Our WAY Big Adventure

Pikes Place Market is said to be the soul of Seattle and is known not only for its abundant local produce, but also its colorful personalities. It is our country’s oldest continuously operating farmers market.

 One of the best known vendors in the market is Pikes Place Fish Co. Here, the fish flinging fishmongers are a long-standing tradition, a nd quite entertaining. This sea creature (near bottom) seemed to come to life because of the fish line (that you can’t see) and growl of the innocent looking character behind the counter.

The Saturday breakfast tradition in our home is Strawberry Crepes. They are very time-consuming, but well worth the effort. My kids have been happy on this trip so far, that we haven’t broken tradition. We were thrilled to find a vendor specializing in this favorite treat of ours for a late afternoon snack… and it wasn’t even Saturday! Our “extra large pizza sized” crepe was made by a friendly young man that was covered with tattoos. Hilary asked if she could get away with bringing home a boy like that…”Mom, dad, he makes really good Crepes!”

Tyler thought these windows looked just like heaven!  I can’t say that I’d disagree!

Our last stop…dinner. I told the kids,“You may have anything you want!” We filled a bag to overflowing as we enjoyed a chat with the very personable, colorful characters that ran the produce stand.

We were feeling quite fond of a particular uncle when we arrived!

…well, I’m rarely speechless, but I will try to let the pictures do the talking.

And a trip to Seattle is not complete without a mocha from it’s signature coffee house…

…and a museum, or two, or as many as we can fit into one day…

…and finally a trip to the world famous Pikes Place Market, which deserves a post of it’s own.
To be continued…

Can you guess who picked this town as a stop?

Gig Harbor is a quaint little town surrounding the water, very much like Charlevoix or Harbor Springs with the rolling hills and homes of Walloon. It is on the Olympic Peninsula, across Puget Sound from Seattle. Logging, fishing, crabbing and boat building have been a way of life here for many generations.

We took a stroll through small, hilly town, and expected to find t-shirts, fudge and ice cream…and would have bought some had we found them — a taste of home. But instead we discoverd “light-up crosswalks,” and a very majestic Mount Ranier glowing with the setting sun.

Morning Run

The Olympic  Peninsula is in the Northwest corner of Washington State, which is rightfully nicknamed the evergreeen state. This region is quite unique, in that it contains five major landscape settings: temperate rain forest, rugged mountain terrain, large lowland lakes, cascading rivers and saltwater beaches.  

 We spent a very rainy aftenoon driving through the Quinlault Rainforest, inside the Olympic National Forest.  For all of you Twilight fans, this is the peninsula is where the town of Forks is located. We drove through these dense woods expecting to see Edward Cullen around every bend. The evergreens are amazingly tall, the woods incredibly dense and mossy, the slopes very steep, and all of it is lush, green and (well, it’s a rainforest) very wet. 

This is one of two huge waterfalls that we saw, along with many little ones. This water comes completely from rain run-off, unlike the next one that comes from a lake up in the mountains.  After the second waterfall we were completely drenched from the pouring rain and mist from the falls, and my camera lens had so much moisture inside, I couldn’t take any more photos. That was not upsetting to our driver, who was incredibly patient with the three female photo snappers in the vehicle. “Stop dad!” “Back up!” “I’ve got to get a picture!” “Oh my  gosh!” “Look at that.” “Oh, oh, oh!” Although inside the car it was quite comical, outside it was amazingly beautiful!

After a few hours of school and work for Scott, it was time for a short drive to the airport to pick up Hilary. We were all very happy to be reunited! After many hugs and loading the car we were off to cross over the bridge into the state of Washington. Our drive today was not too long, leaving time for a late afternoon adventure. It was raining at our new campsite, but sunny to the west, so we decided to head to the ocean. I asked the kids what they thought it might look like. Amber said “The ocean mom, we’ve seen one before.” Tyler was a little worried before we got there. “Are there going to be sharks?”  “No son, no sharks…” Little did I know!

While we did not see a glorious sunset, it was still  beautiful. The clouds gave everything a silver-blue cast. The fine black sand and huge sections of driftwood were not at all what they were expecting, and something they won’t soon forget.

Tyler is getting good at impromptu videos… I love these. There is no coaching, just Ty guy and his amazing brain…and love for being an entertainer!

http://youtu.be/SSqOCCnf2ao