for 3 years after college.
• Washington: Lived in Seattle for 5 years.
• Hawaii: I've spent some time on the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai. I am dying to go back!
• Idaho/Montana/Wyoming/Nevada/Utah/Arizona: I grew up in a family that loved to camp, so we took many long road trips to visit the National Parks of the west, including Glacier, Yellowstone, Zion, and the Grand Canyon.
• Colorado & South Dakota: At my last job, one of my big accounts was Vail, CO, so I had to travel out there once every other month or so (tough life!); I also worked briefly with a fast food client based in Sioux Falls, SD-- not my favorite account ever, but at least I got to cross South Dakota off my list!
• Ohio/Kansas/Georgia: Since working at my current job, I've been able to travel to each of these states for work... more states I might not have gotten to otherwise. And Lawrence, KS? A very cool little town.
• North and South Carolina: Just added these to the list last summer when J was working in Charlotte and we took a road trip down to Charleston. Beautiful!

So my grand total is 33 states visited with 17 to go... not too bad! I'm hoping to knock one or two more off the list while we live in Texas.

What are some of your favorite U.S. destinations?

*I only count a state as visited if I've actually gotten out and seen or done something in the state. So, while I've traveled through New Jersey and Minnesota several times, and Rhode Island and Kentucky once each, I'm not counting airport layovers or any sort of transit through the state if I didn't actually stay there, or, as in the case of West Virginia, at least spend several hours sight-seeing and exploring.