What I've Been Calling 'The Seattle Trip' but was really 'The West Coast Trip'

In June, Kyle and I flew cross country and spent exactly a week on the West Coast. We flew into Seattle and drove the scenic drive to Spokane Thursday afternoon (pictured left). Pete and a friend of his have been roading tripping since June 9th and met us there late that night. (I had Pete's room keys and needed to stay up until he got there - bad decision of mine, since I forgot that 11:30pm was really 2:30am to my East Coast mind!) We spent the following morning in Spokane to watch Switzerland in the World Cup, explored a local park, picked up my uncle at the airport and drove into Idaho!

Friday began our weekend at Priest Lake for my cousin's wedding! This was originally supposed to be an entire family trip for the wedding, but since Mom got sick, Dad stayed with her. Dad actually asked if Kyle and I still wanted to go, and I've been looking forward to this since last summer, so yes! We did, however, change our flight to come back three days earlier, as neither of us needed to spend a full week in Seattle after the wedding and wanted to be home to help Mom. Friday night the parents of the groom (my aunt and uncle) had a gathering for everyone who was spending the night before the wedding at the lake. It was a great way to catch up with everyone before the ceremony, as I hadn't seen any of them but my brothers since Christmas, although it did consist largely of informing family in Idaho about the status of the rest of my family in NJ. We did also cover Kyle's graduation, my year at school briefly (not my preferred topic of conversation, for obvious reasons), one cousin's upcoming move to Boston, another cousin's upcoming move back to Jersey, and both Pete's and another set of cousin's road trips to the wedding.


Saturday was the wedding at Priest Lake's Marina! It was absolutely gorgeous, and though there were a few hiccups in the night, it was a beautiful and perfect evening on the water - full of love, laughter, and friendship. I also have other opinions about that evening that will remain among family and the bride's sister, who unfortunately got involved.

On Sunday morning, the parents' of the bride had a brunch gathering, which Pete and I attended while choosing to forgo the boat ride afterward in favor of visiting our aunt's waterfront rental for the day. And what a wonderful day it was! Sunday was by far the best day we had weather wise - no clouds, sun in the sky, temperature rising comfortably. We spent this lovely day on the water amongst family, even waving at the other wedding guests who rode by during the boat ride. We brought our lunch food with us, and enjoyed lunch on their porch, followed by a riveting game of Oh Hell (in which I played terribly!).

Monday ended our time at Priest Lake, and after waiting for the laundry to finish in the washer so we could leave it in the dryer, we began the journey back to Seattle, this time with Pete and Edson behind us. Now I drive to NJ and back on a regular basis, so spending 7 hours driving in a day isn't terrible to me. However, when I drive from EC to Jersey, I take 17 to 64 to 13 to 1 to 295 to 95 where I get off and continue taking side streets for half an hour! Our drive back to Seattle included like 4 hours on the same road. We had planned a stop at Snoqualmie Falls, not realizing this was a half hour from Seattle. It was a relaxing day we spent in the car, although Kyle and I both got sunburnt!

Snoqualmie Falls (pictured right), when we did get there, was beautiful. We were particularly interested in how engineers used the waterfall, and still use it today, to create power in Seattle, Tacoma, and nearby cities. And they started doing this (on a much smaller level than today) over 100 years ago!

Inside Mt. Rainer National Park

After great debate Monday night, Tuesday we went to Mount Rainer National Park for the day. Edson had a hike that he really wanted to do, so we GPSed ourselves to the trailhead, and although we lost cell phone service, it actually took as all the way there! ...all the way to the fully snow-covered trailhead. Because evidently in all of their research, none of the boys I was traveling with checked Mt. Rainer's website where it said this trail was 96% snow-covered. The guys wanted to attempt this anyway. I shot this idea down when I pointed out that everyone going up that trail or others nearby were on cross country skies or wearing snowshoes. We were in sneakers and shorts (I was in capris and if I'm remembering correctly, Pete was wearing pants). As we had no cell service, we couldn't make other plans on the top of the mountain, so we drove down the other side and took a much smaller hike that apparently was planned for after the first. We then visited the main visitor center at another peak and had lunch there. I was particularly enamored with a snowfall map that showed this past year's snowfall of 1000 inches at Paradise Visitors Center was just below their record high of roughly 1100 inches (average was just below 700). You may think I'm kidding - I'm not! (Check it out here!)

We eventually decided to explore around Paradise, and were willing for more adventures, so when we heard a waterfall on our way back through the park, we stopped and followed the trail to see it. This was a large waterfall. The viewpoint was close enough that if you stood there for the perfect picture, you wouldn't be getting the entire waterfall in your picture and you'd be getting wet! I wasn't the biggest fan of this waterfall as I realized on the way back, because we definitely climbed down a piece of the mountain to see it, and I was hiking back up with three college boys who play ultimate frisbee. That, combined with my asthma, does not exactly put me in great standing, even when I'm not hiking up a mountain while already high in elevation. Tuesday night the guys had plans to visit Pike Place Market, once again not doing enough research to realize it closes at 7pm. We ate elsewhere in town before exploring the waterfront in the late evening.

Wednesday was our day in the city, which we started by heading to the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA just north of Seattle. We stopped on our way for Pete and Edson to get the RAV4 an oil change, as it had driven across the entire country in the last two weeks. We were slightly delayed further in that when we got to the factory, the next available tour they had tickets for was in two hours. So we went out to lunch, finding a good place nearby that had TVs in the dining area to watch Switzerland in the final group match. It was a tight squeeze from the end of the game to make it back on time for the tour, but we managed it. Unfortunately (and logically), at the Boeing factory they would not allow visitors to take anything with them on the tour of the factory. Meaning, no cameras or food or drinks, which is usual, but also no phones, no backpacks, bags, or purses. They really wanted no one to take pictures or anything else over there! Now this Boeing Factory is the largest building in the world when measured by volume. As I described it to Dad, they had 7 bays that were probably at least 7 stories high, and each bay could fit four planes one behind the other without leaving the building. This place was MASSIVE. And extremely fascinating. I've always found planes fascinating, choosing a window seat and watching in complete awe as we rise and land every time I fly. At the factory, we saw the process in which they make 747s, 767s, 777s, and 787s. They also had two prototype 777Xs that we were briefly able to see the noses of through an opening between bays. Interestingly enough, the Boeing Company also owns a highway overpass on their land, which is the only highway overpass owned in the US. This highway overpass is actually a big deal, as Boeing moves their completed planes from the factory to another building across the highway to be painted. They are forced to do this at night, as seeing a plane going across the overpass while you're driving would likely distract many drivers on the highway.

On our return to the city, we walked to an early dinner at a place recommended by cousins at the wedding as having the best mac and cheese ever. Sorry Beth, but I disagree. Kyle and I then packed up our belongings at the apartment we were staying at, loaded up the car, and we all drove out to see the Space Needle. I had been looking forward to the Space Needle this whole trip, but time was tight and the guys didn't think we had enough. We got there and there was no line, and we headed straight up in the next elevator. There was construction at the Space Needle so we only had 3/4 of a skyline view, but the sun was preparing to set and it was gorgeous. We were even able to hit up the gift store there, allowing me to finally get my Seattle playing cards and a magnet for Mom, which I thought I was going to have to get at the airport. Since there was no wait time, we had enough time to even sit at the International Fountain and enjoy the evening before dropping Pete and Edson back off in the city and heading to the airport, where Kyle and I were scheduled on the redeye flight back to Newark.

Now I know this is my personal opinion, but I'm stating it just the same. Redeye flights are great in theory and sound like a perfect way to travel, but the experience is not the same. We were on an 11:15pm flight across the country. I've flown redeyes six times before, and this was the latest takeoff time I've had, so I'm thinking this is great, not fully realizing this flight is only 4.5 hours long under we're in the air. You know you're not sleeping through take-off or landing, so the actual possible sleeping time is 4 hours at max. What sane person can manage their day on 4 hours of plane sleep?! So we land just after 7am in Newark and the sun is up like the day began two hours ago but it's like the crack of dawn when you were just in Seattle. All of the redeye flights I took before except two went across the Atlantic, therefore I had more than 4.5 hours on the plane. One of the other two was from London to Johannesburg and crossed the entire continent of Africa. The last redeye I took was from Phoenix to Newark, where I connected back to Norfolk, and didn't actually begin my day until after the folks in Arizona did. This trip back from Seattle was a very different experience, and after waiting endlessly for a gate upon landing (like 45 minutes!), Dad picked us up and drove us home and I slept for another three hours. That, with the two I got on the plane, and actually quantify for a full nights sleep and I actually felt like I was back.

I loved our West Coast trip. I know I would have loved it a lot more with Mom and Dad, but I'm glad we still got to go and see our extended family. Many people have asked me what my favorite part was, and of course the answer was our time at Priest Lake, for the wedding and our day on the lake afterward. I'm always then prompted back and asked about my favorite part of Seattle, which while I was really looking forward to the Space Needle, was probably the Boeing Factory. It was wicked cool! I hope Mom and Dad are able to explore the Pacific Northwest sometime, because I know Dad had a few things he was looking forward to, and I dislike that they had to miss out on that. I wouldn't be opposed to another trip, as we definitely didn't do everything the area had to offer.

Pictured clockwise starting above left: Riverfront Park in Spokane; Priest Lake Marina during the wedding reception; Columbia River on our drive back to Seattle; Sunday at Priest Lake.