We headed up to Seattle from Portland to catch a Seattle Mariners game. “King” Félix Hernández pitched a beautiful game and the Mariners ended up pounding the Blue Jays, winning 11 – 1.
Before the game we walked around the downtown area surrounding the stadiums and I showed the boys the building where I worked for Amazon.
This was the 5th Major League stadium we have seen a game at: Dodger Stadium, Petco Park (Padres), Angel Stadium, Chase Field (Diamondbacks), and Safeco Field (Mariners).
We drove around Mercer Island to show Gavin the beautiful island where he lived the first 3 months of his life. Then we played a bit at Luther Burbank Park, on the north shore of the island, so the boys could enjoy a beautiful day.
After our visit to Mercer Island, we continued about 30 minutes east to Snoqualmie Falls. I think it was the first large waterfall the boys had seen and they were amazed by it. It is such a beautiful piece of nature; if you are ever in the Seattle area you should make the trip out to the falls.
My family and I out for a stroll along the downtown waterfront of Portland, OR.
If you are ever in the area of Tillamook, OR, which is about a hour west of Portland, I recommend going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. They have an interesting self-guided tour about the cheese making progress, free cheese sampling, and an awesome ice cream counter.
For our first trip of the summer we spent a few days in the San Luis Obispo area before meeting up with my parents in Bakersfield.
It was nice to let the boys run wild at Cal Poly and to hang out in downtown SLO. Of course we had to eat at some of our favorite places, like Firestone Grill. If I lived anywhere besides San Diego, I would still want it to be San Luis Obispo.
We heard some whales had ventured into the bay off of Avila Beach to feed so we spent part of the day there.
It turned out to be good timing because the next day the pier got closed indefinitely due to instability. Some sea worms have been munching on the pier, causing structural stability problems, which became apparent when everyone heard about the whales and flooded the pier to get a look.
It was tough to get a good photo of the whales, because they were on the other side of the bay, but it was still cool to see them occasionally stick their heads out of the water.
Gavin and I checked out the elephant seas sunning themselves near San Simeon. Connor fell asleep in the car so Aliciana had to stay behind and keep him company. Gavin enjoyed watching the seals flip sand onto themselves and occasionally fight.
My parents and my little brother and sister drove down from Portland to visit in Bakersfield for a few days. Then they headed over to the coast to spend a week at Avila in their camper trailer.
We got to meet my cousin Kayla and her husband’s new baby boy, Levi. He is a cute little baby and yet another little cutie for my grandma to enjoy. Levi is her first great-great-grandchild.
The kids had a blast playing together. My boys cherished their time playing with their Grandpa Rick, Grandma Toni, and Great-Grandma.
The kids all have their own tablets and had a blast playing Minecraft together. It was too hot to be running outside anyways, so technology served as a good babysitter.
Our second major trip of the summer took us to San Francisco. We spent the first day checking out the O.co Coliseum and watching the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics (2-1).
The A’s stadium was easily the worst stadium we have visited so far. It was like walking though a concrete labyrinth to find our seats. There was no view of the field from inside the concourse and the food options sucked. The stadium felt like you were sitting in a giant bomb shelter that happened to have a baseball game happening in the middle of it. But, we have to visit them all, and the O.co Coliseum was our 6th Major League stadium as a family.
One positive of the game, besides the Mariners winning, was that the boys got to run the bases after the game.
During our second day in San Francisco we explored the Presidio and walked on the Golden Gate bridge. We made it about halfway across the bridge before turning back. It was very windy but the amazing views of the city were worth it.
After seeing the bridge, we drove through the areas north of the bridge along the coast. All that area is very beautiful country.
My boys are always up for exploring a neat museum, so we spent our 3rd full day on the bay at the California Academy of Sciences. This amazing place is an aquarium, rainforest, planetarium, and natural sciences museum all rolled into one.
We were all blown away with how much cool stuff there was to see. There was an entire rainforest inside the museum, where you walked around the perimeter and explored every level of the ecosystem. They had an impressive aquarium and a cool exhibit on earthquakes the boys loved. I really enjoyed the show I caught in the planetarium and would have loved to see several more, if there was time. Even the massive building’s living roof was awesome to check out.
If you are ever in the San Francisco area, I can’t recommend seeing the California Academy of Sciences enough!
