DAY 24 - 27 (5/27 - 5/30): Tacoma/Seattle

Another catch up post from our stay in Seattle...

After leaving Mosier, we drove straight to Tacoma to meet Dia's mom Julia.  This would have been our first meeting, but, as you may recall we already met in Boise while she was there for her niece's wedding. 

Julia made us a beautiful lunch of Salmon & Salads!  We all commented that it was very "Pacific Northwest".  The weather was beautiful, and we dined in her backyard.  After lunch we walked about 4 blocks to their cute community downtown for ice cream (sadly, none of us thought to get a shot of us eating in the sun)...some of Dia's first jobs were here, as well as her elementary & middle schools (where apparently they learn a lot about Job Carr, the founder of Tacoma) ☺

Mom had to get a photo with Julia

That night we had dinner at "Ginger & Scallion"

Dropped off mom at SeaTac the next morning and met Barry at Discount Tires in Bonney Lake.  This is the only Discount Tire in the Seattle area that does alignments and they assured us that they could work on our 25' long van.  Unfortunately they were not able to get the van up on the lift with all of our extras (AC, etc.), so we spent about a half hour on our phones trying to find another option.  Finally landed an appointment at a "European Car Specialist" in Auburn on Thursday - ugh...will have to drive back south again...Driving to Bonney Lake is like driving deep into OC from Torrance, over an hour...

The rest of the day was spent making Luke's food (for the rest of the trip) - yes folks, I make homemade food to supplement his kibble.  I know you all want to be Luke!

Every time we are in Seattle we try to get together with my cousin Angela's daughter Hannah.  She and her boyfriend Kaleb live here now after graduating from Stanford and being recruited by Microsoft.  We had a great dinner at Communion (Southern Comfort Food meets Southeast Asian).

Here is our "To-Do" List for Seattle, LOL!

...but we wanted to fit in at least one fun touristy thing, so even though we have been to Pike Market MANY times, we headed down there.  It turned out to be a pretty rainy day, so we just walked around a bit and could not resist getting over-priced bao and goodies from Mee Sum...frozen bao for the road!

Original Starbucks

This is not something you see every day - "Musical Cats"

I found a self-service dog wash since Luke was quite dirty from our month on the road...check out the ear covers they have for pups!  The dryer is very loud and scary - seriously!

We always have to fit in a meal with Sandy & John - long time friends from our way back CSULB & Wolcott Interiors years!  We met at Kin Len in Fremont District. 

We had cookies from Midnight Cookie at Dia's before going to bed...

The next morning we were back on the Seattle freeways headed for Auburn to get the van aligned.

Sadly, the alignment technician had an emergency - Strike 2!  I told the kids that if they know anyone who wants a career they should become an alignment technician...there seems to be a demand, and shortage!  The nice folks at Rempt Motors checked the van and we all agreed that it might be better to get the alignment done AFTER our return from being on the highways in Alaska, so we made an appointment for the one day we will be back to pick up Luke.

Came back to do laundry and the rest of the "list", including washing Luke's bed/carseat...seriously, who would not want to be Luke!

At my 40th High School reunion I re-connected with an old Jr. High friend Crystal (Wickline) Kolke.  She and her hubby Ray are fellow road trippers, and have been exploring the US in their trailer "Mini".  Earlier in the year we met them in Waco with Roland & Viv. Since they live in nearby (well not so nearby with traffic) they drove up to meet us at Greenlake Bar & Grille.

This is our last night before we leave for Alaska!  Thanks Crystal for helping me document :)

Here is a re-cap of "Part 1"

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 245 (Mosier to Seattle), 157 (Driving around Seattle trying to get an alignment!)