Seattle

It's not an obscure quote, but oh well. It has been said in film and song thus staying with my quote motif.

This past week I and nearly all of my siblings met up at my illustrious brother Michael's house in Seattle. Good times were had. Without going into too many of the details I'll give a rundown (run-on?) of the festivities.

The first day we were there I went out with my dad and James to pick blackberries. Apparently these humongous bushes grow wild all throughout Seattle. It also became apparent that my choice of flip-flops was poorly thought out. Yes I knew the bushes were thorny, however I did not know that there would be piles of dead thorny bramble all over the ground. After several minor lacerations and one slip of the foot earning a prick to the bottom of the arch I magnanimously decided that I would hold the bag so as to allow my brother and father to worm their way into the bushes easier. They would stick an arm out from these treacherous bushes of despair and drop their prized berries into my bag before rummaging deeper into the thorny abyss. After an anecdote about picking berries with his mother until he had to inform her it was time to stop I gigglingly (new word, it's gonna be a thing, and why the crap does spell check accept 'gonna' as legitimate? I digress) said 'Dad it's time to go'. And wonder of wonders we went!

Mmm blackberries, as syrup or in oatmeal they were exquisite. After breakfasting on various all natural thingies we decided that we would take a drive up to Hurricane Ridge (magnificent view) and continue on to the Hoh Rainforest. As I stated before (but feel it deserved a second mention) the view from Hurricane Ridge was tremendous.

We could see Canada (not the tremendous part of the view) and a range of glacier covered mountains. Took a walk around the crest and saw some amazing vistas, and a bunch of deer that were rather nonchalant about us two legged types being around.

Back into the cars we go and off to the Hoh rain-forest. We had to pass through Forks to get there and let me tell you "Twilight" has either destroyed or invigorated that town depending on your viewpoint. Mine is the former. Everything was labeled 'twilight this' or 'twilight that'. 'Bella eats here' proclaimed local establishments, there were other more mundane items such as 'twilight firewood'. Really? I ask you.

Moving on, it was quite a drive to the rain-forest, but well well worth it. The smell alone was incredible. I saw the largest trees I have ever seen, amazing fern like foliage, mosses of many variety, I even heard an elk bugle. We decided to walk down one of the trails (which was quite a bit longer than anticipated) and it quickly grew dark. Luckily I pulled out my iPhone which has a flashlight (yes there's an app for that) and made my way merrily on. I could happily go back and spend days in the forest. we got back to the cars at around 8:00ish and had to race back to the other side of the state to catch the last ferry home at 12:05. We made it, but that ferry only operates on the weekends, so we had to rush down to the south part of the island peninsula to get the actual last ferry at 1. after landfall we made it home at somewhere in the vicinity of 2 AM and blissfully tumbled into bed. BTW, I have absolutely no cushion on my bum, and sitting that long was quite uncomfortable, but totally worth it.

The next day (Friday) we packed up the cars again and drove up to Oak Harbor to see my Grandpa. I haven't been to his house in 25 years but the floor plan was just how I remembered it; (that semicolon [also I have a friend nicknamed Semi Colon due to an unfortunate blood clot {I digress}] is for you Rebecca Maas Blevins) hurray for geeking out about little things like floor plans. We bought KFC for lunch and Grandma Ruth showed up with some Albertsons deli chicken so there was plenty of fowl food to go around (I like puns, don't judge). After/during lunch my brothers and I made free of the fallen apples in Grandpa's backyard and played monkey in the middle. Many lost and splattered apples later we were done and juicy and somewhat sweet smelling. James exploded a thrown apple against the heel of his palm. It looked sweet (ba dum ching). BACK ON THE ROAD!! We drove over deception pass (gorgeous) and stopped at a roadside/beachside park and threw a baseball around/played on the beach/ used some seaweed as a whip (it was surprisingly flexible [I contend it should be 'flexable', makes more sense to me] and strong)/ laughed at Stephen who chose the frigid ocean of Washington to be his first oceanic swimming experience/ skipped stones/ had a jolly good time before driving the couple hours back to Seattle.

By the way, I love Seattle. I thought the city was quite lovely. The skyline was pleasant, there were trees and bushes and coast. Very nice.

Saturday we went to the beach and had family pictures taken and played frisbee on the sand. So much fun. My family basically rocks. For lunch after a touch of confusion we went to a place on the pier that sold fish and chips (and clams/oysters/other stuff). After eating my fish and some of my chips with relish (the noun, not the sauce) I went and fed the rest of my chips (fries) to the seagulls. My siblings and/or I would hold one (chip/fry, not seagull) in the air and the seagull/s would fly down and take them from our fingers. AWESOME. I'm an animal nut, again, don't judge.

Sunday was church and then going to watch the locks between the ocean and the lake. Fun, geeked out again, saw salmon in the salmon ladder, watched boats use the locks, hung with family, saw one of my nerf-esque balls get thrown into the ocean, (I was sick of slashes, thus the commas) (still love the parenthesis though), and rolled down a hill that was faster than it appeared. Good times.

Monday the Parents and younger siblings went home. Boo hiss. Oh well, I'll be in Missouri with them in a week... I don't remember what else we did monday...Except we ate at an establishment called the crab pot which was immensely gratifying. The waitress gave us bibs and covered our table with butcher paper then dumped a pot of crab and shrimp and oysters and mussels and clams on our table. I want these people to do this at my house at least weekly.

The rest of Monday and Tuesday consisted of playing board/card games and enjoying each others company. Aside from a small trip to the park where we all got very dizzy by spinning repeatedly on playground equipment not intended for adults. Too Much Fun.

All in all the trip was exactly what I needed. I was happy, I laughed, I saw siblings, and I didn't wet my pants once...(well... maybe a little, those spinny things were fast!)