Final Days

Our last few days on Lummi Island were spent beachcombing, reading, and taking really long walks which only one child usually enjoyed at a time. For example, if Sydney is all gung ho to take a walk then Eric will assume the role of complainer and vice versa. They do love to role-play! However, we have found one thing in which they both were in complete agreement. I asked each of them to rank our 5 accommodations we’ve stayed in during this trip and they unanimously agreed that their favorite place to stay on our entire trip was the yurt. It was also our least expensive stay. It just goes to show that the quality of your experience rarely has to do with how much it costs!
Our island stay has been a great way to end our 2-week road trip (and celebrate Davids 50th birthday!) We will be returning home relaxed and refreshed. Even though it was a bit of a rough start at the beginning of our trip getting use to all this togetherness it seems as if the kids are now doing really well with being together. Now that everyone has finally adjusted to this vagabond routine it is time to turn around and go home. All in all I’d say this has been a successful family travel experience. It is now time to head on back to Camas because I know our dog, Stella, must be wondering what happened to us (or she’s forgotten about us completely!) I’ll miss blogging about our trip but there’s always our next years trip to think about. Hmmm I wonder what we should do? Either road trip or fly somewhere. When I asked Sydney whether we should do a road trip or fly someplace next year she asked, “Is this a trick question?” then “We should fly of course!” Here is her final and most important comment (this is a direct quote), “Actually this road trip has been pretty fun!” I could ask for no better way to end our trip. We’re ready to go home now.

Lummi Island

We’ve left the big city and arrived at our final destination, Lummi (rhymes with Yummy) Island. Just getting here was an adventure. We drove to Bellingham and caught a ferry over to the island. It was the smallest ferryboat I’ve ever seen! It fits maybe 20-25 cars on it and we just drove onto the open deck and were at the front of the line so it looked like we were driving the ferry. It only took 5 minutes to cross and then we were on our way to Willows Inn. I recently read an article about the Inn and that’s why I decided to book our stay here. They have a world-renowned chef who has gained national attention and people come from as far away as New York and Chicago just to have a meal at the Willows Inn restaurant. Ask me if we’re going to eat at this fabulous restaurant. The answer is no because it’s not exactly a child friendly menu and I’m pretty sure they don’t serve chicken nuggets. Another factor is that Sydney usually finishes eating in about 5 minutes so a meal that is served over a couple of hours just wouldn’t work for us. Maybe someday when we’re very old we’ll come back and eat here.

We are staying in a yurt on Nettles Farm, which belongs to the Inn. We’ve never stayed in a yurt before so when I booked it I knew it was a gamble and either we were going to love it or hate it! I’m happy to report that we LOVE it! The kids keep saying that it’s “so awesome!” Whew that’s a relief! Eric and Sydney both staked out their territory and Sydney has her own bed (there are 2 queen beds in the yurt) and Eric went to work creating his “nest” on the floor with his sleeping bag and lots of extra blankets and pillows. They are totally content! The yurt has a full kitchen in it too so it’s easy to make a few meals. It also has a separate bathhouse, which has a tub/shower combo, sink, washer/dryer and a compost toilet, which has specific instructions on its use (which I won’t go into right now.) We have most of the comforts of home so this is definitely my kind of camping! We’re all looking forward to exploring more of Lummi Island.

Still Moving!

Our last stop on our Seattle itinerary was to my Alma Mater – The University of Washington. I haven’t been back on campus since I graduated (which was just a very few years ago!) It’s such a pretty campus! I even showed the kids the DG House which was fun to see again although I wish I could have gone inside!

Here are the highlights as seen through our children’s eyes:
-- Before we had barely stepped on campus Sydney and Eric began collecting all the bird feathers they could find. Eric crammed approximately 30 of them in his pocket. It looked like he had a dead bird sticking out of his pocket!
-- The trees in the quad were perfect for climbing so that’s what they did! It was a great day to climb trees.
-- We went into Suzzallo library, which looks like a beautiful gothic cathedral. It actually reminds me of buildings you’d see in Harry Potter. We went up to the 2nd floor reading room which is an area dedicated to silent studying so you must be very quiet in there. It has very high ceilings with stain glass windows and the kids really enjoyed looking at everything and imagining what it would be like to be a student. As we were about ready to leave this area we saw a big dictionary opened so the kids, having a thirst for higher learning, looked at all the big words in it and I, as a mother, was proud to see how interested they were in increasing their knowledge of the English language. Within about 2 seconds my inquisitive 9-year-old son had discovered a new and exciting word that, if he hadn’t visited this institute of higher learning, he never would have learned. The word (or words) that he has added to his vocabulary is…….Butt Hinge! You don’t learn words like that unless you go to college!

We stopped briefly in Kirkland for a night and stayed at Heathman Hotel which is my favorite place! Sydney got to have a sleepover at her friend Emily's house so Eric got his parents all to himself (which he loves!) We were in Kirkland on Sunday night and we couldn't believe how many people were out and about. There's been a lot of condos built so there is definitely more congestion than there use to be.

Our next stop is Lummi Island. We’ll be staying in a yurt. Wish us luck!

Wherever You Go, There You Are.

What do you get when you take two kids and walk up and down and up and down the hills of downtown Seattle? I’m sure you can guess the answer. Anyway, they’re pretty exhausted from our constant motion. It’s important to remember to take frequent breaks with kids. I must admit that I forget to do that as I want to see everything until finally one of them rebels or in Eric’s words “my legs are powering down!” Sydney’s words would be more like “I feel like I’m going to die!” We sure have managed to see a lot since we’ve been here. I’ve seen more than I did when I actually lived here!

We were in Pioneer Square looking for a breakfast spot when several locals (including a bus driver) gave us some good suggestions and we ended up at Planet Java Diner, which has the 50’s theme complete with checkerboard floor. Food was really good too! Eric’s getting the hang of ordering but every so often he’ll misunderstand what the waitress is asking. He ordered eggs at the Diner and when the waitress asked how he preferred his eggs he replied “cooked.” After breakfast we went on Seattle’s Underground Tour and learned about Seattle’s past under the city. The kids loved it! Afterwards we went up to the observation deck of the Smith Tower and as luck would have it we had a perfect viewing spot to watch the Blue Angels. By the time we made our way to Pike Place Market the kids were melting and did not want to walk any further but I told them they MUST see the flying fish at the market. The Market was really crowded and there were throngs of tourists everywhere so we finally made it to the fish market and after seeing them throw a few fish Sydney remarked, “That’s lame!” At that point I knew it was time to take a break from the sightseeing. We’re looking forward to going to Lummi Island as our final destination and it’ll be fun to stay in a yurt. It should be pretty relaxing and a good way to end our trip. Hopefully we can take some hikes and just relax and enjoy the island.
More to come….

We're still traveling

Leavenworth was a nice destination to relax and enjoy the scenery. We wandered around the town, took alot of photos of this Bavarian village and had fun looking in all the shops. We rented a condo so there was room for everyone to spread out and it's nice (and inexpensive) not to eat every meal out. It is funny to observe the kids at restaurants. For example, one night we went out to eat dinner and were seated in a nice restaurant in downtown Leavenworth. There wasn't much to do while waiting for our food so my very imaginative son began making various shapes with his napkin. I thought to myself "Wow what a creative boy!" Until I realized that he was making a wide variety of weapons with his napkins including different gun sounds to match each weapon. I'm so proud!

We're now in Seattle which feels like my second home. I lived in the area for 20 years so I love to visit. We're staying downtown so we can walk everywhere. This is SeaFair weekend so there's lots of activity going on. We've seen the Blue Angels flying overhead and the Navy Ships are also at the Pier. We took the monorail to the Seattle Center and the kids loved the Pacific Science Center which is similar to OMSI. We've been doing alot of walking and the kids are starting to get worn out although not too worn out to punch each other every time they see a slugbug. Here are a few questions that I must ask myself:

-- Why doesn't our hotel have FREE Wi-Fi?

-- Why didn't the parking attendent tell David that the garage is closed on weekends? Luckily we figured that out just a few minutes before he closed up for the weekend. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get the car out on Sunday. Crisis averted!

-- Why did I just tell Sydney that we're going to Disney World next summer and we're go to drive to Florida?! I simply told her the drive should only take a week each way and then we'd have 2 whole days to spend at Disney World before driving back. If you're unsure of her reaction to that news please refer to the previous blog entry. ( I probably won't win any Mommy awards for that story but it sure made me chuckle and isn't that what roadtrips are all about?)

More later.....

The Journey Continues

We're all getting into the rhythm of our daily routines. At the beginning of our journey the conversation in our car rides started out with Sydney and Eric having rousing debates about who was uglier or who was dumber to (more recently) Sydney actually quizzing him on multiplication and the two of them making up a game about Star Wars. Now that's progress!

Couer d'Alene has been a great destination to start our trip! We took a hike around Tubbs Hill which had some unexpected finds. There were hidden beaches with crystal clear water and we even got to walk across a suspension bridge during our hike. If there was one word that would describe this hike with our children that word would be "breathtaking!".

We also took a sidetrip to Kellogg, Idaho and took a ride on the highest gondola in the world. It's a 25 minute gondola ride up Silver Mountain and the view is incredible! Once at the top there were hiking trail and even some snow that the kids enjoyed "mining". It was so hard that they decided to just kick it to chip away at it. They didn't want to leave but eventually we had to head back down the mountain.

I realized that I haven't really talked much about actually being on the road so I've decided to have Sydney be my guest blogger to give her perspective of what it is like to be on a roadtrip when you are 12 (and a half!) years old. Here's what she has to say:

What I thought when I heard we were going on a 2 week road trip:
UHHHHGGG…..road trips are rrreeeeaallly boring because all you do is sit in the car for like 5 hours and can only get out once or twice and then you just have to get right back in the car and drive for 20 more hours until you FINALLY arrive SOMEWHERE, hopefully to a decent hotel or something and then you’re starving and tired and there’s nothing to do and you’re really bored and all you want to do is watch TV but your parents drag you on a hike and you’re melting! Up and up you go and you just want to go to bed but you have to keep walking and then you wish you were back in the car and then you get thirsty and groan and when you finally get back all you want to do is sleep but you end up staying awake half the night because your dad won’t stop snoring so you have to kick him or throw a pillow at his head so he will stop snoring and you can FINALLY get to sleep….

Road Trip!

I've had many requests (or maybe it was just one request) to blog about our excellent two week roadtrip. It is day number 2 and we are in beautiful Coeur d'Alene. The weather is clear and everyone is out biking, running or just shopping and eating. We are renting a condo which is only a couple blocks from the main part of town so it's a great location. Sydney and I went running today (that's right!) and passed some really nice homes along the waterfront and then walked through town and found a chocolate shop that was just begging us to come inside!

Today we had a great time visiting with relatives that live nearby (I've included a photo of all of us). We had a BBQ and sat outside while we visited. We also celebrated David's 50th birthday with a cake and balloons. Oops not sure if he wanted me to mention the age thing but it's my blog so I can pretty much write what I want!

I'll keep you posted on our journey!