Whirlwind Trip of the Northwest

This last spring/summer, we were excited to find out that F's brother was getting married! And we were also excited that they were going to have a wedding/reception here and another reception in her hometown on Vancouver Island in Canada. We decided we were not going to miss the chance to visit Vancouver Island and we were going to make it our family vacation for the year. Our plans were to drive all the way up to Vancouver, take a ferry to the island, spend a few days there, take a ferry back to the states, and finally work our way back home by way of the coast of Washington and Oregon - reaching California if we could.
Here is an account of the 10 days of that vacation:
Wednesday, September 28th:
With the car all packed up, the kids strapped in their seats, movies, music, drinks, and snacks at the ready, we left home. The kids were mesmerized by movies (a new thing for us - and still a treat for them). We were able to drive straight through to Twin Fall before needing to stop for bathrooms and lunch. We literally sat in/by the car in the gas station to eat the sack lunches we packed at home. More driving - up to Baker City, OR where we ended up at McDonald's for dinner and let the kids run around the play place. As we entered Baker City, I found out that we didn't pack any baby food for B, so we had to stop at a grocery store to pick up some food for her. After dinner, we yet again drove on into Pendleton, OR. Before leaving home, we set up only 3 hotels for 4 nights, that left us with 6 nights of finding a hotel wherever the wind had taken us. So, we headed off the freeway and down to downtown to find a hotel...scary place! We turned around and headed back up to the freeway to the hotels there. We stayed in a lovely Motel 6 with double size beds that were about 5 feet long. Not recommended for tall people, like F. The kids did great on a big long day of 9 hours worth of driving.
Thursday, September 29th
Yet again more driving. Today we only needed to make it to Seattle, WA where we had a hotel reservation. I have been to Washington before, so I had a few recommendations of where we should stop. First one, Snoqualmie Falls. They have a lovely picnic area and viewing area of the waterfalls. That is where we spent lunch.
When we finished there, we drove into downtown Seattle and walked around Pike's Market. F wanted to see the fish throwing, but not many people were there to buy fish, so no action there. I love to see all the fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and flowers that are on the first floor.
Afterwards, we drove by the Space Needle before heading to our hotel. When we got cheked in and unloaded our luggage, it was time for dinner. The hotel had recommended a pizza place nearby called Kepella's Pizza and Pasta. We enjoyed good pizza- ironically Italian restaurant was under new ownership, which were more of a Greek descent and their "the Greek" pizza was delicious, I might add. Since we had driven so much in the 2 days already, we found a local park and let the kids run around - which was much needed. The park was filled with families of small children having some sort of gathering, but the kids had a great time even with the crowds. It got dark really quickly, which shortened our play time. Great day though!