Family Field Trip

We spent Thursday in the city! I am all about coloring outside the lines when it comes to school attendance, so when I learned that Wendelin Van Draanen (one of our favorite authors) would be at Eagle Harbor Bookstore on Bainbridge Island on September 28th at 5pm, I knew we had to travel over thataway this week. I called the school on Wednesday and procured an excused absence for the next day. Travel is the best kind of education, after all! The kids and I planned a family field trip to Seattle, selecting two landmarks to visit during our allotted city time in addition to the island bookstore. We loved our family field trip! The only thing missing was Jeff, who was home sick.

After a bit of a late start involving a side stop to pick up sick Jeff from work and take him home, we left Sunnyside at 9am and drove the 2.5 hours to Grama Meri's house in Bellevue, where we ate fresh cookies, emptied bladders, read some books, and then drove into Seattle. On the way, we detoured to Chick-fil-a which included a hilariously exasperating, stressfully tight-squeeze U-turn in a tiny parking garage. I drove us through the city, and with my Mom's guidance, we found another tiny cave of a parking garage near the waterfront to shelter Vanna while we explored the city. Loading eleven Wendelin Van Draanen books, four jackets, a chunky camera, a purse, and a two-year-old into the stroller, we embarked on our Seattle exploration. We snagged the tail end of a lingering Indian Summer and the day was full of bright sunshine, blue skies, bluer water, and clear cityscapes.

After a hot sweaty sunny half mile hike uphill pushing the loaded stroller (parking at the waterfront meant everything was UPhill from us), we arrived at our first pre-screened destination: the Colombia Center. It's the tallest skyscraper in Seattle and home of the Sky View Observatory--the highest public viewpoint in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, the Space Needle is more iconic, but its entry fee is also nearly twice as expensive and the Sky View Observatory is 300 feet higher. After some wandering punctuated by Amber-escapes, we located the correct elevators and rode one up 40 floors, then a second one up to the 73rd floor, where we paid the fee and entered the observatory. 

The entire 73rd floor of the Columbia Center is the Sky View Observatory, and we walked around taking in 360 degree eagle-eye views of the city. It was so much fun! I love a good view. Seattle city views on a sunny day from 900 feet up were satisfying. Amber's favorite part was jumping on the stools and couches (typical). Jay liked how the people and cars on the streets below looked like tiny ants. Rose liked the sailboats on Elliot Bay. Mom and I enjoyed finding Seattle's various historic churches amidst the maze of streets, and also viewing the smoggy smudge of Mt. Rainier on the horizon. 

Having looked our fill, we reversed back down the elevators and worked our quadriceps walking back down down down the terraced city streets, one block at a time, till we hit Post Alley. Our second Seattle landmark of choice was the infamous Gum Wall. I was expecting it to be gross, but it was exceptionally disgusting: hunks of slobbery faded gum were smeared all over the bricks down a dirty alley. Even the air was gross: dirty alley smells mixed with stale minty gum leftovers. It was like standing in some stranger's mouth! 

In preparation for this moment, we had purchased a pack of green Hubba Bubba watermelon flavored gum at a gas station on our trek across the state earlier that morning. We ripped it open and chewed our way into Seattle history, smooshing our own slobbery blobs onto the bricks. I didn't even like touching my own gum, much less coming that close to touching everyone else's! This was Amber's first experience with gum, and I watched her closely to make sure she didn't swallow it. She loved the watermelon gum. Somehow I persuaded her to remove it from her mouth and stick it to the wall, which she did, then walked around poking other people's gum as I looked on in slow-mo horror while simultaneously trying to take a quick commemorative picture. Then as I was fumbling to put away the camera, Amber went back to her own gum, took it back off of the wall, and began chewing it again. We all yelled "ahhhh! eeeeewwwww! Amberrrr!" I pried her little clamped teeth apart, extracted the nasty mushy sticky gum, rammed it onto the wall again, and then herded Amber away. We were out of there! 

We walked back down to the waterfront, chuckling and shuddering over the variety we had just experienced: from snazzy skyscraper to dirty back alley, from huffing the stroller uphill to inching it  downhill. It was about 3:30pm, and we wanted to catch the 4:30 ferry to Bainbridge Island, so we grabbed some hot dogs for the kids, some Ivar's fish and chips for the grownups, and some fresh squeezed strawberry lemonades to share. We our early dinner ate on the waterfront, surrounded by hopeful fat pigeons. Then it was to the ferry! 

The ferry was pure joy for Amber, and I was feeling it too, in spite of my tired legs. A ferry ride on a clear warm day is Seattle at its finest. Never mind the three hours of walking we had just done around the city, Amber was in the stroller for a good amount of that. She was ready to romp, stomp, and roam the ferry! So my mom and I divided forces. She sat inside the sheltered cabin of the ferry, and I went forth into the briny breeze with Amber and whichever assortment of Jay and/or Rose who cared to join us. Jay and Rose could go back and forth between me and Grama Meri at their leisure. Amber was in motion nonstop for the entire 35 minute ferry ride. We went upstairs, downstairs, back and forth across the long deck to the water fountain several times, to the front deck, to the back deck, all over and over and over, with the stiff sea breeze blowing our hair sideways all the while.

We disembarked the ferry in a large crowd of commuters and walked to Eagle Harbor Bookstore, which was a cute little shop on a quiet street slightly over half a mile from the ferry dock. We arrived at about 5:30pm to see people sitting in rows of chairs while Wendelin spoke up front! We were expecting a drop-in style book signing, not a presentation! So we crept in as quietly as Amber would allow and eventually Grama took her to read stories in the kids section. No nap plus a long day of activity was starting to show, and Amber was getting wiggly and even less cooperative than usual. At one point, she made a dash for the open shop door and I literally sprinted across the store and grabbed her on the sidewalk out front before she ran into the street.

Eventually, we were able to go up to the table and Wendelin signed our books. Jay brought his collection of eight of her books (two series), plunked them on the table, and said "I've read all of these." I introduced myself and Jay and told Wendelin that I was the Shaina from the emails, and she remembered me, my review of Wild Bird, and my stories about Jay loving her Shredderman and Gecko books. It was so cute to see Jay happily watching her sign his well-read books. She asked him what one of his favorite parts was, and he quoted something that the gecko named Sticky says in his Spanish accent. I did not know what he said, but he laughed his head off. We took pictures and she signed my four books (I couldn't fit my 19 other unsigned books that she wrote into the bottom of the stroller, so they stayed home for another day). We talked briefly with Wendelin. (what do you actually SAY to a writer whose books have given readers a glimpse of their soul but the author hasn't had the same privilege with the fans? It's another one of those odd unequal situations where I clam up and just smile and loom awkwardly for a while, then leave.) We purchased a few books and went to get ice cream.

Mora Creamery is the only other reason I have been to Bainbridge Island. My mom discovered its deliciousness a few years ago, and took us there. It was good to go back. Everyone loves ice cream! It was the perfect cold treat after a sunny warm day. We lugged our jackets stuffed in the stroller all day and never needed them! Well, Rose and Amber put their jackets on during the last ten minutes of the last ferry ride, but it was more due to the wind than anything. We could've survived without the jackets, but in Seattle, it's better to be prepared!

Using a very fast power walk, we caught the 7:10pm ferry back to Seattle and enjoyed watching the gorgeous sparkling city lights grow bigger and bigger, closer and closer as we crossed the bay. I messed around with our good camera for most of the ferry ride, trying over and over to get a nighttime cityscape to come out in focus. I finally prevailed during the last minutes of the trip, when the lights were close enough for the camera's sensor to hold still (and when the ferry slowed down and stopped vibrating so much). I was reminded how solidly my feet are planted in the amateur photographer club! I was pleased with the few almost-clear pictures I managed. Trial and error prevailed over skill once again.

We hiked up a hill or two to our parking garage, loaded everyone and everything into Vanna, and drove back to Bellevue smooth as butter. After bathroom breaks and goodbyes, we rolled eastward  out of Bellevue just before 9pm, arriving home just before midnight 2.5 hours later. During all of the driving for this trip, we listened to story books: we finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz expertly read by Ann Hathaway, then listened to the entire Beezus and Ramona, and started listening to Dealing With Dragons (by Patricia Wrede--a childhood fave of mine). Library audiobooks made our trip awesome! Like I said, we are book people. Sleepy/sleeping kids stumbled/were carried into bed, then I collapsed onto the couch to let my head stop buzzing. When I am exhausted but must force myself to stay awake to drive I get this weird resistance to sleep and it takes a little bit of time to wear off, like I've been resisting falling asleep so long that I can't stop resisting? It happens on our cross country drives too. At last, sometime after midnight, I crawled into bed, thawed my chilled limbs on my warm husband, and drifted off to sleep. That day was worth every exhausting second!

*Pictures*

SKY VIEW OBSERVATORY

 Space Needle to the right

Cool looking old church #1 

 Cool looking old church #2

 Cool looking old church #3

 Hello, Bellevue!

 The Great Wheel of Seattle

 Mt. Rainier presides with authority over Seattle.

This means something to some people, so I took a picture of it. 

 The Columbia Center was a curved shape, so we could see part of the building we were in out the windows. We were on floor 73 of 76.

It looks fake, but we are really standing in front of a real window with the real city 900 feet below us, Space Needle and all!

 This is a fake view, a city night view picture on a wall on the way down from the observatory.

 Attempt #1 outside the Columbia Center

 Attempt #2 outside the Columbia Center: a funny nice fellow offered to take our picture in front of the skyscraper, and he really got into it--he laid down on the sidewalk to take this picture! I enjoy friendly quirky locals.

THE GUM WALL

These were called the Harbor View steps or maybe just the Harbor Steps? They went on forever, but I stood at the bottom with the stroller while the kids checked them out with Grama. 

Headed for the underbelly: Post Alley. It connects to Pike Place Market so it's really not that sketchy, just dirty and full of used gum. We did not make it all the way to Pike Place Market. Another time. Another year--when Amber is old enough not to eat gum off of the gum wall!

It looks like a new section of gum wall is being started, and the kids added their gum there before we found the main mother load. 

 This was the only group picture I managed thanks to Amber's dashing about (and gum stealing)

 I didn't know the gum wall was heart shaped.

THE WATERFRONT: DINNER

Waiting for food. I conscientiously researched and budgeted for this trip, and my sweet mom generously paid for our tickets and food for the whole day! It was so nice of her and we felt so indulgent. 

Grama was feeling the love in the form of bony booties and sharp elbows. 

THE FERRY

Boat name: Wenatchee

This lasted half of a second. Then Amber ran off and I followed her. 

 I told Rose to stand there and smile so I could take a picture. It looks like she's smiling for someone else's camera instead of mine. 

That wind was steady and strong, but it couldn't blow out Amber's curls! They fluffed and puffed, but stayed curly.

 Ferry hair, don't care! 

 Can you see the wind on our faces?

 I asked a nice lady to take these pictures, and now I wish we had gotten my mom out there to be in the picture with us!

 Up and down, up and down.

This rope was Amber's favorite part of the whole ferry. She pulled on it and pulled and pulled. [Seattle in the background] 

Another ferry on the left, Seattle skyline in the middle, our ferry "tracks" on the right. 

 Mt. Rainier faintly visible on the horizon.

 Hiding from the wind--it was even stronger on the upstairs deck. It nearly blew my phone out of my hand when I was taking pictures.

 Ready to meet the author!

 One more for good measure, with Mt. Rainier for luck.

WENDELIN/EAGLE HARBOR BOOKSTORE

Happy happy moment. It made me happy that Wendelin got her phone out for a picture with Jay too. 

 She said "you're tall too!" :)
We are book people.

MORA CREAMERY

 The kids got chocolate, I got pumpkin ice cream with chocolate shavings in it. YUM. My mom, who always volunteers to take the pictures, got a divine chocolate with dulce de leches and chocolate swirls.

FERRY RIDE #2

 Amb in the windy doorway.

Trial and error #99

Nighttime: when lugging that giant heavy camera around becomes extra worthwhile. 

The building right above the Wheel is the Columbia Center. The kids enjoyed pointing out "the tallest building." They were pleased to have been up inside it.

Not too shabby, amateur! 

At this point, Jay was snuggled up in the soft ferry seats reading and talking with Grama Meri. 

 A girl and her rope.

A skyscraper, an alley, an author, and a grandma all in one day. Lucky us! Our first family field trip of the school year was a success. Let's do another one soon!