Washington Adventures, Grandma, and Shady Past of Portland

On Sunday, Chrissy and I drove up to Glacier National Park in Montana and went along the 14 miles of the Going-to-the-Sun Road that were accessible at this early stage of the season. The weather was a bit dreary, but we still got some nice pictures of the mountains, river, and Lake McDonald. While taking pictures of the lake, a man came and told us that he had seen a bear off the road. I went towards where he pointed and low and behold there was a bear that looked to be about 2 years old. It happened to stop on the slope and turn and look in my direction so that I could snap a picture before it lumbered across the road and into the hills.

We left Glacier and headed west on I-2 towards Idaho, crossed Idaho, and entered Washington after driving through Priest River. Drove through Spokane in order to catch I-90 west towards Seattle. We stopped at a viewpoint along the Columbia River and took pictures of the sunset before continuing westward to our Motel 6 that was between Tacoma and Seattle.

Yesterday morning we woke up and drove to Tacoma to check out the Museum of Glass at Chrissy's request. It was pretty cool seeing all of the different flowers and creations made out of a variety of colors. Soon after, we trekked north to Seattle so that we could visit the original Starbucks that is across from Pike's Place Market. I ordered a Java Chip Frappucino for our walk through the market. We saw them tossing fish at the world famous fish market and then ventured to the Space Needle. Took the 41 second elevator ride to the observation deck and got to see some awesome views of Puget Sound and the Seattle metropolis. The last stop for the day was Camano Island to visit my grandma for the first time in 12 years. The visit was quite pleasant and I updated her on my life and answered most of her questions about my family. She gave Chrissy and me each spoons that belonged to her mother-in-law; one of mine was engraved with her name, Ella, and was made in 1894. She also gave me 2 books; one was from 1877 and the other was given to her in 1940 by her future prom date. The last gift was my great-grandmother's opal ring that she used to wear. For dinner, we had some hamburger pie and my grandmother told stories about how she had met my grandpa Pete. After dinner, we got to see more of the house and I came across my parent's wedding album, pictures of my brother and I when we were really young, along with pictures of my grandmother from when she was a baby and growing up. I believe I found a picture of my great great grandmother who happened to be a famous trapeze artist, along with her sister. They toured as either the Vaidis Sisters or the Vaidis Twin Sisters.

This morning, we ate breakfast before packing up the food that my grandma provided for us. We then drove south towards Portland, Oregon. Ventured through the Columbia River Gorge along I-84 east and set up our tent at site 11 in Eagle Creek Campground. Our next destination was Hobo's Restaurant so that we could do a tour of Portland's Seedy Underground, known as the Shanghai Tunnels. I of course saw an episode of Cities of the Underground on the History Channel and became interested in the tunnels. The tunnels were used to get able-bodied men to work on merchant ships to China, or for the white slave trade where women would be sold into prostitution. The men were either drugged in saloons or dragged out of opium dens into the tunnels to be sold to ship captains. They were given knockout drops so that they wouldn't wake up for 13-16 hours when they were well into their voyage. If they were lucky, they would get back to Portland in 3-6 years. If they were unlucky, they never made it back. And if they were super unlucky, the ships ran out of food and they were served for dinner as "long pork". After our history lesson, we found a Starbucks to update the world about our recent escapades. More again soon, hopefully!