Seattle - Onward!

We repositioned our campsite from Ft. Lewis to Everett, WA, which is North of Seattle, so that we could be a bit closer to downtown and other sites.  This picture is on the evening of  Stacey's birthday.  We went to the tiny town of Mukilteo and bought her some fresh flowers at the Farmer's Market.  Then we ate on the deck of a nice Italian Restaurant.  The weather was absolutely perfect!  We walked down to the water and ate ice cream.  A great time!

We took a side day trip across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and visited the fishing town of Gig Harbor.  Here you see Hailey taking advantage of low tide to explore for sea creatures.  To her left, your right, you can see one of the many "net houses" along the harbor.  These, as you can surmise from the name, are used by fisherman to hang their nets and gear in following a fishing expedition. Many of these "houses" are over a hundred years old.

2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1962 World's Fair and the construction of the Seattle Space Needle, which was the center piece of that event and forever changed the skyline of  the city of Seattle.  It is now an icon of Seattle.  This particular World's Fair was one of the few World's Fairs to ever make a financial profit. The Space Needle is 605 feet tall and 138 feet wide and weighs in at a hefty 9,550 tons.  It was constructed to withstand 200mph winds and a 9.1 magnitude earthquake.  It is also protected with 25 lightning rods.  The elevators that take visitors to the top have 6 cables and each cable alone is capable of lifting the elevator.  The trip to the top takes only 41 seconds and offers breathtaking views on the way up as the outsides are glass! 

The Space Needle has an observation deck at 520 feet with the rotating SkyCity restaurant at 500 feet.  One can see not only the Downtown Seattle skyline, but also the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay and surrounding islands. Here Hailey uses one of the several telescopes to get a closer aerial look of the surroundings.  Hailey was initially very nervous about going up but, once atop, she was enthralled and lost all of her fear.

The Seattle skyline as seen from the Space Needle observation deck.  In the left center of the picture you can barely make out Mt. Rainer amongst the clouds.  It was another gorgeous summer day!  

After a day running around Seattle, we stop in at a place called Game Stop, where we had dinner.  The place also has many different arcade games and attractions.  Here we find a "retro arcade game" of PacMan. This particular one is a four person version.  The fellow in the front left decided to enter our game and it ended up with a three way tie of me, Heidi and this fellow.  Here you can see Hailey scores a victory, when she consumes my PacMan!  What a blast to relive my youth of playing these games!

Road Dog!  Here Molly demonstrates the proper posture for traveling down the highway.  We get many looks and "pointings" accompanied by waves and smiles!  Woof! 

We leave Everett and travel northward to just south of Bellingham to the town of Anacortes. Our goal is to explore San Juan Island, one of the major islands in the islands of the same name. 

Here you can see why we chose Anacortes to explore the islands.  Anacortes is one of two major ports for ferry service to the islands and Vancouver Island, Canada.  We loaded up our car and set sail to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Here is a picture of a ferry, as it passes along side ours.  These things are MASSIVE and could easily hold both our motor home and our tow vehicle.  However, to do so isn't cheap!  So, we decided to just take a day trip over with our car.  It was about 45 minutes to an hour sail time. 

Hailey enjoys the views as we weave thru the beautiful San Juan Islands. 

The girls of Team Breitmann take a stop at San Juan National Park American Camp.  This was the site in 1859 that American troops were stationed for 12 years, during heightened tensions over border disputes with England that nearly led to war.   This camp was positioned on the southern most point of the island, where a clear view of the approaching straits could be defensible.

Here the girls pose at the sign at the North end of the island at the English camp.  The sign says it all.  

The English Camp historic site featured live interpretive exhibits with folks in period costume.  Here Heidi learns some duties that were expected of a spouse of one of the English soldiers.  She learned that if a married woman was left by her husband, either intentionally or by death, she had 60 days to find a new husband or she would be shipped back to England. The lady here is telling Heidi how soap was made and how to do the wash.  Only the undergarments were washed because the uniforms were woolen and could not be hand laundered.  The uniforms were just combed out if they got dirty. 

Here the girls learn about the differences between a rifle and a musket, as told by one of the English soldiers stationed here. 

Yep, another Jr. Ranger badge for Hailey!

What a great gem we stumbled across!  We stopped in at a "farm" on the island where we could pick our own raspberries, strawberries, beans, currants...you name it!  Here the girls admire the chickens as the friendly farm dog named Pretzel tries to convince them to play! 

Hailey harvests fresh eggs right from the chicken coop!  I cooked some up for breakfast the next morning.  

Heidi has a blast picking raspberries! 

Hailey seems to have a way with cats, as one of the two farm cats comes out to say 'hello' to Hailey.

Picturesque, up-scale Roche Harbor on the very North end of the island.  Just drop dead gorgeous houses with breathtaking views!  We sat here and indulged in some ice cream! 

We spent an afternoon walking around Anacortes Historic district, much to the delight of Hailey.  She loves antique shops and there were plenty to be had!  Here she stands in front of an eight foot can of salmon!  We had a nice relaxing time here in Anacortes! 

It's off to the Cascade Mountains for Team Breitmann!  Til' my next posting!