Seattle - Day 1

Seattle - DAY 1

We took Alaska Airlines from Austin to Seattle direct.  Despite not getting our seats together at first because we booked through Orbitz, Alaska fixed it so we were 2 and 2 which worked fine.  The plane seemed new and the luggage compartments were angled away from the center so I could actually walk around and get out of my seat without bumping my head.  You have to watch movies on a tablet (which they provided if we didn’t use our own) and had to buy anything worth watching – for about $5-6.  We went just before dinner and landed at 9pm so tried to get something on the plane but the food options were limited – settled for spicy chicken and rice and a cheese plate.

We stayed at the La Quinta in Everett which was fairly centrally located to the things we wanted to do up north as well as being not that far from Seattle.  Hertz had a special on the Mercedes 450 SUV, so we took that for more room to haul around grandma (who, I should stress, is not very big).   

Our Route

On Saturday, we had free breakfast and then went to pick up Grandma for a day of touring.  We met up with Shellie’s friends CD and Lori Mackenzie and followed them north to the north end of Whidbey Island - Deception Pass – a long bridge that ties Whidbey Island to the mainland at the top edge. 

Pedestrian walkway along Deception Pass Bridge

Brooke at Deception Pass

At the pass we got out and braved the cold winds to explore the area.  There are pedestrian sidewalks along each edge of the bridge and on each end there are stairs below the bridge to hike along the embankment. We got some nice pictures and hurried back to the car where it said it was only 44 (felt like -4).

Then we drove to the southwest end of the island to Fort Casey, now a state park.  It has a unique fort built into the landscape with cannons that peek out over the top.  The kids had fun exploring and getting scared walking through the dark rooms.  

Fort Casey Cannons built into the Burm

In the bunker

We spent about 30 minutes exploring the different bunkers.   We saw a bald eagle flying around near the fort, then went back to the warm car where grandma was asleep.

After Fort Casey, we went to the ferry to head back to Mukilteo on the mainland across from the south end of the island.  We ate at Ivar’s, a favorite seafood place of the family. They have really good clam chowder. 

I think it's funny they had this logo way before all the Keep Calm memes came out:

KEEP CLAM

Kids Playing Skip-Bo with Grandma

Kids with Kaitlin and Poppy (the dog) :)

We spent the rest of the day visiting with Grandma and running errands, then we went to CD and Lori's house where the kids played with Kaitlin Mackenzie and we went to the Casino for a couple of hours and called it a day.