The Great Roadtrip of July 2012 – Destination: Seattle

I’m recapping our adventures from The Great Roadtrip of July 2012!

Let’s see…where were we in the saga about our 3,221 mile roadtrip? So far, we’ve told you about our adventures exploring in Utah, playing on a lava field in Idaho, laughing in the rain in Oregon, watching Momma be chased through the woods of Washington by a hoard of stinging nettles, all while dodging slugs the size of raccoons, and we didn’t dump Daddy’s body in a ditch while waiting for a ferry from Whidbey Island. I think that about sums it up!

(If you’re joining the story midstream, be sure to check out all the recap posts by clicking here!)

The next day of our adventure was devoted to exploring Seattle!

Our first glimpse of the Seattle area when we rolled into town that Friday:

Before we left for our trip, my husband told me and told me and told me to pack warm clothes, specifically pants. I scoffed. I have a problem packing pants when it’s warm, let alone the thought of wearing them. Ick!  He muttered something about that time I froze to death in San Francisco, but I ignored him.  I looked at the weather information for Seattle and still didn’t want to pack pants. 60s? 60s isn’t cold enough to warrant pants! I compromised and packed one pair of camping pants.

So, how was Seattle?  Ah, Seattle: The place where JoAnn nearly froze to death.

At one point, I even swallowed my pride and told him he was right. He was right! I was wrong! I should have packed more pants. Sadly, he didn’t need my admission to keep himself warm; he was wearing pants.

Luckily, the day we explored Issaquah, we were greeted with “unseasonably warm temps,” which meant it was only a bit chilly at certain times for our blood, but certainly not cold enough for something as gross as pants. It was sunny! The weather was pleasant, and I was smug. Pants! Ha! See? I don’t need no stinkin’ pants.

The next day, my resolve started to waver. Whidbey Island was a bit nippy at times, but I was wearing my pants! A ferry ride can be chilly! See? I’m not totally uncivilized.

Surely the weather would be warm when we explored Seattle. I couldn’t wear the same pants two days in a row if there wasn’t camping involved, AND IT’S TOO BAD NO ONE TOLD ME TO BRING MORE THAN ONE PAIR OF PANTS. (ahem) So I wore one of my skirts. It was longish. (Okay, it wasn’t.  At all.) But, it was a hiking skirt, so it was lined. That would make it warmer, right? I thought I’d be fine. (I wasn’t.)

They buried my cold, lifeless body in Seattle.  My tombstone reads, “He told her to wear pants.”

Despite my lack of appropriate wardrobe, we set off to explore Seattle.

Online sources will tell you, “The EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of popular music, science fiction and pop culture.” Its location near the base of The Space Needle made it the prefect place to start our day.

It really is a cool experience. A few pictures cannot do our visit justice!  (As with most of the photos on this site, click to enlarge.)

One of our favorite exhibits was the Avatar section. The technology employed in the exhibits was amazing, and engaging for all ages. This being said, I’m not sure Claire would have appreciated this place if she was younger.  As it was, she was at just the right age to explore, but got a bit weary after a couple hours.  (Honestly, so did I.)

After spending the morning there, we checked out The Space Needle!

This was one Stereotypical Seattle Thing I REALLY wanted to see. I’d “seen” it from the airplane when we flew in and out of Seattle on the way to Hawaii a couple years ago, but I really wanted to check it out in person. My hubby feared it would be too “touristy,” but he relented. Luckily, a great time was had by all!

We opted to visit on a weekday so that the wait wouldn’t be insane, and it was the perfect plan. We only had to wait a short while for the elevators. (And we all know how much Daddy likes waiting in line…)

The great part about this portion of our visit was that our friend was able to act as our Tour Guide. It was nice having a local pointing out things from the top.

From here, we split up with our guide and decided to tour parts of Seattle on our own.

On Daddy’s Must See List were the grave-sites of Bruce Lee and his son Brandon. In this same cemetery, as luck would have it, was a letterbox I thought would be fun to try. After navigating through traffic that was ridiculously slow, yet full of ridiculously polite drivers, we found the cemetery.

But, because it had been a deceptively long journey, a bathroom break was needed. Right next door to this cemetery was a park, and in searching for the restrooms, we found this:

My husband couldn’t not explore this, and what he found was amazing. We all hiked up the stairs to see what we could see.

After exploring our Ridiculously Awesome Yet Random Find, we headed to the cemetery and were successful there, too!

We then headed back down to the wharf for the best seafood we’ve had in a while…if ever.

We then explored as much of the waterfront as we could, before Daddy was forced to carry Momma’s cold, frozen body back to the car.

Yes, I was tempted to turn that one gull around so that it was facing the right way, but I’d nearly frozen to death while taking this shot as it was.  Priorities.

All in all, our time spent in Seattle and surrounding areas was fantastic.  We saw a ton of stuff and have such great memories.  There were a lot of things we didn’t get to see, but as with any trip, that was to be expected.  The next time we visit, we’ll tick some more things off the list, and I’ll be sure to bring pants.

Maybe.

Next stop? Coeur d’Alene! …look!  I can spell Coeur d’Alene!

Stay tuned!