Day 6: The Streets of Seattle and MOHAI
Because this day was a little less overscheduled than most, we were able to sleep in and relax at our hotel before we took our Seattle walking tour.
A little while before our tour began, we took a leisurely walk down to the waterfront. Once on the tour, our guide began by talking about the native people who lived in Seattle 12,000 years before Europeans arrived. We then headed up a hill to the location where a great fire broke out in 1889. We learned how this event was crucial in helping the city become what it is today, as the downtown district had to be completely rebuilt from the ground up.
We then headed to Pioneer Square, home to a largest collection of Romanesque Revival buildings in the world. We then came back to the waterfront.
We then decided to take a cab to MOHAI, or the Museum Of History And Industry. This was a great place to go on a rainy day.
We slowly walked through the museum as it took us through a detailed history of Seattle.
Additionally, we saw the lens of the now gone Smith Island Lighthouse.
The most amazing part of the museum was seeing the enormous Swiftsure Lightship! Unfortunately, the lightship is only open during the summer months.
Afterwards, we headed to Pike Place Market, where we walked through the stalls getting samples along the way.
My son really enjoyed the honey samples and the seafood.
The Seattle weather started to overtake us and we decided to head back to the hotel for diner. On the way, however, we took a detour to the Smith Tower to get a spectacular view of the city.
The Smith Tower was once the tallest building on the West Coast. It was built in the turn of the century and even the bar/restaurant at the top has an old world feel to it.
Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel where I took this photo of the Smith Tower from our hotel room.
Day 7: Boeing Factory Tour and The Three Points
We woke up and ate a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel. This day was the day we were to see the Boeing Factory, so we left at around 7:30 to drive there. Once there, we shortly began our tour after being presented with a few introductory videos. We were then bused to the factory, where we were able to view the production line of the Boeing 747’s, 767’s, 777’s, and 787’s.
After that we had the entire rest of the day, so we decided to see some lighthouses we were going to see later in the trip. We first drove to West Point Lighthouse, located in Seattle’s Discovery Park. This lighthouse looks remarkably similar to Point No Point Lighthouse, but unlike Point No Point the keeper’s house(s) were in disrepair. Regardless, it was still a neat lighthouse to visit.
From there, we drove to Tacoma’s Browns Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse is incredibly small, but the grounds were beautifully maintained and the outbuildings were in great condition.
We were just about to leave when someone who runs the lighthouse showed up, and we were given a personalized tour of the property. We were very lucky!
Our final lighthouse was Dofflemyer Point Lighthouse in Olympia. We could not walk to the lighthouse (you had to walk across private property), but we could view it from a nearby marina.
We wrapped up the day by heading back to our hotel where, across the street, is a very interesting restaurant called Biscuit Bitch.
I tried to take my son in but he thought that the restaurant was too inappropriate and insisted that we eat someplace else. :)
A very successful day!
Day 8: The Whidbey Island Lighthouses
Relived that this day did not have much on the schedule, we woke up late (for this trip), and ate breakfast while we discussed our day. Our only true objective was to visit Whidbey Island and experience it’s lighthouses.
It was a rather interesting drive to our first lighthouse; we had trouble navigating the 5 freeway with its very confusing signs. On the bright side, we were able to spot another new lighthouse, Mukilteo, which we would unfortunately not have time to see on this trip.
Our first lighthouse, Bush Point, was located at the tip of a small peninsula surrounded by upscale waterfront homes. Like Dofflemyer Point Lighthouse, we were not allowed to go right up to the lighthouse because that would cross private property.
After that, we drove about 30 more minutes to a more exciting lighthouse, Admiralty Head! This lighthouse is incredibly beautiful; it is in a Spanish style and was constructed with stucco on the exterior.
Along with its great little museum, we were also able to climb the tower, giving us an amazing panoramic view of the Puget Sound region. In fact, we could actually see Port Townsend and Point Wilson, places we had visited just a few days earlier.
In addition to the lighthouse, we were able to explore Fort Casey, a fort built to defend Seattle from possible invaders (that never came). The site was very well preserved, with many of the original guns and watchtowers still in place. It was also a great place to take pictures.
After Driving around for a little while, we headed back to the hotel to pack for the trip back home. It was certainly an incredible experience that took a lot of hard work to achieve (and for my son, a tiring one)!
Day 9: Home!
Our last day was spent driving from Seattle to Portland for our flight home. We had originally planned on one more lighthouse visit but the rain was so heavy, we thought it best to head to the airport early. This turned out to be a great choice as the rain was so hard, there was only about 200 ft visibility.
Other than the rain, we had a great day talking about our latest lighthouse experience. Thanks to Alaska Airlines friendly disposition, they put us on an earlier flight and we were able to get back with enough time in the day to unpack.
We both agreed, that after our Oregon Lighthouse Trip, this was our most successful thus far.
Happy travels!
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