summer vacation, part one - Seattle

For the first part of our summer vacation, our friends Greg and Kristen came out to Seattle for a week along with their two young children Aidan (almost 4) and Averie (2.5). We did the tourist thing together, doing many activities that Chris and I have never done despite living here for eight years, such as the Duck Tour, going whale-watching, and visiting Leavenworth.

First off, you can tell how excited both Chris and Averie were to be exploring the Pacific Science Center's Grossology exhibit and butterfly house - don't they look thrilled?

On Saturday we took a ride on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, which unfortunately was neither anywhere near Mt. Rainier nor scenic, and was running -extremely- late to boot (it took 3.5 hours for a scheduled 2-hour trip). With the only entertainment the forest outside the windows and a distinct lack of narration (only one guy "available for questions"), we were pretty disappointed in the experience, but the kids definitely enjoyed themselves so all was not lost.

Every morning Chris made coffee for himself and for Greg, and Aidan quickly learned to help him out.

Monday was our trip to Leavenworth, where we took the walking tour of the downtown area which was really fantastic. We were the only ones on the tour that morning, so we got to ask our guide lots of questions and pause to take photos. My favorite bit was the wrought-iron apothecary's sign, showing the mortar-and-pestle to indicate the business inside. Many of the murals are done in the trompe'l'oleil style, and were absolutely incredible in their details.

Whale-watching pictures in the next post. For now, off to finish preparing to drop the dogs off so we can go to LA tomorrow for Blizzcon!