A couple weeks ago my son and I went on a trip to Seattle and the surrounding area. I had told him years ago when he turned thirteen I'd let him pick anywhere domestically he wanted to go as his present. This is partially selfish, because I adore traveling. And, this year he turned thirteen! A terrifying prospect. And I had to pony up on paying for this trip :) His birthday was actually in February, but a friend that lives out there said the weather is awful in February, and that summer was best. So, we picked July, which happened to be my birthday. It was a pretty epic time. We had a blast, both in the city, and doing a lot of hiking in Olympic National Park, as well as Mt. Rainier. We went whale watching, too, though I didn't get any good pics of the whales due to the boat pitching back and forth. One other thing that was cool about the trip was that my novel
Martinis with the Devil is set in Seattle, so I got to do some setting research since I'd never been there. Google Earth only gets you so far :)
Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my favorite pics!
The Chihuly Glass Museum
On the Needle with a jaded teenager (he loved it, he just kept pulling these ridiculous faces for the camera)
A Dalek at the EMP Sci-Fi/Fantasy Museum (my kinda museum!)
The Needle at night
Chihuly at night
The glittering lights of the city
Pikes Place (a magical place - the Diagon Alley of Seattle)
Atop Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park
Overlooking the Sol Duc Falls at Olympic
Rialto Beach (my absolute favorite - stark and gorgeous)
Rialto
Sunset at Rialto to finish up my birthday
Ruby Beach
Selfie at Ruby
Lake Quinnault I think
Mt. Rainier
The Paradise Visitors Center at Mt. Rainier
We're now back home safe and sound, but I wish we'd had more time to explore out there! How about you - any fun trips recently, or coming up? TTFN!
You got to see both the city and nature. Very cool! Pike's Market is a wild place. You could almost get lost wandering around the shops.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures. Welcome home. I'm sure your son enjoyed his choice. And how great that you were able to get in some first-hand research. I agree: Google can only accomplish so much.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics! WA is my home state, so know how much fun it is to be here. So glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThose pics were fabulous! And what was even better? The funny faces your son makes! He made me laugh. Yay for a great vacay and for receiving the cover of your second book! I can't wait to see it! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat an adventure! I'm so glad you took your son and had all those fun experiences. It makes me want to do that individually with each of mine.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Seattle, but it looks beautiful! It's funny--I've always heard Seattle was really rainy and dreary, so I just picture it that way all the time for some reason. It looks like that isn't the case at all!
ReplyDeleteWow! I'd love to go to Seattle one day. The pictures are fantastic, and I think that's a great gift for your son--and yourself.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, gorgeous and fun photos. A sci-fi-fantasy museum sounds JUST up my alley--awesome. The glass museum looks cool too. LOL on your son's faces for the camera. So glad you 2 got to do this trip! What a great way to make fantastic memories. :)
ReplyDeleteThe trip looks amazing... love the photos. Been to Seattle once and I so want to go back there.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful way to spend a birthday. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Alexia for sharing the lovely pictures. Looks like you and your son had a wonderful holiday :)
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through a member of the IWSG (Book Lover, I think) and noticed you went to Seattle. I just came back a few months ago from visiting my first time. Wasn't it great :) Smart kid to pick the great northwest. Also loved the description of Pike's market as Diagon Alley. Too true. Too true.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a fabulous trip! I love Seattle. What a great celebrations of both of your birthdays! A friend of mine has a condo that overlooks the Sound, it's amazing! And she's a short walk from Pike's Market.
ReplyDeleteI wondered if you lived in Seattle...brave to write about a location where you don't live, Lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteNancy