Summer: Pacific NW

 After our time in Iowa, we headed West! We had amazing weather for our time in Oregon, which made it the perfect set up to spend time with our family outdoors. We took advantage of this as much as we could. Rachel's parents flew in from Iowa to join us for a week, and in that time, we managed to fit in a handful of hikes, some we had done before, and others were new to all of us! We headed north to spend about five days in Washington. We headed straight for Mt. Rainier and spent the day in the beautiful National Park, hitting a few different trails, a waterfall, and countless breathtaking views.

We spent the next couple of days in Seattle, covering the stereotypical Seattle activities - Pike’s Place Market, the first Starbucks, and the wharf.

However, while nice, those were not the highlights of our time there. Our favorite experiences in Seattle were:

1. We were able to get together with some friends who live in Barcelona with us, but are from the Northwest! It was very fun for our families to meet and spend time together State-side.

2. We had dinner in the Space Needle with our parents. It was so nice to be above the city, witness the sunset, and spend hours talking and laughing while slowly rotating, as we watched night fall on the city.

3. We toured the Boeing factory (just North of Seattle).  We learned many things we did not know, like
- the Boeing factory is the world’s largest indoor facility - it's able to encompass all of Disney Land and still have space!
-  They are now able to assemble planes with over 6 million parts in four months and planes with 3 million parts in three weeks
- One jet engine could suck out all the air in less than five seconds
- There are 19 food courts in the building
- Employees use bikes to get around the factory because it is so large.

  From Seattle, we took a ferry to visit Devin’s grandparents in Port Townsend on the upper corner of Washington near Canada.  We saw old WWII bunkers, a lighthouse, enjoyed the small town feel, and played some serious Skip-Bo.

We concluded our time in Oregon with a day hike at the coast, and an afternoon in Portland. We wish we had had more time with our families all together, but are grateful for the precious time we did have.

Downtown Portland from the Pittock Mansion