We had figured at some point on this trip my parents would come to visit. Although with my dad’s preferred means of transportation being driving over flying, I never would have expected them to join us 1,934 miles from home in Seattle. Thanks to a little nudging from my mom, they decided to fly instead of packing up their car for 34 hours of drive-time.

On my parents’ first night while Brian and I went to the concert and Nikki and the girls went to the movies, my parents had  Wyatt spend the night with them. Honestly I’m not sure who was more excited. For the past few years before the college football season starts, Wyatt and my dad make their annual Bowl predictions. Wyatt had packed his notebook and college football preview magazine preparation for my dad’s arrival. Spoiler Alert: Baylor beats Arizona State in the Cheez-It Bowl. My parents’ trip had officially kicked-off.

The following day our party of eight drove to Everett, WA for the Boeing factory tour. In true Bonifer fashion we were running late and  “came in hot” as we were a few minutes late for our reserved tour. The guides at Boeing were awesome and held the bus for us and we just barely made it.

The factory is massive. To be able to see everything, the guided tour takes place roughly six stories above the factory floor. From that vantage point you almost forget how big the planes really are, because they almost look like models. It’s a bit strange looking down at a plane as it is moved down the assembly line. We learned the whole process takes two months from start to finish. We also got to see some of their newest models including the 777x, whose wings are so long they have to fold so it can fit into the airport gates. Yay innovation!

From there, we continued our jammed-packed day at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. Our whole crew was blown away. We’ve seen a few of his installations before but his works at the museum were incredible. As we progressed through the rooms each exhibit seemed to get bigger and better than the one that proceeded. Beyond the shapes and vibrants colors it was the scale and number of pieces that made the museum so amazing.

One of my highlights was stepping into what looked like a giant greenhouse. The room showcased a 100+’ long, suspended orange and yellow floral sculpture that was made even cooler thanks to the view of the Space Needle that towered behind it. And just when you thought it was over, outside there are gardens. Countless pieces are accented and complimented by meticulously kept flowers and plants. Each one was different but as beautiful as the next.

Sadly, later that evening we said our good-byes to Brian and Katie. We had a great time with them on their visit and can’t thank them enough for making the trip. 

The next day we went back into downtown. While my parents toured the Space Needle, we hung out at the playground next door with the kids. Afterwards we went to Pike Market for lunch. Eventually we decided on seafood and settled on a place called the Athenian. Once seated we noticed several “Sleepless in Seattle” pics on the wall and after asking our waitress, discovered scenes from the movie were shot at the counter behind our table. My dad, who will proudly tell you about his DVD collection, might have been more excited about the locale than he was about his meal. Overall it was a decent lunch, definitely a nice tourist surprise, but we left too full to order the tiramisu.

After our brush with Hollywood location lore, we boarded the Argosy for a tour of Seattle from the viewpoint of the Puget Sound. One thing that stood out was how fast the city has grown over the past couple of decades. Everything looked so new and where there weren’t skyscrapers there were cranes. At one point one of the tour guides mentioned Amazon owned roughly 40% of the downtown property which is pretty amazing.

Before we headed for home we ran through Pike Market and bought fresh seafood for dinner. Back at the campground Nikki knocked out grilled oysters and an amazing white wine and seafood stew we cooked in our cast iron dutch oven over the campfire. So for those of you who might be wondering how we are eating, lets’ just say we’re doing just fine.