This year we had the opportunity to stay with my good-ol' friend Heidi. We met during our first semester in college and had lost contact through out the years so I was excited to catch up and she was excited to spend time with Ben. We ate and slept like royalty and Ben had the time of his life playing with her well trained dog, which I didn't take any pictures of. Anyhow, our plans for Saturday included a trip to the children museum and the aquarium yet after I accidentally kicked Ben at the playground, he lost his mood to be anywhere. But anyway, that afternoon we ate at Jonny and Deb's for lunch and had some pretty good haystacks for lunch with an in-meal entertainment of Ben playing with two dogs. That evening we visited the Bellevue Botanical garden where the light show has quadrupled since my days of living Bellevue. It's unfortunate that it's no longer free admission yet somebody has to pay for that electric bill. Ben fell asleep while we stood in line and was amazed and overjoyed when he woke up surrounded by Christmas lights... perhaps one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. It was fun hearing him say, "Woah!" as we wandered around looking at Christmas lights.
I always enjoy catching the ferry when I'm in Seattle. It's a great time to obtain an unobstructed view the Olympic Mountain Range off in the distance and Mt. Rainier while enjoying a nice boat ride. It's a glimpse of how serene life was before the asphalt, steel and seahawk fans arrived. We are fortunate to have family in Bremerton so just getting to their house is half the fun. On Sunday morning after racing against the clock to catch the 7:30 am ferry, we enjoyed the most amazing desolated ferry ride. There was a nice level of tranquility throughout our ride as we briefly got see a view of the sunrise, then later had fun trying to see where the clouds began and the ocean ended. Once in Bremerton, Ben had a blast playing with his cousin and his trains, trains and more trains. Unfortunately, I had to learn how to share with kids younger than myself. Since the seahawks were playing later that day, we wanted to avoid the crowds of fans on the ferry so we went north and crossed the sound to arrive at Edmonds. Since it was a nice warm winter day, we visited Juanita Park then ate some delicious veggie burgers at Kidd Valley in Kirkland.
On Monday we took our time getting back to Walla Walla. I had been wanting to see the old wagon road on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass so I made sure to take opportunity to see it. I was afraid we would not be able to traverse it due to snow yet I figured, what's the point on buying a Jeep? It turns out that the road was fine for the most part and I was impressed at the technology these new 4x4 rigs have. It's interesting how much more scenic the road is with waterfalls and views of the rivers despite that it runs between the east and west bound traffic. There is even a campground nestled between the interstate. Although the section we traveled is paved it does quickly gain altitude which made me wonder how enjoyable would it have been to cross the summit in a wagon. Anyhow, I had read about the old Milwaukee Road Depot still stands in Kittitas so after briefly seeing a nearby railroad bridge, we enjoyed some cupcakes by the old water tower. Sounds like one more thing off my bucket list to see in Washington. Once again, the trip to Seattle was great especially with the amazing hospitality from our hostess and worth the hassle of traveling during the holidays since Christmas day was spent driving in California. But I will leave that for my next post.
