Seattle Samplings ~ Aug. 26th-27th

Maybe this is common knowledge to people who get away for the weekend on a regular basis, but traffic is really horrible on Sunday afternoon as everyone leaves a resort to return to the city. With one way in to Ocean Shores, that one way out is painful. Getting back on I-5, the traffic crawled northwards all the way up to the Tacoma dome. So, we were somewhat out-of-sorts by the time we found our hotel in downtown Seattle. We revived ourselves by eating at the Cheesecake Factory, one of our favourite places to eat. Nora settled off to sleep after a family swim, while we watched a movie with the boys and enjoyed the view. We needed to rest up for all the big plans I had for Monday. :)

Along our travels, we had seen advertisements for the King Tut Exhibition at the Pacific Science Centre, and felt if would be a good thing for the boys to experience.The monorail was just outside our hotel, so we were at the museum quite early, starting off with an IMAX film about mummies. Not the best choice for Nora's first movie experience... I had to cover her eyes a few times as dead bodies, although mummified, were on the screen, and she was asking questions. Thankfully, she behaved through the whole thing and I didn't have to find my way to the exit in the dark. :) Here are some of the displayed items...

King Tut's face was surprisingly life-like... the glasses were
unexpected but maybe they were needed in the afterlife?!

Scott had been to Egypt in his younger years, so had seen the original exhibit there already. Lewis was not interested in the least despite my encouragement that he would be studying this in Gr. 7 next year. I was excited to be there but it's pretty hard to read the signs while you navigate a stroller in a dark room with people walking around like zombies because they have headphones on, listening to Harrison Ford explain what they're seeing! So Nora and I did the "zoom-zoom" tour, and likely spent more time in the gift shop. I think Thomas benefited the most from the experience, but it was still worth attending. (It's on until January 2013...) The rest of the museum has many wonderful exhibits for children and adults to explore, so we spent several hours there also. I enjoyed the butterfly habitat the most...

Nora wasn't too squeamish with the insect displays.

But then who would be, with a friend like Lewis watching your back?

 Professor Thomas...

After trying out the shrinking machine... ;)

Experiencing string vibrations inside a guitar...

 Trying out acrobatic skills 12 feet up...

 Scott's a natural performer.

Leaving the Centre...

... on to the Space Needle!

Got to love these tourist trap photos!

Mt. Rainier is hidden in the clouds...

 Happy to see the place where we watch fireworks
burst forth from on New Year's Eve ( on TV...)

Nora's still carrying around her plastic shark... She got a lecture from a guard
about not throwing it over  the rungs... give me a break!

After our quick monorail trip back, we walked downhill to the Pike Place Market. 

Just a sampling of the rows of gorgeous bouquets at amazing prices... heavenly!

Not so fun coming up the hill... Nora's wiped right out.

 Watching the monorail from the hotel's pool deck.

Nora enjoys arching her back in the pool...she's always been partial to this movement
 since her early experiences of flinging backwards when she's upset.
We like this much better...

Our first time dining experience at P.F.Chang's for dinner was a delicious experience.
The boys' complaints of "We don't want Chinese food!" were soon squelched. Yummy!

A lovely end to a last day of vacation. Back to reality tomorrow.

And writing this in retrospect, reality did bite back with a vengeance and it feels like another vacation would be wonderful. Oh well, this is why it's good to enjoy each day without worrying about tomorrow. (Matt. 6:34 ) We're doing much better now, thanks. :) Thank you for sharing in our virtual vacation tour... hope you can get to Oregon soon, too.