Our Grand Northwest Adventure - Take 2

Alaska is amazing.  You can find moose and bear right out your back door.  However, the Alaska zoo . . . um, has moose and bear.  Our kiddos were super excited to hear we were headed to the Woodland Park Zoo!  Once again I totally underestimated the time it would take to see all the animals.  Oh, well!  We got to see lions, hippos, flamingos, monkeys and rhinos.  Bonus was the park right beside the zoo where the kids could play during our picnic lunch!

After leaving the zoo, we went to explore the Ballard Locks.  This was Benaiah's favorite because, as our little engineer, he loved trying to figure out how it would all work.  We got to watch them load a plethora of boats into the locks, lower them to sea level, and watch them go on their way under the draw bridge.  While we were there we also saw a seal catch a salmon.  No wonder the fish ladder was empty!

We had time for one last stop before going home for dinner.  All the "must-see" lists included the Olympic Sculpture Garden and since we had studied Calder I figured we must see it.  Well,  it ranked right up there with the trip I once planned to see a bat hotel.  First, parking was impossible and we don't understand half of the signs until we put on our reading glasses and read the fine print.  Second, the sculpture garden left much to be desired.  When exiting the garden we found we were walking against the flow.  At first we thought maybe we had entered the exit and were now exiting the entrance.  Then, a man thanked us for our support.  We were then clued into the fact that we were standing at the exit to the garden but also the entrance to the Hempfest . . .with all our children.  Fine example of upstanding parenting.

Back home to put those blackberries to some good use in a blackberry cobbler!  Yum!

The next day I had so much planned.  However, Seattle had other plans.  We began our day at the Museum of Fight.  It offers free entrance to military during the summer.  I thought it would be a quick stop as we are not really plane buffs.  However, this fine establishment didn't disappoint!  It was HUGE!  It had dozens of aircraft to board and sit in, a children's area with plenty of hands-on activities, the practice spacecraft to walk in, and a history of the Boeing company that was like being in the first factory!  We spent hours delving into the world of aircraft!

Who wants to ride in that!

Juliet - "Look, Eli!  A Bob Ross plane!"

Since we spent so long there we had to skip the Klondike Goldrush Museum.  However, I just kept reminding myself - better a little with a happy family then rushing through a lot with cranky pants.  So, we went back into the city with hopes of catching a ferry to Bainbridge.  Roads were closed and traffic rerouted and we missed the ferry by two minutes.  We used the extra time to find a geocache and then waited and waited.  The next ferry was running half an hour late.  (Where was that ferry when we were racing to catch it?) We were starting to question whether we would make it back for the - you guessed it - parking meter.

I think Theo loved the ferry the most.  Sea water and sea air make him so happy!  Once we got to Bainbridge we had a little under an hour to hit up a free for military children's museum.  The kids had the place to themselves and had a blast.

Always taking care of the babies!

Juliet driving - a scary thought!

After the museum closed we knew we would have plenty of time to catch the next ferry.  However, when we arrived at the port there was no line.  We started running.  We arrived just as they were closing the gate - for the ferry that should have left 40 minutes before.  If we had missed it we would have for sure been late for our parking.  As it was we made it back to our van with one minute to spare!  Whew!  The good Lord hears the prayers of the frantic moms on vacation!  Amen!