My sister, Marcia, and I flew up to Portland, Oregon on September 3rd. Our nephew, Ryan Miles, was getting married in Olympia, Washington on September 5th and we used the wedding as a reason for a vacation together.
After arriving in Portland, we rented a car and headed downtown to hit Powells. This is an awesome bookstore and we spent several hours searching through the store and buying books. Marcia looked primarily at lighthouse books and mysteries and I looked at running books, mysteries, and Italian books. We each filled a big bag with books and loaded up the car. By the way – if you have never parked in Powell's garage, it is an adventure. I think you have to master the 20 point turn to get out of a spot successfully.
The next stage of the journey was to head west to the ocean. We saw the Tillamook lighthouse and then headed north. Lunch in Astoria and a lighthouse ship there, followed by a couple more lighthouses in Washington. We made it to Deadman's Cove at the perfect time of day for me to get some shots of this interesting cove. I will post some of these shots later this week.
We were going to make it clear to Olympia that night, but got tired and stopped for the night. I almost got a ticket, but looked pathetic enough that the policeman let us off easy. However, I think he sent noisy people to stay in the hotel room next to ours – they talked LOUDLY all night.
Friday we checked out another lighthouse and were able to climb to the top of this one. Then off to Olympia. Our older brother, Kerry, had arranged for us to stay in a mansion on the property where he was renting a guest cottage and we were really spoiled to have the house all to ourselves. That night we got to see a lot of family and watch Ryan and Britni's dress rehearsal and enjoy a great rehearsal dinner (Marcia would probably disagree with the enjoying the dinner part – but that is her story to tell).
Saturday we spent time with family and were able to participate in Ryan and Britni Miles wedding. They are such a cute couple and obviously deeply in love.
The next day Marcia and I went up to Seattle and checked into a hotel in the area and toured Pike's Peak Market and the Seattle Mystery Bookstore (can you tell we both love books). That night we were able to see Wicked. Can I just say this musical is AWESOME! I want to see it again and again.
Monday morning we went back and did the Seattle Underground Tour. Then we headed back down to Olympia and my brother Regan, his wife Debra and their littlest girl, Lizzy took us out on their boat on Puget Sound. We found another lighthouse and then had an interesting experience when their dog jumped off the front of the boat. Smokey was trying to save us from injury, because after we fished her out of the sound, we grounded the boat on a sandbar. If we had been going full speed, the boat and occupants might have been seriously injured. Debra got a good dunking and I got my lower half wet, but we were all laughing about the adventure.
Tuesday we headed back down to Portland and on our way home. It was so nice to spend time with all of our family and get to know them better.
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