"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death."
-Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Yesterday:
Dom and I began our journey early Monday morning. We went to the grocery store to get some goodies for the road, and then made our way North. We had the fun realization that we did not really know where we were going, but thankfully knew that we could rely (for the most part) on wonderful technologies to guide us. The ride was actually pretty uneventful for the most part actually. I had previously compiled a traveling playlist, and we brought along some audiobooks as well. The drive actually went by very quickly. Dom has always been someone with whom I could share a great conversation, and I think that made the trip go by quickly more than anything. Before I knew it we were already more than halfway through our twelve hour drive. The best part of our drive was stopping in Baker City, a small town in Oregon. While we were driving in Idaho, we began to notice mile markers indicating the distance to this particular town. We didn't understand why this particular city would show up on signs so far away. This is usually something you see if with big cities like Vegas or Portland. We began joking that Baker had better be worth the hype. It just so happened that it was time to stop and refill gas right when we came upon this little town.
Baker City really isn't anything spectacular when you look at it. The city is small but there was so much charm in that little town. I had a fun surprise when I pulled into the gas station and an employee came out to refill the car for me. The second the man walked away from the window, Dom and I frantically searched our phones to see if we would be expected to tip this man (we came to the conclusion that a tip was not necessary....I hope this was true). We then parked the car and took a walk around. The town was full of quaint little houses...and there were squirrels everywhere! I think Dom was quite embarrassed with how fascinated I was by the little guys. He literally had to drag me away because he didn't want us to be the two strange men staring up at trees in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The visit was brief but surprisingly fun!
Below are two of the cool structures we saw in Baker City:
Town Hall
Baker City Tower (Tallest building east of the Cascade Range in Oregon....so there)
I named this little guy Baker. We are pals
After Baker City, the rest of our pit stops just could not compete. The remainder of our drive still went by pretty quickly. We listened to Gone Girl on audio tape and Dom also read from A Game of Thrones. He somehow was blessed with the incredible ability to read in the car without getting carsick. I am not as fortunate. The world is cruel, because I would have read so many things during my travels. Ahem. When we got to Washington I was initially quite unimpressed because I had been told that it was green and beautiful. The outskirts of the state were quite dry and seemed very much like something one would see in Utah. After driving in further that changed very quickly. I soon discovered that certain sections of Washington are covered in beautiful trees. There are woods all over and the cities are just situated inside of them. As we pulled of the freeway and made our way to JT's house in Ravendale, we began to wonder if we were leaving civilization behind. Nope. Civilization lives amongst the trees here! INTO THE WOODS!
The sun was just setting as we arrived at JT's house. We brought some of our things inside and he showed us around his family's beautiful home. I quickly befriended the family horses and then we were getting ready for bed, though not before watching Galaxy Quest. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep because I was so excited, but I think I conked out extremely fast. Driving for twelve hours can do that to a person I suppose.
The view from JT's home. Hanging out with Ty
Today:
We woke up bright and early today and JT was amazing and made us breakfast! I knew I liked that guy. He also volunteered to drive us to Seattle and show us around. Ravendale is about 40 minutes away from Seattle but we quickly made our way over to the big city (well, after stopping by the local grocery store so I could buy some supplies I left at home...). The whole drive there I was so excited, and I was not disappointed by what we saw. After crossing over an amazing floating bridge and going through two tunnels, we popped out right in the middle of Seattle. The skyscrapers were amazing and I was so fascinated with how the roads all wound in different directions. It was like the whole city seemed to be wrapped in one big spaghetti bowl of roads and trees, because even with all the structures and buildings, there was still greenery everywhere!
After parking the car we made our way down towards the water. JT introduced us to a fun Antique Shop and then we began to explore the pier. We saw the Ferris Wheel and visited some of the shops around that area to get a better idea of the sites. We were going to visit a Curiosity Shop that had been highly recommended, but that portion of the area was shut down. We soon saw that there is a lot of construction going on here, and it has caused lots of stuff to shift around or close down. I'd be bummed if there weren't already so many other things to do.
Down by the waterside
A fun view looking back at the city
Um.....I'd rather not go into this one....
Next we made our way over to Pikes Place Market. It was such a fun experience and it felt like the markets that I had visited both in Mexico and London. I turned to JT and Dom and said that it was weird because I kept expecting the vendors to speak to me in Spanish or with thick accents. There were so many different things to buy from fish, fruit, candies, as well as your typical tourist items. I was mildly tempted to buy some paintings of the Space Needle, but resisted. Just a little walk from the market is the famous Gum Wall. It was just as nasty as I was expecting! For lunch we went to a place called Beecher's. They are famous for their delicious cheeses that are made right in the store. They have a glass wall where you can look in on the cheese making process. We ordered some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.
Gum Walls....are gross. But cool. But gross.
My grilled cheese at Beecher's.
Enjoying the market!
Following the market we decided to explore other lesser known places in Seattle. We made our way over to Gas Works Parks. The land was previously used for a plant that made gas from coal. It has now been turned into a beautiful park situated right next to Lake Union. The former exhauster-compressor building has been changed into a play area and all the machines are now brightly painted! It was so fascinating. We walked around the park for a while and noticed that the locals were all quite enjoying the sun. (I was less than amused, as I was looking forward to some cooler temperatures). At this point I was surprisingly exhausted and so I took a quick nap in the shade of the trees. It was fantastic.
A view of downtown Seattle from our park.
Hello Seattle!
I took a nap while these two visited.
I started climbing!
Such a gorgeous place
Throwing this in - I love the great bridges and architecture that abounds here
As we began to wind down we made a few more stops. We visited a fascinating Troll "Statue" that was situated, quite randomly, in a residential neighborhood under a bridge. The thing was massive and was holding an actual car in its giant hand. We had to get a few pictures before we visited a small ice cream shop called Bluebird Ice-cream. They had the most interesting flavors of ice-cream. I ordered a Snickerdoodle ice-cream that tasted just like the cookies.
The Fremont Troll
Enjoying some delicious ice-cream at the Bluebird
The day was coming to a close so we stopped by the Space Needle very quickly to purchase Seattle City Passes (more on those tomorrow I hope). We then made our way back to JT's house where we ate some pizza, watched a movie, and sat in a hot tub. The day was so busy and full of some great experiences, it was great to wind down and relax for a little bit as well. We hope to get well rested so that the adventures can continue tomorrow!
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