Family Visits

As you know, my sister came to visit this past week. Becky and her husband Judson spent the week with us here on beautiful Whidbey Island. Nothing like having family visit to help you to realize what a beautiful place we live in! Since my sister had wine-tasting as the focus of her vacation this year, we did drink a lot of wine! We covered quite a bit of territory, so it may take more than one post to cover all of it!

We started our tour of the local area with a visit to the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Judson likes airplanes and flying so we visited the Flight Simulators. Sorry, no photos allowed! After, we went to Deception Pass. This area so named because of the narrow pass, early explorers thought the island was actually a peninsula, hence the 'deception'.

The following day, we went down to Seattle, where we visited the Space Needle, the Museum of Flight, and went on a tour of the Seattle underground. These are truly the 'must-see' spots for a visitor to Seattle! The Space Needle, of course, built in the early 60's for the World's Fair has become synonymous with Seattle. We had to laugh, because while the weather was beautiful, there was a haze, and viewing was limited. The tour guide kept saying "If it was clear, you could see..."

The Seattle underground tour is really quite amazing. I've lived here for over 20 years, and this was the first time I made the tour. Of course I had heard about it through the years, but never quite got around to it. What fun! The tour guides give an amusing, if somewhat irreverent, history of early Seattle. It was a family tour, so whenever the tour guide discussed one of the primary revenue sources for many of the female residents of old Seattle, they were referred to as a 'Seamstress'. Of course the miners coming down from the Yukon were in need of having their clothes 'mended', Seattle's 'seamstresses' were there to help. It is said that one of every two dollars that came from the Yukon stayed in Seattle. Must have been a lot of sewing going on! The highlight of that tour was when an innocent 10 year old girl turned to her father and said (rather loudly) " I want to be a seamstress when I grow up!" Dad's response? "Just what every father wants to hear!"

Next time I'll cover the Museum of Flight and our trip to Victoria, BC. Needless to say, it was a busy week, with whirlwind touring of the local areas. I think my sister was looking forward to a day of riding in the car, with no walking required!

Touring on Whidbey Island.