Our first destination was Reno Nevada.  We left Saturday morning and arrived there that evening.  Spent time with my Dad and Carol – there first time meeting Noah.  Sunday we went to the Rib Cook-Off.  Wow, great food.  A little on the pricey side, but well worth it.  Lots of people, and attractions.  I think this is one of Reno’s best qualities, they have the ability to attract lots of people to these outdoor, fair type events.  Also, great attraction is Hot August Nights.

Our next stop was Washington State, in the beautiful town of Sequim.  Noah loved it:

We stayed in the Home of our friends, we had the whole bottom floor to ourselves, it was such a great place.  This is their backyard:

The next morning, we had breakfast at a great little diner called “The 101 Dinner“.  Noah loved it:

Actually, it was very good, and the place had a very friendly feeling.  Everyone knew each other. And the customers who came in all semmed to know the staff.  A very small town feeling.  But also very warm to new-comers like ourselves.  And I found my new favorite coffee: Tully’s.

We first took a small tour of Sequim, driving around, and seeing what we see.  First interesting stop was Dungeness Wild Life Refuge.  There we found a nice walk way overlooking the Peninsula:

With some benches to enjoy the view, Noah loved it:

The next day we visited Victoria Canada.  What a beautiful coastal town.  We saw the Royal British Columbia Museum:

Craigdarroch Castle:

Parliament Building:

and the famous Empress Hotel:

The next day we visited Seattle.  What a great city.  We enjoyed it a lot.  A couple of touristy tips:  Take the Double Decker, tour buss – it’s relatively in expensive ($15/person), you get to get on and off all day, and they go around all the major streets pointing out interesting things.  It works great to see the city in one swoop, and then get off when you find something interesting.  The underground city tour is also well worth it.  Great history and information, also very funny and engaging tour guides.  Some other things we saw:

The space needle:

The very first Starbucks store in Pike Place Market

The Science Fiction Museum, which didn’t allow photos. But basically had movie props, exhibits, and lots of information about science fiction stuff.

Sadly, our digital camera broke during some takes of the Space Needle, so from this point, we only had our phones for photos.

The next day we spent time in Sequim and it’s big neighbor Port Angeles.  We walked down what is known as the Dungeness Spit, which is a long skinny strip of land surrounded by water.  It’s 11 miles long with a lighthouse at the end.  We didn’t walk the whole thing, but enjoyed the time.

Then the next day we left.  We left in the morning, drove to Redding, stayed the night, then drove the rest Sunday.  I snapped this cool shot early Sunday morning using my phone.   I found the shadow very cool.