Get Ready! Team Tully took an amazing family vacation to the Pacific Northwest with a side trip to Vancouver Island in Canada! It was amazing!!! Great weather, great sights, great experiences, great people, great places, great memories, great family time! We are grateful and as always we travel with eyes wide open and a love of wandering. Here we go.....
Up Up and Away! Luke was asked by the pilot himself if he wanted to test out the driver's seat! He even got to blow the plane's horn. I'm not sure I knew that planes had a horn.
We had a connection in Los Angeles which worked out really well because we flew up the west coast and were able to see the California coastline and then we headed further inland once in Oregon and got to see the majestic Mt. Hood from the plane. So cool!
From a plane to a train to a monorail to get to our hotel in downtown Seattle. The driver of the monorail asked if Luke wanted to be her co-pilot and once again he got to honk the horn! Cute kid perks!! :-)
An iconic sight. The Seattle Space Needle
We were up early the next day to wander the sculpture garden along the Seattle waterfront. A great activity for early risers!
Our time here reminded me of all the amazing art museums I visited as a kid. My parents made a game of it...asking us which piece was our favorite and why. We did something similar with Luke and these sculptures. Lots of outside walking and exploring, some art appreciation, and some critical thinking. A wonderful Seattle morning.
I was proud of this artsy photo. It is taken from inside a bus terminal. Unexpected beauty.
Rock skipping in the Puget Sound
Get it?? L & K
Photo credit to Luke
Hooray!
I told the barista that our last name is Tully in hopes of getting a discount. Nope.
Ahhhhh.....Pike Place Market
A wonderland for the senses. I LOVE this place and could literally spend all day wandering the stalls.
A treasure of this awesome city!
Yep, that's gum. A tiny alley in the heart of Seattle known as "the gum wall". "Wall" is an understatement. It smelled like gum, it looked almost artistic, and if you could get beyond the excessive DNA and litter factor it was kind of amazing!
Especially if you are 8!!!
City playgrounds sure are different and "way more awesome".
The pop culture museum.
City parks full of fun and play! It wasn't quite warm enough for us southerners to get wet but it was warm by PACNW standards. I think it was 80 degrees.
Motion censored flowers. Luke ran around and made lots of great music.
A street fair calls for street food!
We really enjoyed our time in Seattle. It has always been one of my favorite cities and I think it was great to start our trip off in an urban environment. It made us appreciate all of the conveniences of city life but once we were in the rural areas we also really appreciated the fresh air and open spaces. Well rounded traveling!
We rented a car in Seattle and boarded a ferry to Bainbridge Island to start our trek North and West. Bye Seattle!
I'm telling you....one of our best travel tips is to let your kid take a camera. I just finished placing an order to have his pictures printed. There are some amazing photos and there are some photos of our feet but they are all HIS and they are his perspective and that matters. Ferry riding at its finest!
We made our way from the ferry dock on Bainbridge Island to the town of Port Angeles, WA. We checked into our hotel and walked downtown to see the sights and have lunch before making our way to the Hurricane Ridge entrance of Olympic National Park! Here we are at Hurricane Ridge (named such because of the strong winds)...you can tell by my hair. Ha! What a gorgeous place! The Olympic mountains are absolutely beautiful and relatively untouched.
Why we wander
Our first snow encounter (spoiler alert...we will encounter MUCH more!)
L made up a scavenger hunt list on the plane and we all contributed some ideas. Each night at dinner we would take out the list and see what we could cross off. It was pretty awesome and at times hysterical. There was everything from "see a deer" to "see someone with a Merlin beard".
The winds can be so strong that it makes it difficult for the trees to stay put in some places.
Luke's dream...to see a woodchuck. It is a kind of an inside joke with Jeffrey but you would have thought we had a unicorn sighting!
My boys.
We tried to teach Luke about the concept of contemplating....i.e. sit still for a hot second. Ha!
When you hike things like this happen....like its normal.
See?
L occasionally gets in a selfie mood.
Can you find the buck?
This particular trail was well marked for the flora. We talked about why different flowers grow here and not at home. Always teaching moments.
A mountain goat! A ranger came flying up the trail warning hikers to stay as far away as possible from this guy. Apparently there has only been one animal related casualty in Olympic National Park and it was a mountain goat goring someone. Yikes! Her remedy to get him off the trail? Shaking a grocery bag. No joke. He ran away. Note to self...carry a plastic bag. :-)
We have lots more to share but will do so in installments, for everyone's sake but our itinerary looked something like this:
Day 1: Arrive in Seattle. Train and Monorail to hotel. Explore park and watch street performers at the Space Needle. Dinner.
Day 2: Seattle. Sculpture garden. Pike Place. Waterfront/fisherman's wharf. Gum wall. Playground. Live music festival/street fair in Space Needle Park.
Day 3: Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island with car. Travel north. Lavendar festival. Wander around Port Angeles/waterfront. Hurricane Ridge (Olympic National Park) hiking. Pizza and pool at the hotel.
Day 4: Ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, British Columbia. Day in Victoria. Waterfront. Houseboat neighborhood. Beacon Hill Park. Downtown Victoria. Bug zoo. Chinatown.
Day 5: Lake Crescent area of Olympic National Park. Waterfall hike. Storm King Mountain hike. Lake Crescent rock skipping and feet dunking. Drive to Forks, WA. Rialto Beach.
Day 6: 4th Beach - Kalaloch, WA. Quinault Lake hiking. Temperate Rainforest. Swimming in Quinault Lake. Stay in Morton, WA.
Day 7: Mt. Rainier National Park. Skyline Loop Trail hike. Grove of the Patriarchs hike. Box Canyon hike. Dinner in Randle, WA. Stay in Kelso, WA.
Day 8: Columbia River Gorge, OR. Waterfall hiking. Cascade Locks. Bonneville Salmon Hatchery. Bonneville Dam and Locks. Stay in Portland, OR
Day 9: Portland. Voodoo donuts. Powell books. Japanese Garden. International Rose Test Garden. Food trucks.
Day 10: Fly home.
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