Road Trip 2012, Day 16: From Seattle to Bruneau Sand Dunes, Idaho

This day had a 30 degree change in temperature from the time we left Seattle after breakfast in the morning to just after our early-evening stop at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon.

Seattle was bright and sunny, but that chill breeze off Puget Sound sure made a dent in the sun’s heat. We packed up our suite (I sure wish we had the money to sleep like that every night of our vacations!) and headed out to mail our postcards and pick up more dry ice.

Heading out of Seattle the scenery stayed pretty consistent (lush, green and lovely) until we got into the Cascade mountain range, where we saw a lot more pine trees. After we crossed over we moved right into the expected rain shield desert ecosystem – dry, brown rolling hills. A lot like west Texas (and the Coast Ranges of California).

Surprisingly, eastern Washington and western & central Oregon were VERY agricultural with massive fields of grapes, some vined plant and even a Del Monte factory.

If you are ever driving east on I-84 through Oregon you need to stop at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Plan to spend at minimum one hour, better yet at least two hours. The center has fabulous exhibits, movies and trails. From one huge window overlooking the rolling hills you can see remnants of the original Oregon Trail. Since there’s nothing else out there to look at you can totally imagine a trail of wagons, oxen and road-weary people leading across the valley. It’s one of the better visitor’s centers that I’ve visited, and we sure have hit a lot of them. Be sure to stop if you can.

Bruneau Sand Dunes is known for its fabulous night skies; in fact, they have an observatory on site. There wasn’t anything going on, but I did get a few nice moon shots.

Road Trip 2012, Day 15: Happy Birthday America! Celebrating in Seattle

Well, we slept in a little this morning and didn’t get moving until after 8am. Our having a separate room from the girls ROCKED. Grace grinds her teeth so badly that if I’m in the same room with her I need to wear ear plugs, so we closed the door and I slept soundly. The Space Needle had a big US flag rising above it in honor of Independence Day, which was really cool.

We had a nice La Quinta breakfast and started walking down to Pike Place Market. It’s strange when we ask for walking directions; so many people are surprised we’d want to walk “all that way.” Are there really that many people who can’t walk 14 blocks? It’s kind of ridiculous. It took us about 15 easy minutes and we were there.

I got suckered a few times and bought some things for the girls, but I did get a wheel of local brie, dried apple chips, cranberries & almonds for myself. Brad got a big cinnamon bun and bottles of oil & vinegar to sate his needs.

After the market we had to decide what to do with the rest of our day. I REALLY wanted to go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation visitor center, but they were closed for the holiday. Instead we trooped up to the Space Needle park. We’d considered visiting the Chihuly Museum and Garden but it seemed a little expensive for our family. There’s a humongous yellow Chihuly thing that’s visible from outside anyway.

Ever since the San Diego Zoo Grace had wanted to get her caricature done, so she and Caroline both had theirs done. It was pretty cool.

Outside the EMP (Experience Music Project) was a little carnival-type area. The girls rock climbed then we decided to head into the EMP. If you buy your tickets online you’ll save $2 per adult and all you have to show them at the ticket counter is your confirmation number.

We really loved the EMP. What they don’t really tell you is that it’s also a science fiction and horror museum. Well, they’ll mention that, but music definitely takes center stage. We went straight into the Avatar exhibit which was totally AWESOME. I could have stayed there for another hour. There were movies about the making of the film and it was mesmerizing to compare the “real life” acting (they were wearing weird black outfits and were covered with dots) with the final computer generated images. They also had a lot of the original gear that was used to create the CG stuff, like head pieces, necklaces, garments, etc..

The horror section was cool, but not quite as spectacular as the Avatar area. Part of the horror area was props and clothing, the other part showed clips of the most famous horror flicks along with commentary by directors and pros in the field. It made Brad and me want to run out and rent a couple of the films.

The last parts we hit before the museum closed were the music areas. Of course, there’s a huge section devoted to Nirvana. Grace has decided she would like me to buy her “Nevermind.” There’s also another devoted to Jimi Hendrix and another to AC/DC. I got a kick out of the AC/DC stuff and kind of kicked back and enjoyed the old videos.

The coolest music-related gallery was all hands-on. The girls jammed together with one on the guitar and one on the drums. It was hard to pull them away. The EMP is a better museum than I expected. I had read reviews that said the same, but until I checked it out myself I was skeptical. I would visit there again; it was one of the highlights of our Seattle trip.

Another highlight was dinner at New York Pizzeria & Bar. BIG YUM. I had steak fettuccini alfredo, the girls had pizza & Brad had a burger. All yummilicious. We had this on the way (walking) to South Union Lake Park, where we sat to watch the fireworks. A word of warning – sunset doesn’t occur on the west coast until you totally wish you were in bed, like around 10:15. Another warning, although it’s what I would consider mid-summer, the air there doesn’t agree. We FROZE sitting out there for over an hour waiting impatiently for the big sky-sparkles. Eventually they happened and we were all very relieved. They were cool, but not cool enough to keep us warm through the finale and we cleared out just before it started.

We got back to our cozy hotel room and crashed for another good night’s sleep.

Road Trip 2012, Day 14: From the Martin’s to Seattle

Gary, Becky, Kate & Annie’s house in Joyce, Washington was totally awesome. Gary’s office was there on the front, in the new section with the heated tile floors (loved the wood-look tile!). We opted to stay in their rockin’ popup out front.

We loved the popup. It was like having our own little hotel room. And spending a few days with the Martins was one of the highlights of our trip. When we ask the girls what the best part of their trip was they say visiting with Kate.

So, the day we left we headed up to Hurricane Ridge. We knew the weather forecast was iffy and that the ridge was fogged in, but since OP weather changes so rapidly and unpredictably we figured we’d give it a shot.

We hadn’t gotten to say farewell to Becky and Kate, as Kate had tennis camp in the morning. We met them at the Hurricane Ridge visitor’s center at the bottom of the mountain to hang out for a few minutes and give our final goodbyes. The center is very nice with lots of stuff for the kids to do. Even if it’s a rainy, miserable day and you don’t want to go to the top it’s still a great place to spend an hour or two.

The ridge was a little chilly. Like 38 degrees chilly. Of course, I can’t handle that. Fortunately, the visitor’s center has a yummy restaurant and hot chocolate!

And, big surprise, on the way down the clouds cleared out a little and we were able to see the San Juan Channel.

Hurricane Ridge is a must-do for any visits to the Olympic Peninsula. Even in the fog-shrouded mountaintop we were able to really enjoy ourselves (snowball fight, anyone?).

We took the ferry from Bremerton to the Seattle side of the agua – the wind and the cold were again unreal. Caroline left her iPod (AGAIN – third time!), but we managed to get it before it walked away. UGH, that girl!

The Seattle skyline appeared as we drove off the ferry & towards the city. Love it!

When we got to our hotel, which I chose using TripAdvisor & Hotels.com, we were miraculously upgraded to a suite. Woot! I had opted for the LaQuinta for several reasons: 1) the ratings were awesome, 2) FREE parking in Seattle!, 3) free wifi, 4) free breakfast, 5) walking distance to Lake Union, the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. I would wholeheartedly recommend the LaQuinta Downtown Seattle.

From the window of our nice, separate room I could see the Space Needle, which only got cooler looking as the night went on.

The kids worked on their summer lessons (yes, I’m making them do schoolwork!!!) and we had a great night relaxing and eating in (ordered from WingZone – beware the Louisiana Rub. Holy smokes that was hot (we kind of think they brought us the wrong stuff!)).