Our tetris skills were once again put to the test when we picked up Mandy and Benson from the airport. Benson rejected the easiest solution of strapping his car seat to the roof of the car. I have no idea why, it would have been so much more efficient. We navigated up through Seattle to reach the VRBO my mom had found right next to Green Lake. The house is organized into little suites… which leads to my favorite setup with the master suite closet. Katy needed some caffeine after she arrived so we took a little walk to a local coffee shop. After that we finished exploring the house and Todd made the executive decision that we needed Vietnamese food so we drove a couple miles to pick up the “big order.”
The next morning we woke up bright and early. And by we I mean at least me and Benson… and eventually Nana. A few hours later the sleepyheads woke up and we made our way to the Chihuly Gardens and the Space Needle. The Chihuly Gardens was a combination of several indoor exhibits, an outdoor garden, and a continuously playing video montage. One thing I didn’t know was that he hasn’t actually made much of the glass for quite some time – he lost his eye and dislocated his shoulder in a head-on car accident many years ago. So he’s kinda like the artistic mastermind with the grand vision. Also, the stuff that they produce is absolutely stunning.
After Chihuly we made our (stressful) way up to the top of the Space Needle. The view from up there was pretty cool. The rotating room was less disorienting than the restaurant in Auckland; this could have been because we were actively looking out at the city though. Instead of eating and seeing the horizon shift in the periphery. Mom, Pops, and I snagged some lunch at the Greenlake Grill (which Pops says was his best meal of the vacation so far) before I passed out for a solid nap.
After my bodacious nap, we all took a walk around the Green Lake area before settling in for appetizers, drinks and some food at… the Greenlake Grill. We didn’t end up having a lot of options because things were closed due to the fact that it was Monday. After dinner Billy and I made our way to the playground where Mandy and Benson were busy playing. I went on the swings for the first time in a hot minute. I didn’t jump off at the high point though because I was a little too scared. The next day we all piled into the cars for a day at the aquarium and the Pike Place market. The aquarium was pretty awesome, although the exhibits were relatively small and made me feel sad that the fishes didn’t have room to swim around and be free. Pike Place market was like the Lancaster market but on steroids! We stood around waiting for them to throw the fish, but I’m guessing you have to wait for someone to actually purchase a fish for that to happen.
We barely managed to stave off hanger by eating at Jack’s – I got some cioppino and a fish taco. It was delicious. One valuable lesson we learned this day was to not try to have 10 people (including an infant and a toddler) all have exactly the same timeframe. When we got back to the house I continued my afternoon theme… by taking a monster nap. After my nap I decided I needed some slight activity to my day so I took a jog around Green Lake. Turns out the road around the lake is 2.8 miles, which made it a pretty decent jog for me. That night Todd, Katy, Billy, and I headed out to Fremont Brewery (and stopped by the bridge troll on the way there). Our night ended up being a little dramatic after someone rather violently opened their car door into ours… and refused to give their insurance information. But also waited for the police to come. It was exceptionally strange. We ended the night by staying up late to play a cool-down game of Wingspan.
