Days after Alex’s parents departed from their Seattle visit my dad arrived for his brief stay with us. I just saw my dad a few weeks ago and we will be seeing him again shortly, so he decided to sneak in a quick visit out here to enjoy some Seattle sun and meet Mr. Jackson.
We sure jammed a lot in during the time my dad spent here. After picking him up from the airport on Saturday morning we came back home to let him get settled and take Jackson for a walk before heading downtown. There is a relatively new museum in Seattle called the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum {which happens to be the number one rated attraction in Seattle, according to Trip Advisor} and I thought my dad would enjoy seeing it, so we spent a bit of the day walking through the museum and admiring the glass work.
Chihuly is an artist who specializes in glass blowing. It is mind boggling how a person can create some of the glass figures and sculptures {not sure that’s the right word!} that he has constructed. It’s truly impressive and inspiring to see his work in person.
Once we had seen enough we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then stopped by the Volunteer Park Conservatory on our way home. I had never been to the Conservatory {or Volunteer Park}, so it was a nice experience for me as well.
Picking up from where we left off with Alex’s parents last weekend, we arrived home late afternoon and opened up a bottle of wine to enjoy on the patio before going out to dinner. Unfortunately, our evening out to eat was not very impressive. Alex and I had been to Skillet Diner a few times before and thought it would be a fun place that my dad would like, but ultimately it left us disappointed. I’ve never sent back food before, but we asked them to credit my meal. Alex’s dinner was good, but my dad’s was not impressive. It’s always a bummer when that happens!
Sunday morning started off quite foggy and overcast, so we took our time getting up and moving. We took Jackson for a walk and then walked up to the Hi Spot Cafe for breakfast before grabbing the dog and headed east for the mountains. There are so many hikes within an hour of Seattle and we found a great one to do that was actually at Snoqualmie Pass – we parked in the Summit West parking lot and traversed across the ski area before heading out of the ski boundary towards Lodge Lake. It was quite a nice hike – a bit longer than expected – and we really enjoyed the change in scenery throughout.
Lodge Lake was beautiful and muddy. We brought a picnic of wine, cheese and crackers that we enjoyed while Jackson went swimming. Who knew he was such a water dog!?
Tired from our hike, we mustered up the energy to venture out to our stomping grounds to share two bottles of wine at Bottlehouse before meeting my Aunt Cathy at St. Clouds, a neighborhood restaurant, for dinner. It is always fun to bring out of town guests to Bottlehouse and this time was even more fun because we got to try out some new wines on their menu.
After a quick trip, my dad is safely back in Minnesota and we are back to the grind!