Christmas in Washington (State)

Of course I mean Washington state. Like I would want to blog about a Christmas in DC. That would've sucked.

We left for Washington early early on the 16th of December. Our plan was to fly to Seattle and see some sights while my dad was there on a business trip, and then drive with him back to Spokane.

We just got to Seattle before most of the snowstorms hit. We were lucky to not have been delayed, but on the flip side most of the things we had wanted to see were outdoors and the weather was below freezing and the roads were really bad the whole time we were there. So, we didn't get to see much. Plus, Ian got sick and was like a zombie, unless he was crying, and then he was more like a banshee.

We did get to see Pike's Place Historic Market and buy some fish from the famous Pike's Place Fish Market where they throw your fish around...watch them throwing my Dad's fish (Dad in foreground):

Of course, the Space Needle is always included in on a Seattle trip, even if it's a drive-by:

We also went to the Seattle Aquarium.



Check out how huge the REI Flagship store is:

And that's not even the whole width.

While Seattle was getting all the snow that closed down the city, Spokane also had a snowstorm that closed the airport. My brother Brent ended up flying in to Seattle and driving back with us to Spokane.

This is what it looked like at my house.

Our picnic table, covered in snow:

One of the cars that never got shoveled out, covered in snow:

This picture didn't turn out well, but it was supposed to illustrate how thick the snow was coming down this one day. Double click if you want to get a sample.


Once we got to Spokane we mostly relaxed. We rented some snowshoes and cross country skis from REI and had fun in Spokane's snow. Here are some pictures from the rest of our trip:

This is my new haircut. Usually it's a littel perkier.


Jesse's self-portrait, taken while he was shoveling snow off of the roof:

The best face of the whole vacation:


Picture I most regret not getting: one of the Christmas tree. While we were in Seattle, my mom called my dad in a state. She had sent the kids out to get a tree from the forest and instead they chopped down not one, but two of the dwarf Douglas Firs that grow in one of the abandoned gardens. Then they left them outside leaning against the house while they went inside to get yelled at. The whole time they were waiting to see if my dad was going to kill them, Joel's dog kept walking by and marking the trees. Their master plan was to lash the two trees together to make one full, beautiful, short tree. It did make a full, beautiful tree, but also a tree that was heavier on one side and leaned at a fifteen degree angle. The angel managed to stay atop by some Christmas miracle, but we ended up taking the tree down in record time due to the danger it posed. The good news was that it was such a pokey variety of tree that Ian ignored it the whole time.