West Coast!

Oh the West Coast. How very lovely you are. And your people. We heart them too. Another OMSI friend wedding brought us to the greater Seattle area for a long weekend. After picking Erica Henry up at the Seattle airport (hurrah for seeing far away friends 2 times in one month!) we headed to Olympia to the Henry Palace by the sea (well the sound...well actually an inlet off of Puget Sound). It's salt water for sure though and comes complete with seals, jellyfish and fresh oysters. 

After a nap, we did some dock exploration. There are SO many things living there! I really miss this living next to Lake Superior. I keep expecting there to be little barnacle feet waving at me even after all of these years. So that was fun, to see the barnacle feet all up in the air/water like they just don't care - or are feeding. You know, whatever. 

Jellyfish!

Heading out for a boat ride.

Seals!

Helen and Lucy checking out the seals.

Look away coast guard. This is probably - strike that - DEFINITELY not the proper fit for a PFD. But it was the closest we were going to get. 

Lu loved the wind in her hair. 

We stopped at the Hands-on Museum in Olympia for a sand castle building contest and to play a bit before heading up to Mt. Rainier. She could have played in this water feature FOREVER. If you are ever in this part of the state, stop here. It's a beautiful museum. 

Nurse log! This was outside our cabin that we stayed at with friends. Unfortunately Lu didn't get to see a slug on this trip. Se la vi. We'll be back. 

The day of April and Tony's wedding we headed up the mountain to see the wildflowers and get a glimpse of a glacier. Goodness these are big hills. And big trees. Love me some big trees. 

A glacier through the clouds. Ironically, we didn't pack nearly enough layers which is why we are all wearing our rain coats on a beautiful day. (One of the few photos we have of Ryan from the trip because he is so often the one behind the camera.)

After hiking a bit though, we warmed up. Especially the mama carrying her 35 lb child up hill. It was a fun adventure with Brad, Kim and Chloie. 

Apparently there were lots of marmots in these hills higher up than we got. Doesn't it make you just want to sing?

Heading back down. So beautiful.

There were a bunch of technical climbers at the lodge too. Clearly that wasn't what we were up to that day. We had a wedding to get to after all. 

Wedding location at a spa at the base of the mountain. It was beautiful.

And there was much love. Congrats April and Tony! We got to meet their little guy James as well which was a treat. 

These two played so nicely together. Chloie was a wonderful older friend to Lu. 

After hanging out with the OMSI peeps (Kate and Paul were there too but we don't seem to have any pictures of them) we headed into Seattle. Side note: Our phones were turned off for three whole days! Which also meant that there were fewer pictures taken. That's probably fine though because we just soaked in the experience and laughed a ton. 

At the Seattle Center and the Science museum's butterfly garden. Lucy's big take away from this was that butterflies like fruit, they will not land on your finger although you REALLY want them to, and there were some guys fixing something by the door with a lift. That last one has been brought up several times recently because our neighbors are fixing something with a lift in their yard. It brings the whole thing back for her. 

What? This ol' pupae? 

Because images of the space needle are plastered all over the city and you can also see it from different parts of town, Lucy often exclaimed, "Look! It's that thing that we saw from the car! The space needle!" What a good little tourist she is. 

While in Seattle we stayed with the ever wonderful Dilley-Holstrom-Dillstrom clan. We don't have any pictures of Chris and Jana but here's one of Lucy and Gwen smearing sauces while we made pizza one night. Goodness that Gwen is a cutie. 

Our flight on Tuesday wasn't until later in the afternoon. We stopped by the waterfront, the Aquarium and Pike's Place market. We also went to a little garden near the airport to try and squeeze every last drop out of Lucy's nap. She really did a great job traveling. She did keep asking though where we were going to sleep next. 

Lu's a pro at the Aquarium scene obviously. 

Face painting!

She requested a crab.

This is one of the coolest parts of the Seattle Aquarium. Their underwater dome. You get to peek out into the Sound and see what's swimming by. 

Or crawling by - like this big sun stars. One of these was eating a fish all smooshed up against the glass. The other ones were trying to get in on that meal time action at super slow sea star speed. 

Look at the tube feet! That's my girl. 

Photo from our last Seattle trip - circa 2010.

 

New photo same location - almost exactly 3 years later.