Vacation 2015

Seattle/Portland - May 7-12

Mark and I took our first week-long vacation since our trip to New York and Washington DC the year before we had Elliott. We were both very ready for it after a few days of strep in the Currie household...and let's be honest, a few years of kids! We flew into Portland Thursday morning and drove to Mount Rainier. We stopped at the Mount St. Helens Visitors Center on our way. This was not in our original plans but after seeing a sign for it on the interstate we decided it was something we couldn't pass up. Although we didn't make the 3 hour round trip to the top, we stopped at the base to take a few pictures. 

Hard to imagine this beauty rupturing a few years ago.

Mt. Rainier was absolutely gorgeous and we had one of the best days of weather that you could ask for. One of Mark's coworkers recommended Mt. Rainier over Mount St. Helens because you can actually do some hiking. There are several lookouts and trail heads on your drive up the mountain.  

One of the glaciers in the background.

We found a little hidden trail to this lake. We were the only ones out there and it was breathtaking!

After several hours of hiking we decided to make our way towards Seattle. We rented a VRBO in lower Queen Anne and we were in love with the place. The location was just a few miles NE of downtown Seattle and in a very quiet neighborhood. They had a really cute, much smaller downtown with a lot less touristy feel. We spent most of our mornings wandering around Pike Place Market and downtown Seattle and most of our evenings in downtown Queen Anne.  

The Original Starbucks

Eating a morning pastry and drinking coffee by the fish market.

They had the most amazing flower bouquets for sale. Every morning we questioned if they could sell all the flowers but most places were sold out by evening. 

On top of the space needle

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Ferry ride and tour of Elliott Bay

On Sunday we drove up to San Juan Island and did a kayaking tour. It was early for kayaking season so our group was very small, just 3 other people and the tour guide. The weather was amazing and the water was like glass. 

On Monday we made our way to Portland and drove on the scenic highway through the Columbia River Gorge. Although it misted/sprinkled most of the day, the gorge was absolutely breathtaking! There are so many waterfalls that you can see right from the highway. We finished our evening in Portland at Deschutes Brewery.

Latourell Falls

Multnomah Falls

Ellowah Falls - This one was a bit of a hike but it was worth it. It was our favorite waterfall!

Doesn't everyone have to take a detour to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge? 

Beer tasting at Deschutes 

We had some time to kill before our flight home on Tuesday so we drove to the coast. We saw the haystacks which is where some of the scenes from "The Goonies" is filmed.

We had such a great time but we were ready to come back home and see the kids! A huge thank you to my mom and Megan for watching the kids! Elliott was recovering from strep and it turns out Claire had an ear infection. Needless to say, it was probably not the easiest babysitting job!