THE BEST OF TIMES WITH FAMILY IN SEATTLE

Carol writes:  For many months we had been anticipating our 2-week stay in Bothell, Washington, 

just outside of Seattle.  We had plans for a mini family reunion with my cousin Michele, who has lived in Seattle for the better part of 20 years, and my brother and his wife, who were flying out from Toledo to meet up with us to share a week in our RV.

We had been warned that traffic and parking in the Seattle area was a step wilder than insane, so prior to Greg and Shirl’s arrival we decided to scope out public transportation into the city from our campground in Bothell.  A 45-minute bus ride worked like a charm, and it wasn’t long before Michele and I were hugging like cousins who hadn’t seen each other in 15 years.

Cousins

Michele gave us a brief introduction to where she lives in the Queen Anne District of Seattle, an area known for steep hills graced with multicultural restaurants and charming boutiques.  In a relaxing grassy area around the International Fountain at Seattle Center, we got our first “tourist” pics with Seattle’s iconic Space Needle in the background.

Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the delightful multicultural flavor of big-city Seattle was on full display at the International Fountain and in “uptown” Queen Anne.  A yummy Thai dinner together was the perfect cap to a lovely first day in the big city.

We had a few days before brother Greg and his wife Shirley arrived, so we decided to further perfect our public transportation skills and headed by bus over to the University of Washington.  Our daughter, Megan, graduated from U-Dub, so for nostalgia sake, we found our way over to where she was commissioned on the Quad. 

What a proud day that was on the Quad under the canopy of the cherry trees…

Megan's commissioning day, June 2004

Our newly commissioned Second Lieutenants

This day, those famous 90-year-old Yochino cherry trees that dazzle the Quad each spring when they bloom were sturdy and big.

One of my most enjoyable reads of the past year was the book The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.  This book recounted the amazing triumph of the American 8-oar rowing team over Nazi Germany during the 1936 Olympics.  Against impossible odds, nine working-class boys stunned all of Berlin by winning the gold medal as Hitler looked on.   

Inside Conibear Shellhouse, the 1936 Olympic wooden shell was displayed suspended from the ceiling in the dining hall.

Bronze wall plaques commemorated some of the early greats in University of Washington rowing history.

9-man crew of "The Boys in the Boat"

Father of Rowing at UW

Coach of 1936 Olympic Gold Medal Team

The old shellhouse used by the 1936 team wasn’t open, but I was more than satisfied with a view from the outside.

The University of Washington is one of world’s leading public research universities.  Seven faculty members have won a Nobel prize.  We felt it was worth a walk around campus to view some of its historic buildings, starting with the “collegiate Gothic style” Suzzallo Library.

Like a scene right out of Hogwarts, it wasn’t hard to appreciate why the Reading Room is known as the “Harry Potter Room.”

These pics are for Megan… anchoring a corner of Drumheller Fountain, the Atmospheric Sciences Building, which claimed many hours of her time…

along with Clark Hall, the ROTC building named after none other than William Clark of Lewis & Clark Expedition fame.

Tucked into the southeast corner of campus on Lake Union was Huskey Stadium, an iconic venue on the UW home turf of national champions in multiple sports.

When brother/sister day arrived, we were eager to finally meet Greg and Shirl at Sea-Tac arrivals.  We had mercy on them the next day and stuck to activities closer to camp, like taking a half-hour ride on the Edmonds to Kingston auto-ferry 

over to the Kitsap Peninsula in Puget Sound.  

Group pictures on the ferry were definitely a must.

A few hours of casino play followed by a brief swing by tiny Poulsbo, with its Scandinavian heritage on full display, rounded out a great first day of our precious week together.

During our 1989 family trip on the road, we had inquired about taking a tour of the Boeing factory.  We were very disappointed to be told that our children of 8 and 9 were too young for the tour!  Fast forward to 2018, and we were pretty sure that four senior citizens would make the cut… 

While waiting in the museum for the tour to start, Shirley and I had a turn at the cockpit controls.  Scary, isn’t it? 

Tight security during the factory tour meant no photography allowed, so I have resorted to an Internet file photo.  

787 Dreamliner

We found that Boeing’s production facilities in the world’s largest building by volume were on a scale beyond belief!  From vantage points above the factory floor, we had incredible views of Boeing airplanes in various stages of production for their worldwide customers.  This 90-minute well-orchestrated tour far surpassed the 20-minute one we would have had in 1989, so I guess it was worth the wait…

The next day, Greg and Shirley were good sports about getting on public bus transportation into the city.  After navigating three very hilly Seattle city blocks, our first stop was the 73rd floor of the tallest public observatory in the Pacific Northwest—Skyview Observatory.  There we were awed by 360-degree views of the entire city of Seattle,

a hint of Mt. Ranier above the clouds, Seattle sports stadiums,

and Puget Sound.

What we didn’t know when we booked the tour was that our visit coincided with the start of an airshow by the Blue Angels!  It was pretty spectacular seeing Blue Angels flying in formation even with our line of sight!

And, of course, making memories together 73 floors up was priceless…

We had a marvelous mini family reunion with Michele at her apartment, which had astounding views of Seattle, Puget Sound, and the mountains in the distance.  What a treat to wake up every day in such magnificent surroundings!  The rooftop was the perfect place for “reunion pics.”

And margaritas in a local Queen Anne Mexican restaurant was a great place to catch up!

To round out the Seattle big-city experience, we met Michele another day at Pike Place Market, 

a hustling and bustling market experience that got better once we maneuvered to less crowded hallways.  But first, a stop at Seattle’s must-see tourist attraction—the “throwing of the fish” from display cases to the scale.

For coffee lovers, the original Starbucks was a curiosity worth seeing, but none of us was fanatic enough to stand in a very long line of customers waiting to buy their grande caramel macchiato.

Original Starbucks

At Michele’s recommendation, we had a lovely lunch together at Athenian Seafood Restaurant and Bar, where we had our own private cozy booth with a view of Puget Sound.

Another crazy round of various group pics was in order…

Oh, what a week that was!  I’d like to think that we gave Greg and Shirl a small inkling of big-city Seattle life.  It was so much fun sharing laughter and good times together with them.  They sure were good sports about spending a week sleeping, eating and maneuvering in our RV’s close quarters. To my way of thinking, hooking up with cousin Michele and catching up on our lives over several decades made our week together even better.  The words of Desmond Tutu summed things up pretty perfectly for me:  

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GREAT AMERICANS IN ASTORIA

“Great men are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.”  Napoleon Bonaparte

CAROL WRITES:  From our rural campground in Washington State, we deviated south and west to our last stop on the Pacific Ocean—the tiny town of Astoria, Oregon, on the Columbia River.

Named after early American fur trader John Jacob Astor, Astoria was a good jumping-off point from which to visit several locales associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the brainchild of President Thomas Jefferson, who in 1803 directed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to organize a cadre of explorers who would be tasked to explore the Missouri River to its source and from there to find the most direct water route to the Pacific Ocean.

Led by Lewis and Clark, the 31 men of the Corps of Discovery were ordered by President Jefferson to make scientific and geologic observations “with great pains and accuracy” as they explored the vast and as yet uncharted Northwest.  President Jefferson was also keen to receive detailed descriptions of the culture of the Indian tribes that the expedition met along their route.  At Fort Mandan in what is now North Dakota, Lewis and Clark engaged the services of Indian guide Sacagawea and her husband Touissant Charbboneau, accompanied by their infant son, Jean Baptiste.

A short drive up a windswept hill above picturesque Astoria led us to the Astoria Column, a jewel of a monument dedicated to Astoria’s early explorers and settlers.  The 125-ft tower was decorated with pictures that celebrated important moments in Northwest history from 1792 to 1818.  Over the next several days, my aching thighs made me second-guess the wisdom of climbing the narrow 164-step spiral staircase for the view at the top; however there was no denying that the view from on high really was superb on this clear sunny day.

From our vantage point, the surrounding view of the town of Astoria and the nearby Astoria-Megler Bridge, which spanned the Columbia River to Washington State, was a jaw-dropper.  This bridge is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

Harbor-side down below, Astoria exhibited a somewhat sleepy pace of Coast Guard harbor duties—at least on this calm summer day.

Cargo ships that transported heavy goods and materials, such as grain and lumber, were anchored in a wide stretch of the Columbia River where they awaited space to dock upriver in Longview.

LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

Lewis and Clark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River in November1805.  With harsh winter weather fast approaching, there was an urgent need to find winter quarters to prepare for the spring start of the arduous journey back east.  From December 1805 to March 1806 the Corps of Discovery braved the winter elements at Fort Clatsop.  

Here game was plentiful and the indigenous Clatsop People were friendly.  Nothing remains intact of the original fort; however, this excellent replica based on William Clark’s journal was said to be situated within yards of the actual site.

The geography around the mouth of the Columbia River naturally creates some very interesting points of view.  Cape Disappointment, located in the extreme southwestern corner of Washington State was just such a place.  British fur trader John Meares named this area Cape Disappointment after he failed to discover the mouth of the Columbia River during a storm.

At the edge of the continent, Cape Disappointment is one of the windiest and foggiest locations on the West Coast.  The North Head Lighthouse, which was established in 1898, is still functioning.

Cape Disappointment marked the furthest point west for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center offered more than enough historical information about 2-1/2 years of discoveries made by Lewis and Clarks’s Corps of Discovery. 

Toward the end of our stay in Astoria, we took some time to head south to the resort city of Seaside, Oregon.  Al had read about a 1-1/2-mile paved promenade along the beach that would offer a good opportunity to get some miles on the trackers.  The houses were eye-pleasing and the flowers were outstanding!

In Seaside, the beach cottage concept was taken to a whole new level.

During our visit, Tillamook Head greeted us with a typical Oregon coast fog show.

There was even a Lewis and Clark connection in Seaside that has been preserved in a residential area of the beachfront.  At the Salt Works

five members of the Lewis and Clark crew boiled seawater day and night for several weeks to produce much-needed salt that was used to preserve meat for the return trip east.

HARBOR DEFENSES OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER

At Fort Columbia State Park, high atop a hill with a view of the Columbia River estuary, we explored one of the most intact coastal defensive forts on the West Coast.

In times of war the mouth of the Columbia River was of obvious strategic importance.  Established by the Army in 1896, Fort Columbia supplied essential artillery defense for the harbor and as such was fully manned and operational for two wars.

The gun batteries that once offered an unobstructed view of the Columbia River,

and other preserved buildings provided a realistic peak into the life of the times.

In fact, in June 1942, a Japanese submarine shelled the harbor defenses of the Columbia!  We have many reasons to give a heartfelt thanks to the men and women who participated in the coastal defense of our country.

Situated on the south side of the Columbia River, a similar military installation named Fort Stevens guarded the mouth of the Columbia River during the years between the Civil War and 1947.  Gun batteries similar to those at Fort Columbia were also at Fort Stevens.  Al and I had clear memories of how much fun our kids had running around the massive concrete gun batteries during our 1989 visit when we camped at the Fort Stevens State Park campground.

Three decades down the road after our 1989 visit, the century-old skeleton of the Peter Iredale, which ran ashore in thick fog, still lies entombed in the sand at the water’s edge on Fort Stevens.

Two years ago in a campground outside Omaha, Nebraska, the couple next to us were in the early days of an ambitious plan to follow along the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition—all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  They were wrapped up in this adventure to the point where when they arrived at a particularly notable stop on the route, they took time to dress in costumes of the period!  I trust they had a suitable celebration when they arrived at Lewis and Clark’s western terminus near present-day Astoria.

Interesting folks we meet on the road…

A themed travel route could be an interesting RV adventure, but for now we will stick to Al’s most excellent plans.

“It always seems impossible, until it’s done.  Nelson Mandela