Day 4 - Spokane to Seattle

The trek from Spokane to Seattle was an interesting one. I still find myself expecting to get places sooner than I do because I forget everything is in miles, not kilometres. We drove out of lakelands through the desert into the forests and over the hills into Seattle. We stopped for a moment at a playground just to check things out. Each of the kids picked a maple leaf from a tree while we were there. The countryside was so varied over those few hours. It was a bit like passing through a number of places we've been before only much faster. Judah thought we were in Radiator Springs and Carburetor County for a while. At one point there were warnings not to use cell phones or radios so we wouldn't set off the blasting devices being used to widen the highway. We stopped for a few moments at a little gas station just outside of a place named George in the tumbleweeds for a meal of peanut butter sandwiches and grapes in the heat. It was easy enough to just follow the Interstate all the way in and basically right up to our hotel door.

I was rather discouraged because we thought we had asked for two double beds, but only got one bed - but we made the best of things. The kids are all sleeping in different places - Micah on a cot, Aslynn on our air mattress, and Judah on a blanket on the floor. They were all pretty happy to be where they are. I spent some time on the phone with Hotwire and in person with the manager here trying to make alternative arrangements, but to no avail. It will be three nights like this. But we're in a decent location for a better price, so we can't really complain too much. Faith and the kids went to Target while I tried to sort things out. They had a great time and came back with a few items each. All except Faith, that is. She came away with nothing and I had no better news for her. At least the kids were smiling.

We had supper next door at the Jack in the Box (creepy clown place). The meals were a decent price and not bad. Judah loved the pigeon that kept coming right up to us looking for food. After that, I tried fueling up, but pay-at-the-pump did not work for me since I would have had to enter a zip code which, since I am Canadian, was not possible. I then had to run back to the hotel and grab my identification so the teller would accept my credit card. That was a first. All this so we could go to the beach. All worthwhile.

The beach was not what I expected. The drive down was lushious. When we arrived, we saw the bay and the sandy beach and got all excited. We all donned our swimming attire, grabbed our towels and toys, and headed out. This was the first time Aslynn and Judah have ever stepped foot in the ocean. Micah did up at White Rock around the time of Matt & Teresa's wedding, long enough ago that he doesn't remember it. It was warmer than the water at White Rock, but still quite nippy. It seemed to be the reason no-one else was in the water. The kids found a bunch of broken up and polished shell fragments from clams and crabs that looked pretty cool in the shallows. Micah and I tossed the football around a bit, Faith spent a few seconds laying on a towel by the beach, and Aslynn and Judah frolicked in the waves. We all walked down the beach a distance and then back. There was sand in a number of places, but it was still great.

When Faith and I got the kids cleaned up and into bed, we looked through the camera we had given the kids to use and laughed so hard. The photos were hilarious. Some were terrible. Others not bad. Most were of Judah. We need to give someone else the camera more often. How many shots were there of Judah and his stuff? Too many. A number of extreme close-ups as well - eye and mouth shots, different facial expressions, each and every toy played with - it was a veritable smorgasbord.