When Grandma Comes to Town

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom came for a visit!! She flew in the night before Zuzu's party and stayed for a whole week! Naturally we had to pack a lot of fun stuff into her visit.

I hadn't had much time to plan anything (hello, party going on!), so the day after the party we were chatting about things she'd like to do here and we spontaneously decided to go on a road trip to Mount Rainier!

The Mountain is probably our favorite thing in or around Seattle so far. It's just spectacular and there's nothing quite like it. My mom is a national parks aficionado so we went a little crazy and decided to drive there and back after church - it was a whirlwind trip over the course of about 7 hours.

I think it was worth it.

When we arrived, you couldn't even see Rainier because it was so fogged in...I was so bummed and just hoping my Mom would at least catch a glimmer. By the time we drove up to Paradise, the clouds parted for about 30 minutes. We walked around, took some pictures and marveled...and then the clouds rolled back in and we turned around and drove home. Tender mercies.

I am pretty sure I get my love of adventure from this beautiful lady. I was raised to go out and see things for myself - to discover the world on a budget if you have to, but always DO things. It has served me well.

We also hit up Discovery Park and just generally kicked up a ruckus while she was here. My Mom spoiled the kids with new clothes and lots of attention.

The power of a Grandma willing to sleep on an Aerobed for a week to be part of our lives should not be underestimated. We loved having her visit and hope she'll come again soon!!

Bucket List #51 | Discovery Park

Our Seattle bucket list is a list of adventures we're hoping to have while Landon studies at the University of Washington for the next several years. To view all of our bucket list posts, click here.

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Much of what Seattle has to offer are expensive tourist attractions. Don't get me wrong, we adore the aquarium and some of the museums are worth seeing, too. This weekend, however, we were (ok, I was) itching to get out the house and didn't have much to spend. We turned to our trusty bucket list and found a fabulous city park to check out.

Discovery Park is an arm of the city's Parks and Recreation department. While they offer classes and tours for a minimal fee, entrance to the park and - nothing short of miraculous here - parking is completely free. We also found out when we got there that if you have a child under 8 years old, a senior (65+), or a handicapped sticker, you can drive right up to the beach front with a special permit you check out. Again, for free. The perfect activity for grad students!

We loved this little strip of beach so much that we never made it to the rest of the park...it being November and all, we didn't stay more than an hour and a half. We walked around the light house, collected shells, felt the sand between our toes, and found sea urchins and crab claws along the shore. Some of us were insane brave and put toes in the frigid sound.

Further on down this coast line there are tide pools. In the springtime, when the tides are low enough during the day, we'll be back to visit.

The park itself is over a mile and a half in diameter, with a running/biking path that winds around through gorgeous trees and ends up on the beach. There is also a play structure somewhere, but we'll have to find it another time.

This park is nothing short of amazing.

One thing I continue to marvel at about Seattle is how easy it is to slip in and out of that big city feel. One minute we're at a huge convention center or passing a pro sports stadium, and the next we're walking along a quiet stretch of sand, almost the only people there.

We are so fortunate to live in such a gorgeous part of the US. We rate Discovery Park:

I might even call this a must-see if you're visiting. Save your money; skip the Space Needle and explore one of the gems of the Emerald City instead.