That’s what the sign said was their record in the winter of 1998-1999…  747 inches.  62 FEET.

That’s A LOT of snow!

Hurricane Ridge is in Olympic National Park, an easy drive from where we are staying in Port Angeles.  The views of the Olympic Mountains were beautiful, although not as clear as we’d hoped.

This sign shows what we should have been able to see:

Nope, can’t see it

Still can’t see it

There was a long, winding road to get to the top of the mountain, with just a little bit of nail-biting going on.  We particularly enjoy the tunnels that make the ride so interesting.

What fun – a tunnel.

Hope the horn works.

Oh, look. It’s another tunnel ahead

Rachel and Summer have been desperate to ski or snowboard, but settled for sledding at Hurricane Ridge.  They had to make their own trail, but it was still a bumpy ride.  Check out Rachel’s page for some funny videos.  Particularly, Peter’s…

Trailblazing

Rachel vs Sled

The views from the top were spectacular.

View from the ridge

Snow on the drive up the mountain

we drove this winding road to get here

The nicest view

The view keeps getting prettier

Winter wonderland in November

It’s a good thing we didn’t bring the motorhome up here. Peter would’ve taken the dare.

This means you, Peter

This little guy seemed pretty happy up here

The drive back down was fun. The windshield was a bit dirty, but mostly it’s the fog you can see. Not the road.

Fog is fun

STILL in Washington (stay tuned to find out why we are still here in this lovely state) – we visited a rainforest.  Who knew Washington had a temperate rainforest?  We do now…

Some areas of the Olympic Peninsula get 12 FEET of rain per year.  Yes, we went from lots of snow, to lots of rain.  We miss the sun.

Apparently, all this rain they get is great for growing trees.  Really, really, really big trees.  Like, some of the world’s biggest.

BIG Cedar Tree

Towering Trees

Tree huggers

Rainforest waterfall

Creepy trees

Drowned rats

Does this look like a giant spider??

How we crossed the river

BIG Spruce

Log rats

We saw snow, rain, and the sun all in hour.

Peter and the girls decided to have some fun in Paradise, one of the snowiest places on earth.

Mt. Rainier

Still Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier National Forest

Mt. Rainier

Narada Falls

Mt Rainier hiding

Narada Falls at Mt. Rainier

The Port Defiance Zoo in Tacoma not only has a beautiful view from the parking area, but they have an incredible assortment of critters from around the Pacific Rim.  We saw Asian elephants, clouded leopards (cubs too!), Sumatran tigers, otters, gibbons, meerkats, and even some sharks!

The girls and I went to the zoo with my friend Dyan and her two kids, Marc and Sara.  The weather was a bit chilly and cloudy (surprise, surprise) but the rain held out for us.

Big Cat

Little Cats

We enjoyed seeing this little cattle-like critter – the anoa, aka “midget buffalo”.  We noticed that its horns were unusual not only because they pointed backwards, but because they had dog toys stuck to the tips.  Yep, the word “Kong” was clearly visible.  (for those of you caninely-challenged – a “Kong” is a hollowed out, rubbery dog toy that one can stuff with a dog treat or fill with peanut butter to keep a pooch amused for hours)

Anoa, we re-named this one “Kong”

We also got to check out the shark tank.  The zoo has started an innovative way to feed the sharks.  It seems they lure visitors into a cage, then release them into the tank with nothing but scuba equipment to defend themselves.  We didn’t stick around to watch the feeding frenzy, but it appears that this shark’s food bowl is empty.

Time to feed the sharks

The girls made some new friends, Jaclyn and Jessica, at the campground we are staying at in lovely, Bothell, WA.  Summer & Rachel decided to crash their trick-or-treating, and are we glad they did!

Fierce Foursome

We ended up in a nice town called Kirkland for the annual candy-fest.  We tagged along with our new friends Kim and Ken, and the afore-mentioned J’s – Jaclyn and Jessica.

Summer, the Evil Queen

Post-looting sorting of the loot

Yes, another “field trip” for the kids. Ok, and us too. I was definitely excited to see the “largest building in the world” (by volume, as they are quick to add)…

Our tour guide had some crazy stats that he rattled off about the building. Since we weren’t allowed to bring any personal items, I couldn’t jot them down. But, here’s what we remember, by the numbers:

12 Empire State Buildings would fit in the Boeing factory
5.1 Egyptian pyramids
6 Pentagon buildings
ALL of Disneyland plus plenty of room for parking
40,000 employees work there
9 Tully’s Coffee shops on-site (sadly, no Starbucks)
11 Restaurants

The largest building in the world (by volume)

There was also a cool indoor museum-like area that had some interesting things to see before we went on the assembly plant tour. They had a bunch of artistic renderings of students’ designs for re-purposing airplanes. Way to recycle!

Rachel couldn’t wait to catch a flight…

Still in Seattle, we checked out the Experience Music Project museum, or the EMP for short. It’s another one of those great museums that’s really several museums wrapped up in one.   Music, sci-fi, and pop culture too.

Rachel & Summer were a little freaked out about stuff like this:

although they enjoyed the special effects area

they couldn’t wait to get out of the horror movie exhibit

they loved the exhibit on fantasy, especially seeing some of the costumes and weapons on display. The girls loved seeing the armor & the weapons that the actress who played Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson movie wore.

Rachel thought this dragon, Annalinda, was pretty cool. Too bad no flash photography was allowed, it would have been a much better picture. We got the inside scoop on the growling noise that the dragon was making. Apparently, there is a well-known music producer in the area who recorded his pet pug sleeping. Yes, the dragon’s scary sounds are of a little dog snoring.

Sign from Fantasy gallery

Rachel with her pet dragon, Annalinda

Another sign at the Fantasy gallery

The music gallery was huge. They have an extensive collection on Seattle-based Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, and lots more good stuff too.

My favorite part of the museum was “Sky Church” – an enormous screen inside the building where they show music videos, short films, and even have live performances. They were playing Michael Jackson’s Thriller while we were there. Since we don’t have a tv, the girls had never seen it. Summer didn’t like it, Rachel thought it was predictable. Maybe they just need to watch it again.

The EMP… way cool on the outside too

So, we bought the Seattle CityPass which is “One ticket booklet that saves 44% on admission to the best 6 attractions in Seattle” (St. Pete, you should really consider doing this  – Boston, Atlanta, NY, etc. all offer their own version!)  We are busy working our way through all of the fun offerings.

Rachel and Summer got a bit more home-schooling with our “field trip” to the Museum of Flight.  It’s a great museum with lots of NASA stuff, history of aviation, WWI & WWII stuff, and we even got to go inside the Concorde.  That was pretty cool, the windows were tiny!  As were the bathrooms.

We also enjoyed seeing a human-powered aircraft –  the Gossamer Albatross, which made a flight across the English Channel. (sorry, I forgot to get a picture & stealing one off the internet would be photo plagiarism, but you can Google it)  Summer & Rachel were curious as to what would happen when/if the person who was pedaling this aircraft (yes, it’s like a bicycle!) got tired…  we did notice that the pedaling mannequin in the Gossamer Albatross on display was wearing a lifejacket.

The girls also got to try their hands at flying.  No, not really.  Just a simulator, but they enjoyed it…

The flight simulator room had its own control tower

Mayday! Mayday!

As tourists, we just had to go on a harbor cruise (ok, it was included in our CityPass). My friend Dyan who lives in Tacoma with her husband Bob & cute kids Marc & Sara joined us on the cruise.  She’s lived here for 13 years and has never been on one.  See,  you have to be a tourist to do these touristy things. I don’t know why Peter was hiding in the picture.

That’s us with Dyan (yes, that’s Peter hiding in the back)

Pretty view from the water

The ferris wheel really is scarier than it looks

We like it here.  Although really, what’s not to like?  The weather has been pretty mild, the fall foliage is beautiful, there are lots of things to see and do, and there’s coffee.  Lots & lots of coffee.  Also, there are tons of cool hipsters here.  Although, we are having a hard time differentiating between the cool hipsters and the homeless.  It seems that there is a very fine line between the two.  We suspect they may not actually be mutually exclusive.

As I may have mentioned, I like coffee.  A lot.  And there happens to be a lot of great coffee here.  Specifically, Starbucks.  Yes, the original Starbucks is right here in Seattle, along with way too many other Starbucks to count.  Check out this map:

Every one of those green pins represents another little slice of heaven known as Starbucks

Naturally, we had to visit the original Starbucks & see what all the fuss was about.  The line really wasn’t all that long, and I swear, my latte just tasted better there.  All the cool merchandise that you can only purchase at that store was neat to see too.  One of the ceramic travel mugs followed me home.  As did his little friend, the iced coffee cup.  And a t-shirt for Peter.  Let’s see if he wears it.

The mothership

That’s my latte!

So, we’ve re-renamed Seattle from “Starbucksland” to “Land of Crazy Hat Wearers”.  We saw an unbelievable number of people wearing the most unbelievable of hats.  I was too scared to take pictures.  Except for one… of Rachel, just trying to fit in.  (Yes, that is a plastic bag on her head).

Rachel, a crazy hat wearer.

We happen to have a few shoppers in the family – the girls really enjoyed Pike Place Market and seeing all the cool vendors.  Very reminiscent of Faneuil Hall in Boston.  There were a ton of street performers and some other interesting sights too.  Check out the Gum Wall that Summer & Rachel are standing in front of…

This guy played harmonica, guitar, balanced a guitar on his head, and hula hooped.

The Gin Jars. Peter bought their CD.

The Gum Wall!

Of course we also had to go up in the Space Needle.  I don’t like heights, but it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  I won’t go anywhere near that ferris wheel though.

Beautiful at night

Girls at the Space Needle

Space Needle

View from the Space Needle

You can see the ferris wheel from the Space Needle