My Wonderful Time In Seattle

I have just returned from 12 great days in Seattle and the surrounding area with Heidi and her family. My sister and I were very busy while we were there. I took hundreds of photos, am including some of them here.

Marshall on a swing at the park

Heidi, following the Rock & Roll half marathon in Seattle

Seattle has a store that I love to frequent: Daiso. This is a "dollar store," of sorts, with all of the items from Japan at $1.50 each, with a few exceptions. Here Marshall is modeling one of the masks. We didn't buy it.

Heidi, Janet and Marshall outside the Museum of Flight. This was a fabulous museum - one I would love to visit again.

We toured not only this "out of commission"
Air Force One, but also a Concord, and a few others.

Inside one of the jets

Janet viewing an Apollo space capsule

One of the things that fascinate me when visiting Seattle are the beautiful flowers - no matter what time of year I visit. These are dogwood in bloom a couple of blocks from Heidi's home. Beautiful!

Marshall on the light rail on our way to the Space Needle. He LOVES trains!

The Space Needle was part of the Seattle World's Fair 50 years ago this year. 

This ice cream tastes so good!

Heidi with Marshall by one of the many waterfalls on our way up Mount Rainier.

Marshall loved pushing the buttons on the model of Mt. Rainier inside the Visitor Center.

Visitors hiking up an area at Paradise - the uppermost part of Mt. Rainier that can be reached by automobile. At this level we are at 5400 feet on the south side of Mt. Rainier in Mt. Rainier National Park. At this site, there is a beautiful Visitor Center and a hotel. Heidi and Marshall walked up the steps and reached into the snow to make a snowball.

Sitting at one of the tables in the Paradise Hotel

Heidi loaned Janet and me her car for a couple of days so we could drive to Leavenworth, Washington, which is one of my favorite destinations. Leavenworth is nestled in the Cascade Mountains and was revamped to be a Bavarian town in the early 60s to keep their community vibrant. 

On the sidewalk in Leavenworth

There's a wonderful article on Leavenworth here.

 

I love this architecture!

Just east of Leavenworth are groves and groves of cherry, pear and apricot trees. We drove up to this one where we were amazed at the bing cherries . . .

and Mt. Rainier cherries.

Driving around Leavenworth the second morning, we noticed houses high up on the ridge of a mountain. Janet said, "I wonder how they get up there?" I said there has to be a way. We drove a bit more when we noticed a hard-packed dirt road with a sign warning no winter maintenance would be given to this road. We decided to check it out. It was one lane wide with bump outs every now and then. 

Janet stopped the car often so I could pop out to take a photo. This was one of our views. Awesome!

We happened onto this home one can rent - Antler Hideaway. It sure looked nice to me!

We also spotted these beautiful Goat's Beard flowers among the birch trees.

Driving back to Seattle, we couldn't resist stopping for more pictures. This one is yours truly by the winding Wenatchee River.

Check out this video of Deception Falls. This is an amazing falls coming down from the Cascade Mountain near Stevens Pass.

Sweet Marshall

Brian. Like Grandma, he's getting some white hairs.

On Sunday, we visited our Minnesota friend, Jodi, in her new Seattle home.

Heidi helping Marshall climb the apricot tree in Jodi's backyard

Jodi and Marshall

My sweet grandson and yours truly

Should we buy this magnifying glass?

Brian wearing his new "thunder vest," a secured band that is meant to give him comfort during thunder storms and fireworks - both things that alarm Brian. He wasn't happy about the vest - and felt quite warm. I'll be curious to learn if this helped him tonight (July 4th).

Heidi made this "Freedom" train cake while we were there. Yum!

On our final night together, we went bowling. This was really fun!

Thanks to Heidi and Chad for their wonderful hospitality. I had a great time, and after spending these quality days with Heidi and her family, I miss them very much.