Things were a bit quiet around these parts last week. Email was sent to an auto-responder, Facebook went untouched, Instagram…well, I love Insta, so that stayed active! 🙂 And if you follow me there, you know why everything else was so silent here…
I was in SeeeaaattTTTTTLLLLEEEEEE!!!!
{Please read that like Tina Fey as Liz Lemon pretending to be Oprah.}
See…it goes like this.
For the past eight summers or so I have gone camping with ‘my boys’ {aka my little brothers from my other mother or -really- my cousins}. When we began our random tradition, Everett was 10 and Nolan and Ash were 7. It started as separate trips :: Ev for a long weekend at the lake and the movie Ratatouille in theater; Ash and Nolan for a rambunctious tour of the state fair and a yard camp out. From there it grew to be trips with the four of us camping, swimming, boating, Wisconsin Dells-ing, adventure ropes cavorting, go-karting, lazy rivering…so many fires, so many movies, so many laughs {I got a Go-PRO!!}, so so many great memories. They never knew where we would be going ahead of time; only a list of things to pack. And, you know how the old saying goes, whatever happens with Tricia, stays with Tricia. 😉
A few summers ago we decided that their senior year would be capped with a one-on-one trip…and I immediately knew where I would be adventuring with Everett.
When we departed his house at 3:32am a week ago Sunday, he had no inclination that anything out of the ordinary happening. As we merged from Hwy 212 onto Hwy 494, the conversation flowed…as we got off the freeway and I switched on my blinker to turn left into the Park and Fly he abruptly stopped talking and whispered, ‘Are we flying?’, which rapidly progressed into a louder ‘WE’RE FLYING?!?!’ and eventually to a whooping yell ‘WE’RE FLYING!!!’
Self-high five, this trip totally rocked my socks off.
Now, usually everything that happens on our trips is under lock and key {much to his mother’s chagrin!}, but this round I decided it’d be okay to share some quick pics being that we did Instagram the hell out of our super-tourist time! Shout out to my Auntie and Funky Unky outside of Seattle for lending us their extra rooms and to Ev’s Aunt and Uncle for the glorious use of their guest house for a night…but mostly thanks to Ev for being a sweet travel companion. For offering to check your bag for the convenience of the other passengers, for laughing hilariously with me at anything and everything, for the constant tunes, for not freaking out in security, for trying every seafood we came across, for the lengthy conversation, the white girl observations, endless jokes, random thoughts, fantastic car games and everything inbetween. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to share my anniversary trip with. 😉 Love you!!
all images were nailed by ye ole’ iPhone
Day One
7:33am flight-let’s DO this!!
Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Fish Ladder
Yay for our tour guides of the day, my Funky Unky and Auntie!! 
Whoop, whoop for awesome surprise trips!!!
Day Two
If you’re looking for excellently casual pier-side dining I recommend The Crab Pot. Tasty calamari, awesome crabby sliders, the steam pots were amazing looking {they’re huge and wayyy too much for just the two of us, but we enjoyed watching other people order them!}. Followed up with a stroll over to the Seattle Aquarium!
A relaxing ferry ride over to Bremerton where we hit up the Bremerton Bar and Grill for refreshments. Their drinks are spot on 😉 and I will forever hold their mac’n’cheese balls and coconut prawns in highest regard. So. Good. We walked over to the Puget Sound Navy Museum {free!} and were amazed by how interesting the exhibits were. Too bad we hit it just a half hour before closing-I’d love to check that place out again!
Settled in for a relaxing night at ‘home’ with Ivar’s to go and a movie on the deck. This is just simply good eatin’, people!!
Day Three
A visit to the Chihuly Glass Garden was a perfect way to start our beautiful day three. If you haven’t been, I recommend scooting yourself over there asap. It’s simple stunning-the sculptures are so fluid and bright; it had us both captivated.
From there, we hopped over to the EMP. Awesome. We were there for over four hours and could have stayed longer! Music, mythology, horror movies, indie-games, We Are 12 exhibit and so, so much more…it was very cool.
‘Home’ again for Ev’s first experience with lobster, lump crab and chocolate covered jalapeños. He was confused at first as how to crack the tail, but did it like an expert. And loved it {despite his facial expression in this particular pic}. 🙂
Day Four
The Museum of Flight! The last time I was here I was about 7 and bored out of my mind. {I was a…err…high energy?…child, so do keep that in mind!} This go around, though, was totally interesting to see all the planes, tours and to play around with the hands-on experiences they have available.
The Underground Tour was next on our agenda! Purple glass, stories of The Crapper and how Seattle was built…I think the tour guide completely makes or breaks this tour and we were both pumped to have scored an energetic and enthusiastic guide! It was awesome!!
The we drove, or stopped/goed {goed? Yeah…we’ll roll with that…} our way up to Everett, WA to see Ev’s Aunt and Uncle and to get a tour of where it all began! Ev’s parents met in Everett {hence his name} and it was really neat to take a tour back on memory lane.
Thanks to Ev’s Aunt and Uncle for being awesome tour guides, fabulous dinner companions, gaming guru’s and overall super sweet people. Love you guys!!
Day Five {our final Seattle day!}
We drove back to Seattle to park in Pioneer Square and walk down to the pier to catch the Water Taxi to Alki Beach!
Oysters and truffle fries at Salty’s…perfect munchie lunch!
We took a free shuttle to the beach where we had a hilarious encounter with a Hawaiian storekeeper and his wife, bought a beach blanket and took epic naps on the beach in the ninety-seven degree Seattle weather!? Say, whhhaaa? It was hot. Regardless, we I thought it’d be a great idea to walk back to the taxi…a mile and a half later, we thought that was a terrible decision as we heaved our sweaty-selves forward one hot step at a time. 😉 But it did make for plenty of time to take in the Seattle skyline and rock some excellent selfies!
We made it back to the car, sat in the A/C for a few minutes then jetted {finally! No traffic!} to meet my Funky Unky and Auntie for dinner. Thanks to Mr. Nick’s Aunt and Uncle in MN, we had a gift card for Schwartz Brother’s restaurants and decided that Daniel’s Broiler on Lake Union would be the perfect way to cap our trip! {Shout out to awesome Aunts and Uncles!} It did not disappoint one little bit. So much food. Such great company. We were completely stuffed after this three-hour meal that we decided we should walk around a bit before catching our flight…
…to the City Center!! Due to circumstances beyond our control {stupid, ridiculous long lines!} we were unable to go up the Needle, but seeing it all lit up at night was still pretty cool.
…we made it to the airport with minutes to spare. It took forever to get through security {okay, like an hour, but still…!} and we got to our gate on time to change into plane clothes. You know-the super comfy, pajama-types ones. 😉
Day Six
Plane took off on time at 1:07am Friday morning…he slept most the way, I watched movies {dang you Delta inflight entertainment!} and arrived back in MN at 6:03am. Yay. We grabbed our bags and beelined it for the shuttle to take us to the Blaze. Happy to be homeward bound and looking forward to napping a bit before hitting up my brother-in-law’s birthday party…and then this happened. Four miles from home. Seriously? Seriously.
Ha! So much for napping!! Good thing Ev knows how to rock a spare tire and Mr. Nick came right on over to help, too. Cheers for the awesome dudes in my life!
😉
We finished our adventures with a drive-by-lunch at Tacoasis {a staple for our summer trips!} and called it one heck of a fabulous week.
Best…post…EVER!!!!!!!!