Off to Seattle!

Todd dropped us at the train station on Portland early Tuesday morning as we were headed off on Amtrak to Seattle for the last few days of our trip. We had never been to Seattle so we figured since it was only a 3 and a half hour train ride from Portland, we should extend our vacation and spend a few days there.


First of all, the train was fantastic...so roomy and comfortable with big old leather seats and a bistro where we got coffee and delish oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. Did I mention it was super cheap?!? Ryan and I took the time to relive our time in Portland through the videos and photos we had taken on our laptop.


Also, the weather. Wow...7 days in the Pacific Northwest and all sun and in the 70's. No kidding! While in Portland a year ago, we had all rain and overcast conditions - we still had an amazing time, but the weather was icing on the cake for this trip.



But, again, I digress. We were going to Seattle. Here we go!



Our first stop in Seattle was the famous Pike Place Market. We went back here several times as it was only 7 or 8 blocks from our hotel. Here are some photos from the market:

Our first time....

As sunset was upon us.

Another view.
Many of you may have seen the corporate video about teamwork that featured the Pike Place Fish people or you might have just seen them on the Real World. Basically, when they get an order, they throw the fish and yell in unison. Pretty fun to see in person!


They have this crazy looking monkfish on a string and pull it back and out to surprise the people passing by.
There was also entertainment each day...
Check out the flowers...only $15!



The produce was amazing with equally amazing prices. What I wouldn't give to have a market like this close to us. The sign on the apples above cracked me up....watch out for the "applanche"!

There were pigs all over Pike Place. I had to give one of them a squeeze!

Behind Pike Place Market was a neat little park overlooking the water. There was only one little problem....a freeway in the middle. Who designed that??

So, we did go elsewhere aside from the market while we were there...well, a few places....



There were some pretty cool hills in the middle of the city that allowed a view to the water from several blocks away.

Post Alley. We hit some neat places for drinks and the like down here.
Here I am at one of these places...the Kells. We had baked brie with soda bread and fruit. True Irish style!
Ryan and I ...downtown by the water.

We also hit a few of the tourist attractions since it was our first visit. Number one on that list was the Space Needle. Right next door was the "Experience Music Project" as well as the Science Fiction Museum. One purchased pass got you into both otherwise we probably wouldn't have bothered with the Science Fiction piece (sorry, Trekkies).

We rode on a fairly empty monorail to get there.
Funny enough, the "Experience Music Project" was supposed to be pretty cool. You can play all of these instruments and create your own video. However, there was a large group of middle schoolers on a field trip that swarmed the place and made it a bit difficult to navigate. Ryan was able to get a room with an electric guitar, keyboard and drums all amplified for about 10 minutes before the tweens started knocking on the door.

Believe it or not, the Science Fiction Museum ended up being better solely due to the Jim Henson exhibit. We snuck a photo in of Bert, Ernie and I before the photo police came to get us. There were also Fraggles there, too!
Next stop, Space Needle! Pretty quick and pricey trip but worth it to experience at least once.

A view from the top....

I had to give a shout out to 2 other places. First was our hotel, the Fairmont Olympic. Sounds and looks and was super expensive...but, since I always book my hotels on Hotels.com, I get alerted when they are having a sale and I got our room for 50% off plus I had a $50 coupon from a previous visit. All in all, we got away with one of the cheapest hotels we have ever stayed in and it was also the nicest! Fantastic service and a huge room with a comfy bed.

And, on our last night in Seattle, we had dinner at The Taphouse. Great beer selection (160 on tap, holy cow!) and martinis. The food was also fantastic (sushi, pasta, burgers, etc. etc.). It is on 6th Ave just a few blocks from where we stayed.

Phew...can you believe we only stayed in Seattle for 2 days? We definitely squeezed a lot in and got our money's worth. Luckily we had our walking shoes on, who knows how many miles we put on those sneaks!


We are still a bit on west coast time, staying up too late and sleeping in. Work on Monday morning is going to be a harsh awakening! But, at least we are refreshed and had a wonderful time!

The Kiddos

I have been trying to separate these blogs out evenly so they make sense with the special things we did while on vacation. However, there are some photos that do not fall into neat categories (oh, the horror!) so I am dedicating this blog to those photos, named "The Kiddos" because they are mostly of ...well... the kiddos! Here they are:
Grant asleep after a long walk in downtown Portland.

Owen up bright and early with Uncle Ryan. He came up between 6 and 6:30am every day and crawled into bed with us. We could only convince him to let us sleep an extra 20 minutes or so until he started tugging at Uncle Ryan's sleeve to come and have cereal with him, which of course, he was more than happy to do! After cereal, they would go out back and play basketball. Too much fun!

Dinner time for Grant!

Our trip to the Niketown Employee store. Look at those future athletes!
Owen...in a tree! Multnomah Falls.And, I had to throw in another pic of Gracie. We missed Cood so much but she was a pretty darn good substitute!Thanks to the west coast McCagues for another fantastic trip! Can't wait to do it again!

Grant's First

We were lucky enough to be part of Grant's First Birthday Party while we were out in Portland which proved to be a lot of fun. Ryan blew up balloons and shopped with Todd for patio furniture and also set up said furniture as well as a volleyball/badminton net. I helped Cathy make cupcakes and cole slaw and had the priviledge of putting the birthday boy down and getting him up from his naps on the big day. He was a trooper, had several guests and did not fuss at all!Here is Uncle Ryan blowing up a ton of balloons the night before!Phew, the guys and gal (Bondi the dog) were pooped after all the party preppingUncle Ryan and Owen fill up the Loch Ness monster pool for the festivities.The cupcakes. Check out the cute labels that Cathy made. Can you tell what the theme was?The morning of the party...Grant opening his gifts mailed from all over.Sometimes you don't realize what a good photo you have until you get home and blow it up. Look at little bro Grant looking up at his big bro, Owen. So cute!Grant and I on the big day!Mom and Dad helping Grant with his Birthday cupcake.And....a happy Birthday boy with some cupcake on his chin! Happy First, buddy!

Multnomah Falls

Pretty cool, but tourist-crazed. I haven't checked this but I was told this was these were the second highest falls next to Niagara. Since I have never been to Niagara, this sounds good to me! Here are some photos:

This was a photo taken on an old highway on a detour to the falls. Pretty amazing view!

A Night Out In Portland

My brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Cathy, are nice enough to let us stay with them on our (now annual) visits to Portland. We first visited 4 years ago, soon after they had moved from Colorado and had their first child, Owen. Owen is now 3 (and a quarter) and they have since had Grant. Grant was born on our first wedding anniversary in 2008 so we were pretty excited to go out there and be present for his first birthday. Since we live so far away, we often just mail our gifts. Being there was priceless.


But, I digress. This entry is about our night out. Cathy had arranged a babysitter to come watch the little ones while the four of us hit some hot spots. First stop was Vino, a wine shop where they have tastings according to regions/types of wines depending on the week. We were lucky enough to come on Italian wine night and get a seat outside. So, this was also the deal of a lifetime - $10 for 5 tastings. They didn't sell food, so Cathy and I ran 2 blocks away and picked up some yummy cheese and baguette to compliment the wine. We sat with some lovely local ladies and enjoyed some good conversation. One was a food critic and she recommended the restaurant we ended up at for dinner.
Ryan and I happy as clams. We are on vacation!!

Cathy and Todd. Look at all those wine glasses!

We then headed to Iorio in Portland for a delicious Italian dinner. We also had a fantastic waitress who recommended some cool places to check out in Seattle for Ryan and I.

The four of us at Iorio.

Once we left the restaurant to head back to relieve the babysitter, we stopped outside to talk about what a great night we had....*boom* *boom*....Serendipitously, the fireworks started. Out great night happened to coincide with the beginning of the Rose Festival in downtown Portland. What a cool way to ride home!The fireworks....I just had to share this photo as well. Once home, Todd announced we were having breakfast burritos in the morning. Cathy and I were pretty excited!