Grant's Visit: Seattle - August 2014

Piling up frequent flyer miles, BB flew Lydia back to Austin, and picked up our Grandson Grant Hewett on the return trip for a week in the Seattle area.

Like Lydia, this was Grant's first airplane ride and he thought it was a grand experience.  Once at the RV, Grant claimed one of the recliners, a box of Cheez-its, kicked his shoes off and said "Ahhhh!."

Flying is Hard Work!

For our first trip, we chose one of the Seattle Duck Tours.  These are interesting tours that provides an overview of some of the highlights of Seattle.  The vehicles are WWII-vintage amphibious / land vehicles that combine a city street tour with a tour of Lake Washington.  Here are some pics from our Duck tour:

Grant and BB ready to Go

Quacker Ready!

Entering Lake Washington

Seattle Skyline

Space Needle

Houseboat where "Sleepless in Seattle" was Filmed (to the right of the sailboats)

 The next trip was to the top of the Seattle Space Needle.  As you remember, the Space Needle was completed in December, 1961 as the centerpiece of the 1962 World's Fair.  The iconic structure has become a symbol for Seattle, and is worth a visit if you are in the area.  The observation deck is 520 feet above Seattle, and provides impressive views, especially on a clear day.  On the way to the needle, we walked past the EMP museum.  This building was designed by architect Frank Gehry.  The museum's central Sky Church pays tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and on the day of the museum's opening a local paper said the building looked like a "smashed electric guitar."  The New York Times described the building as "something that crawled out of the sea, rolled over, and died." Interesting building to say the least.

 Here are some pics from our Space Needle trip:

Needle and the EMP Museum

View of the EMP Museum from the Needle

It's a Long Way to the Top!

But We Made It!

View from the Top

Smack Time

Space Needle, Monorail and EMP Museum

After the Needle, we rode the monorail into Seattle Center for lunch.  The monorail was built for the 1962 World's Fair and is the sole remaining Alweg Monorail in use today.  Still a pretty cool mode of transportation.

BB, Grant and I drove from Seattle onto the Olympic Peninsula to visit friends BB and I originally met at San Gabriel Presbyterian Church in Georgetown.  Tom and Kathy Kilburg have a beautiful cabin on the western shore of Hood Canal, on US101 south of Quilcene.  The weather was beautiful and the temperature approximately 74 degrees F.  Quite a change from August in Texas!  We had a great visit.

View of the Hood Canal from Tom and Kathy's Deck

Kathy and BB

Tom and Kathy Kilburg, BB and Me

After our enjoyable day with the Kilburgs, we drove over to take the ferry from Kingston to Lynnwood, and then drove back to the RV Park.

Queued Up to Board

Grant didn't get to sleep in as much as he might have liked, as BB and I got him up and going pretty early each day.  However, it had several trips to Target and Walmart to get Legos, and enjoyed Blueberry Pancakes each morning.  Not too bad.

Breakfast and Legos!

For our next excursion, BB, Grand and I went back downtown to visit several venues; the Seattle Aquarium, a Seattle Harbor Tour, and the Great Wheel.

Here are some pictures from the aquarium:

An Octopus named "Cupcake"

After the aquarium, we went next door to ride the Seattle Great Wheel.  The Great Wheel is a giant ferris wheel with an overall height of 175 feet, and was opened in 2012.  Grant thought the Great Wheel was great fun, and the views were indeed spectacular.  BB, however, has never been a fan of ferris wheels, but was a trooper and went on the ride with us anyway.  She even opened her eyes a little.

The Seattle Great Wheel

Grant and Granddad

Open Your Eyes, BB!

The Aquarium from the Great Wheel

Where the Seahawks Play

Nothing To It!

After the Great Wheel, we took a harbor cruise and learned a little about the Seattle harbor.  Here are some sights from that tour:

We had a grand time hosting Grant in Seattle.  We look forward to doing it again at some new place in the near future.

Next week, BB and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise out of Seattle, and up the Inside Passage to Alaska and back.  This will be my first cruise and BB and I are both pretty excited about it.  I'll post some pictures from that excursion soon, so stay tuned.