Seattle, Victoria, and the Pacific NorthWest

 A little extra vacation time can lead to amazing things!  Clay had some "use-it-or-lose-it" vacation time and unfortunately, Tracy did not.  What began as a father-son trip morphed into our first "family" vacation in over 20 years.  We've had many vacations, but it had been 20 years or more since "just the 4 of us" went anywhere together.  After much discussion, we settled on the Pacific Northwest for the first 10 days of October.  Clay and Emily missed Tracy and the girls terribly, but David and I enjoyed having them "to ourselves".  

Clay went out a couple of days early and got some extra biking time in.  He kept sending us teasing photos of things he had discovered before our arrival.

We met Clay at our great Airbnb in Ballard.  It had recently been remodeled in a Midcentury Modern style so we were delighted.

That night Clay introduced us to one of the breweries he had discovered.  The food and beer were great, especially the caprese salad! 

On our first full day in Seattle, we decided to act like the tourists that we were and went to the Chihuly Museum, Pike's Market, and the Pop Art Museum.  Sean Thakur suggested Old Stove Brewery near Pikes and it was a good find.

Day two we dedicated to wineries.  Dave and I had been to Matthews before and knew it would be good.  Dave decided to rejoin the wine club to "save" us money on tastings and the case we had shipped back!  DeLillie was Clay's find and we enjoyed it too.  We could have done more but our tongues were fried! Clay also found a great seafood restaurant in nearby Fremont for dinner:  Rock Creek. 

Day 3 was for Clay's big mountain bike ride.  He had been planning it for a month and was excited to try a trail near Tiger Mountain.  We dropped him off at the bike shop and went in search of our own adventure.  Emily was in charge and found us a great waterfall to view, Snoqualmie Falls) and we almost got to see Mt. Rainier from Sun Top Overlook.  After driving what felt like miles but was only about 3, up a gravel road, the overlook was closed!  But we enjoyed the scenery in the Olympic mountains.  When we met back up with Clay we ordered pizza at a brewery.  He was happy and exhausted.  That night Emily put her firestick on the TV and since she is the only one with AppleTV, we decided to watch Ted Lasso.  We didn't exactly mean to binge-watch it, but it became a routine and we got through the first 2 seasons! 

Family vacations are for strengthening bonds and discovering new things about each other.  We sort of knew Clay was the foodie in our family, but he proved it with his great omelets and restaurant finds.  We began calling him the "restaurant whisperer", for he could find "holes in the wall" that served great food.  On night 4, he treated us to a Thai restaurant, where he ordered all of the dishes.

Clay cooking at the Airbnb

We had decided to be intentional about having one-on-one "dates" with each other.  Day 4 provided those opportunities.  The day started with Clay and Emily exploring Discovery Park.  They took the long hike that took them down to the beach. 

 Meanwhile, Dave and I explored the locks and salmon fish ladder.  We got to see both a large Navy boat go through plus some smaller yachts and a tug boat. There was an underwater viewing window for the fish ladder and out in the bay were harbor seals hoping to catch salmon.  When they would get too close to the ladder, a sound cannon would go off to scare them away, otherwise the fish ladder would become their smorgasbord!

That afternoon, Emily, Clay and I explored the National Nordic Museum.  The Pacific NW gave folks from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark the opportunity to work in fishing and logging similar to their environment "back home". 

That night Emily and David had a date night at the Seattle "Eye" or Ferris wheel while Clay and I attended a Moth Radio Hour in Fremont.  Deb had prepared a story but was not disappointed when she didn't get "picked from the hat".  The other stories were much better! 

We got our view of Mt. Ranier in an unlikely place on Day 5: the viewing deck of the Boeing plant.  Dave and Clay toured Boeing while Emily and I shopped in Everett at the Funko Factory (don't ask me what it is, but it is toys the granddaughters like!)  When we picked the boys back up Emily and I were able to go into the Boeing Museum and up on the roof to view Mt. Ranier and Mt. Baker.  You can really tell that they are old volcanoes.

Mt. Baker

Emily with a giant Funko

Dwarfed by a 747 tail wing

Mt. Ranier

When you travel with 40somethings, you learn a lot from the local baristas.  Emily and Clay befriended one in Ballard and we decided to take her advice to complete our visit to Everett with a scenic drive through the Cascades to a German town named Leavenworth.  The drive was spectacular and the colors of the leaves cannot be captured in the photos.  Leavenworth was fun.  Deb bought lots of stocking stuffers (no pix... shhhhh!) and we all drank good German beer!

Day 6 was our last day at the Airbnb and in the little community of Ballard.  We decided to just bum around there and have a "slow" day before going to Victoria.  Emily loved the murals in the town, even on the electrical boxes. As we were driving around Seattle and Ballard we were struck by the number of 5-point intersections and modified roundabouts.  They were often hard to decipher on Google Maps.  We dubbed them "wiggly-roos" and decided that Dave should enter the term in his civil engineering manuals.

Clay visited some favorite and new breweries and bought beer to fill our extra checked box.  Later he applied his foodie arts and grilled salmon in the backyard.  

Backyard at the Airbnb

Days 7 and 8 were in Victoria. The sleepy little town had grown up since Dave and I visited 13 years ago and the Empress was dwarfed by new high-rise hotels.  Monday was Canada's Thanksgiving so Emily and I weren't able to do the spa or high tea at the Empress, but we walked all around it.  The weeping spruce trees that had framed the entrance have since been cut down and replaced with topiaries.  Butchart Gardens were as impressive as we remembered, though the pictures never do it justice.  I've been buying tea from Murchies for several years and discovered an outlet.  Then it was one last ferry ride and a lot of "hurry up and wait" to board our red-eye flight back home.  We were really glad to see Tracy and Greg at the airport, and most glad to sleep in our own beds! 

Butchart Gardens

We were so glad we went the first day before the rain!

We had to take a picture of the dragon for Ella!

The Empress as the ferry arrives

No weeping spruce trees, but a great topiary 

Good-by Victoria

We discovered that Clay loves to bike and is in great shape.  An added benefit to his biking is he can visit pubs and breweries without gaining weight, not so for the rest of us.  Here is a list of breweries he visited!

Before we got there:

Fremont Brewery

Bale Breaker

Yonder Cider Taproom

Big Time Brewery and Ale House

With us:

Fair Isle

Urban Family 

Trail Bend

Cloud Burst

Lucky Envelope

Aslan

Old Stove

Pikes Brewing

Formula Brewing Co.

Stein Tap Room

Icicle Brewing Co.