Urban Adventures

Glad to be back south of the 49th parallel, we meandered through the Pacific Northwest over the course of two weeks. With so much to see and do, we opted to spend the majority of our time taking in the fun urban offerings. However, we did squeeze in a few more beautiful mountains too.

We couldn’t just settle for distant views of snow-covered Mounts Baker, Rainier, and Hood. So we drove to the heart of the Olympic mountain range in Olympic National Park and hiked to get great panoramas of Mt. Olympus and the salt water border around the peninsula.

And while bike riding on the peninsula we discovered that it was prime blackberry season. One stretch along the Olympic Discovery Trail kept us busy until we could pick no more.

In downtown Seattle, we discovered a National Park we’d previously not known about: Klondike National Historical Park. In our brief visit, we learned the importance of Seattle as a launching point for gold prospectors. The boys interacted with the exhibit enough to complete their Jr. Ranger booklets and earn a badge.

Nearby at Boeing’s airstrip, the Museum of Flight enamored us all even if portions were over some of our heads.

Highlights for us included the kid-oriented Flight Zone and the Airpark where we could board planes as unique as the Concorde and this retired flyer:

Of course no visit to Seattle would be complete without a visit to Pike Place Market.

We bypassed the line for the original Starbucks but did enjoy watching sockeye salmon tossed between fish mongers. Our sampling of the city gave us positive vibes, but not quite as much as our next stop.

Portland. Arriving on a weekend, we were able to scoot into the city with minimal traffic and parking issues. We spent hours strolling the Saturday Market (even though it was Sunday) where we shopped from local artisans, sampled foods, watched peaceful protests, and then ultimately let the boys beat the heat at one of the city’s fountains while Shelly explored the Pearl District on her own.

We met back up for four spoons and ten scoops that vanished quickly.

A day later, we found ourselves in the stands at the Little League Softball World Series watching the Southwest USA team topple the Asia/Pacific representatives from the Philippines. When the game let out, the thermometer read 106 degrees so we visited a cool spot in the Pearl District.

And on our last full day in Portland, we took advantage of two-for Tuesdays at Oaks Park—a classic amusement park some claim to be the oldest, continuously-run amusement park in the country. Rides ranged from the extreme

to the tame

but it was the moderate that had Shelly saying “Never again.”

To finish our day at this classic park, the boys got their first old-time skating experience at the park’s roller skating rink. Complete with pipe organ, this rink was the real deal.

Shelly and I even got to skate a couple laps—holding hands—during the couples’ skate. Old fashioned romance.

As cities go, Portland suited us. Portlandia could riff on my laundromat experience: Switching over laundry, I overheard one guy from New York telling another guy from Washington that he’d driven across the country with his girlfriend so that they could live in the most bike-friendly city in the country. The Washingtonian mentioned that he was in Portland because he was going to bike mechanic school to start a second career as a concierge bike mechanic. When he offered up free bike tunes I joined the conversation and wound up having him come to our campsite to tune up one of our bikes. [Could be another addition to the Good Sam post.] Some of the stereotypes are either true or are self-fulfilling prophecies. 

Either way, the Pacific Northwest has been good to us and Portland the best.