Trip Report: Seattle area in July with kids

We had a nice one week stay outside Seattle. We stayed at an RV park in Snoqualmie. My husband's parents are members and so this is a chance for them to hang out with the grandkids. We did some sight seeing but we also just played at the park ' great swimming pool, tennis courts etc.

Day 1 was spent at the park with the family.

Day 2: In the morning we went to Snoqualmie Falls to church. Along the expressway into town, there were all sorts of buildings are nearly complete or complete in this huge expansion of the city, but most of them weren't yet occupied. Kind of ghostly. Then, the old town was packed with cars as we drove by. The church we attended was down in the historic old town, just a block from the river. The congregation is talking about moving due to expansion needs and also past floods.

We would have gone to the historic Depot museum, but today they weren't running the usual trains. It was Thomas the Tank Engine Day. Been there, done that, so we went back to our cabin for lunch.

After lunch we went to Snoqualmie Falls for the afternoon. The path to the bottom was pretty easy. We even saw people 'hiking' in flip flops, though I'd recommend tennis shoes at least.

Day 3: We went to Woodland Park Zoo. A nice zoo, and the komodo dragons were new for us. Greatly enjoyed the marvelous gorilla exhibit. Paid to feed the giraffes with the older two kids.

On I-90, it was fascinating seeing the entirely separate carpool lane that switches lanes for the different commutes. Incidentally, we went back to our lodgings at least one day at rush hour, and I-90 seemed far less congested than the others we saw (especially I-5, and that was before the construction started on it).

Day 3: We went to Tillicum Village. The ferry ride to Blake Island was fun. By happenstance, we saw in the Puget Sound a ship my father-in-law had worked on, years ago in the Navy. Small world.

The salmon at Tillicum Village was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and there was ample food. The show was very well lit, costumed and with a professional soundtrack. The blankets and the masks were just stunning. Our only little complaint is that the kids thought there would be even more Native American stories. They have books and tapes of these at home, and were expecting to settle in for the long haul.

After we came back to Seattle, we spent a little time at Pike Place Market. This is a great place for adults, but honestly I'm glad I didn't devote more time here. The kids liked the fishmonger for about 10 minutes. I did buy things for dinner, including beautiful bunch of basil, just huge, for a buck.

Day 4: We stayed at the resort this day, and played. It was rainy.

Day 5: This was our last full day. We went into Seattle just the 5 of us (no grandparents this time). We went to the Space Needle first. Very fun. We took the monorail to Westlake Center and ate lunch in the food court. Then we came back and went to the Pacific Science Center. A great musuem. I surprised my son by riding the bicycle up in the air. We finished by stopping in Issaquah's cute little downtown for dinner. I enjoyed the Western-style false fronts on some of their buildings. We ate at Margarita's, a good restaurant with fun décor and very friendly staff.

Thanks to all the Fodors folks from Seattle for their many posts over the years. I researched a good many of them in preparing for this trip. Unfortunately our stay wasn't long enough to do the many other things I would have liked to ' another trip, maybe.