Conquering the Pacific Northwest: Day 1

I take my vacations very seriously. While I also attempt to make the most of my weekends and time off at home, true vacations are different. Our last vacation included a tour of the best of Arizona and the vacation before that discovered the best of the southern California deserts and Route 66 in Arizona and California. After a two-and-a-half-year hiatus, the time for a vacation came around again. This time, we planned to conquer the Pacific Northwest.

The following entries will detail our adventures on the roads and at the attractions that are only part of what makes this region so incredible.

Day 1:

We flew from Pittsburgh to Seattle via Houston. The plan was to meet up with my dad at the Seattle airport and pick up a full-sized car for a five-day road trip. The road trip happened as planned, but with some deep discounting and coercing, the folks at Fox Rent-a-Car convinced us to take a bright red convertible 2012 Ford Mustang.

Did somebody say upgrade?

Our first stop was at the Fry’s Electronics in Renton, WA while waiting for dad to arrive at the airport to sign on as our second driver. For technology geeks, visiting a Fry’s is akin to a religious experience. Simply walking in inspires and draws out emotion in even the most dysfunctional types. Chris struggled to focus on what he actually needed as he was continually distracted by some new component, piece of computer hardware, or gadget. There is no big box electronics store that compares to Fry’s.

After extracting Chris from Fry’s we returned to the airport, picked up dad, and were off on our adventure! To begin, we cruised down Marginal Way along the perimeter of the Boeing facility. Aviation fans are always in for a treat when traveling this route as many historical planes are clearly visible, including an actual Concorde, which is part of the Museum of Flight. We continued into Seattle where eventually we found ourselves heading north on Aurora.

When traveling it is priority to eat at local establishments. The definition of local seems to differ between people, but we tend to focus on what we cannot eat at home. Wanting to make moves for our hotel in Monroe, Ivar’s was a natural choice. Of all seafood fast food I’ve ever tried, Ivar’s is, without a doubt, the best. For me, the cornerstone of their menu is the white chowder.

Finishing dinner, we made tracks for Monroe. I selected Monroe as our starting point for the following five-day roadtrip because it was a short drive from Seattle but was situated on U.S. Route 2 immediately before it begins the climb to the Steven’s Pass. Arriving at the hotel we had ambitions to enjoy the pool. But once we arrived at our room, those ambitions evaporated. After an early morning, hours of flights, and a three-hour time difference, sleep became the only ambition.

This was likely for the best, as the adventures on the following days would require more and more energy.