We decided to take a little road trip up to Seattle and then push on into Canada. Two hours into the trip I realised that I had forgotten to bring the passports – they were back at Steve and Brenna’s – because when you go on a roadtrip anywhere in Australia YOU DON’T NEED A PASSPORT. So, that put paid to our Canada plans. Nevertheless, it was going to be tight trying to fit in all that we’d planned in only two days, so it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We headed to the Seattle Sky Needle. When we first crested a hill and saw the Seattle city skyline (incidently singing ‘Hello Seattle’ FINALLY) we were surprised at how much the Sky Needle *didn’t* dominate the skyline. In all the movies that you see, it’s so prominent. Nevertheless, it’s still an impressive structure, and the view is lovely over the city and the waterways.

Natey Garrard of Australia – one of thousands to sign his name at the Space Needle.

There was much to see and do atop the tower, relating to its construction, purpose, management and place in pop culture.

Black Mountain Tower on steroids, really.

Next stop was the Seattle farmers markets by the bay. We took the monorail from the Space Needle, then walked down from there. It’s so interesting walking through a city in another country.  People watching is fascinating – there are subtle differences to our experience of Aus cities, although at the same time we could have almost been walking through downtown Sydney. Anyway, I was particularly interested in the Public Market Centre, as it had featured in ‘Sleepless in Seattle’.

Jen, this was the restaurant in which they filmed the scene where Sam and his friend ate lunch and discussed the concept of Sam re-entering the world of dating.

We found this brilliant model car shop in the markets and Andy was in model car heaven. Of course he had to make a purchase, and he bought himself a little Camaro.

Ever tried chocolate pasta?

On the way back through the city to the monorail, we stopped for lunch at food truck by the side of the road. There were several of them lining the street, buzzing with customers. The food was good – we all agreed that it was our best take-out meal thus far.

Farewell, Space Needle. Nice to finally meet you.

Guess what, Jen? I found the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat!! – pretty much by accident. I had wanted to find it, but knew that the houseboat residents understandably kept the area very private – you can’t just wander down there. We were driving by the marina and so we stopped just to see if we could see any of the houseboats from the road (cos they’re cool), and there it was!!  That was a pretty fun moment.

Too cute. Why can’t we have more signs like this in Australia?

We stayed overnight with Brenna’s Uncle Mike and Aunt Kim, who had only met us three days before, but were more than happy to have us stay in their home in Tacoma, just south of Seattle. So kind!  Uncle Mike is actually Reverend Dr Adams, president of the Faith Evangelical College and Seminary in Tacoma – and he has a super-cool hotrod.

That is one beefy engine. Uncle Mike kindly took everyone, one by one, out for a spin.

The next day, Uncle Mike took us all out for breakfast at the Pine Cone Cafe, one of those old fashion diners where the waitress comes up to the table with a coffee pot in one hand and a kindly ‘y’all want more coffee?’; where the furnishings are simple and the servings generous. Our waitress was Mandy, and she promised the kids she’d google AFL in general and the Belconnen Magpies in particular.

That day we also visited the Boeing factory at Everett, just north of Seattle. This is a pic of the Dreamlifter plane that happened to be there at the time. This plane is specially designed to freight pre-fabricated parts of the aircraft, like the cabin sections, from subcontractors. It’s a huge plane.

We took the tour of the factory, but sadly weren’t able to take pictures. It’s a huge building; in fact it’s the biggest building by volume in the world. You should google it. It’s basically Boeing aircraft assembly lines; not just for one type of aircraft, like the 747, but for several – and when you consider how big each aeroplane is, that’s a lot of space. It’s fascinating.  They have about 30000 staff. Imagine the Boeing Christmas party. These pics were taken inside the public gallery.

Not as easy as it looks.

This is a fraction of how big the factory actually is. You would have really enjoyed the tour, Dad. Next time you visit Steve and Brenna, you should make the hop up there.  Sadly Erin was feeling unwell for most of the day, so by the time we had finished here it was getting late and we decided to make our way back to Portland.  We had planned to visit Mt St Helens on the way back, but we lost our daylight, and it began to rain.  Never mind!  It was good to get back to Steve and Brenna and the children.