Left Coast Party

Or, Ms. Price Goes to Washington

But not the Washington you’re thinking of.   Washington State!  The place of many a childhood summer and Christmas.  It was my great pleasure to use up ALL of my accrued vacation days with my hilarious family, who live pretty exclusively on the West Coast, where I was born & raised.

And, ahhhhhh…it was SO GOOD to be back out there.

It’s just different out west.

For example, it’s 100% normal and average --not just for right-wing anti-establishment wackos-- to shoot guns in the desert on any given Saturday (stay tuned…), there are more tumble weeds than tumble weaves, you can run for 6 miles in 90 degree weather and barely even sweat (the miracle of NO humidity), literally nothing goes stale—ever (also a miracle of no humidity), and of course there is the dearly beloved Pacific Ocean. {sigh of fulfillment}

The Left Coast Price Party all began in Northern California where we gathered for the blessing of our newest little Price, Gwendolyn Ruth—our very own cherished Pip Squeak!

As soon as my mom and Chels pulled up to the airport and ran to Pip Squeak’s window to get a look at her and automatic cooing ensued.  My niece!  My first niece (or nephew) EVER!   Thereby officially making my O’Neill grandparents, GREAT grandparents.

And she is perfect.

And makes hilarious faces—she definitely fits in :)

I got to carry her around in her special little kangaroo pouch and I refused to let her go!  She was hanging around in that pouch with me for HOURS.

And thus began my duties as the Best Aunt Ever.  I promptly showered her with new clothes and my new favorite kid’s book: Good Night, Philadelphia.

I also gave her this onesie.  Duh.  ("Lawyer on speed dial.  Handle with care.")

And I mean it!  If anyone EVER messes with her, YOU. WILL. BE. SORRY.

And doesn’t Chels look great??  She just had a baby, for crying out loud!

After a beautiful blessing on the baby, as she was surrounded by her loving family (AND wearing a gorgeous dress that Chels made BY HAND!  What the?!?  I just don’t have those sort of feminine, pioneer woman skills.  I could have pushed a handcart.  I could have cooked in the Dutch oven.  Maybe built a fire…maybe.  But beyond that, I may not have been an overly-gifted 1850’s sort of wife…) my mom, grandparents, and I trekked North for the great state of Washington.

As an aside, on the way, we saw Lake Shasta—the site of many a previous Price rendezvous.

 

Next stop, past the Columbia River and into Moses Lake, Washington.

Although my mom’s side of the family were all born and raised in Seattle, my grandparents have now settled down in the sunny city of Moses Lake in their gorgeous lake-side home.  I will always love this house.  I remember looking at their blueprints in their old Seattle gem of a house overlooking Puget Sound.  I distinctly remember looking over the blueprints and being informed that their building plans included like an 8-car garage—I was absolutely floored.  And now, as a cramped urbanite, their home feels even more like a palace to me.

A week with my grandparents at their desert oasis including swimming before 10am with my mom and grandma, watching murder mysteries late at night (of course!), morning jogs around the peninsula, and unwinding in the swinging hammock chairs on the deck.  So lovely.

And of course, a person with grown-up tastebuds like myself simply cannot be in this town without getting some legitimate Black Licorice Ice Cream.

I also played an entire round of 18 holes with my grandpa—quite a treat!  We were joined for the front 9 by my little cousin, and recent Rookie of the Year of her school’s golf team, Ms. Megan.  It was fun to hang out with her, too!  She has certainly grown into a fun young lady!  Besides the golfing, Meg and I also went on a little wakeboarding exhibition with her gentlemen friends.  She was quite a good sport letting me conduct a piercing cross-examination of a certain Mr. Parker who seems to have caught her eye!  But I’ll stop here before I embarrass her any more than I already have…

And here’s our local champion herself!

Unfortunately, I think her superior golfing prowess has bumped me from my spot as favorite grandchild :/ haha

Now, you can’t be in the vicinity of the Moses Lake desert with my Uncle Dave without making appropriate use of the nearby dunes.  My Uncle Dave is a firearms oficionado and he showed me a thing or two about what being an American is all about.

Viva La Enmienda Segunda!

And of course, one cannot get to the dunes to shoot guns unless one has the appropriate vehicle.

Here, Uncle Dave saves the day, yet again!

Our travels, however, were not without excitement.  Besides the adventurous off-road experience one can always expect with Uncle Dave at the wheel, we also had some unexpected fun:

Yep, that’s stuck.  And the bumper is gone.  And the sun is setting.  And we took the shovel out so we could fit all the guns in the back.  Oops.

Let the digging begin!  The family that digs out its all-terrain vehicle together, will certainly remain together.  (P.S. this experience was SO MUCH like my time in the Australian Outback it was UNREAL!  Absolutely uncanny!)

But the adventures didn’t end here!  My trip ended with a nostalgic day-trip back in SEATTLE.  I loved it.  I could move here.  For real.  Cycling commuters, giant parks with hiking/biking trails, kayaking & boating, farmer’s markets, fresh seafood galore, the OCEAN—this is truly my kind of town. 

I am also a huge fan of eating classy food, so I was pleased beyond measure when our day began with a delicious meal of Copper River Salmon.  This is the kind of salmon that my mom and her parents seem to pretty exclusively eat.  Because when you’re from Seattle, you’re allowed to be kinda snobby like that.  You know what’s up.  And DANG it was good.  The smell of smoldering smokehouse wood only enhanced the experience, as did enjoying the meal right on the waterfront.

Next came Ballard –basically the Frankford Ave/Northern Liberties of Seattle (if you’re not familiar with Philly, that means its hip!) where it was my mom’s brilliant idea to have a nice walk around the little shops and stop at a lovely little place called Hot Cakes Chocolate Lava Cakery.  Precarious name.  Amazing desserts!  And I’m kind of a dessert connoisseur, so my seal of approval is kiiiiiind of a big deal ;)  We had 2 lava cakes ala mode- chocolate decadence (aka uber dark chocolate) and chocolate peanut butter.  Plus crème brulee, masterfully blow-torched, with Washington rhubarb compote.  And I also enjoyed the shop’s own version of Harry Potter’s butterbeer.  Whoa.  This stuff was beyond delicious.  It was seriously in my top 3 favorite beverages consumed ever.  For real, maybe even #1.  It was THAT good.  Butterscotch, fresh apple cider, ginger.  Frothy, warm bliss to-go.

Ballard is also where the world-famous locks are.  Not lox like fish on a bagel, although there are plenty of salmon in the vicinity.  The locks is where—lesson time!—the city has this gravity-controlled, pump-free (ingenous!) system of gates in the water near the harbor outlet to allow boats to go from the high part of Puget Sound, to the lower Pacific Ocean without going over a waterfall of terror.  Although, that would be interesting, too.

 

We crossed over the locks just in time to hear a concert in the park.

There’s also a lovely rose garden at the part there, which my grandpa called, “Seattle’s best kept secret.”

(This is me and my mom's signature pose: The Peek-a-boo Tree)

Also some interesting 3D art.

And now to a part of the city that I’m much more familiar with, the Seattle Center!

This is of course where the Space Needle is.

It took Grandpa a couple tries to figure out what I was going for here, hehehe.

There was a big outdoor fair for kiddos dedicated to science which I thought was GREAT!  I’m always a fan of early science education. 

My favorite part of the fair was the gigantic replica of a human colon…seriously??  Who’s idea was that?!  Gross.

But the best part of the trip was, hands-down, seeing the Chihuly Glass & Garden.  In a word: stunning.  Amazing artwork all made of glass, by hand!  It beckoned to my many childhood memories of watching the glass blowers at Pioneer Square in Seattle with my brothers and cousins.

It was all so beautiful.  Very Seattle/Tacoma-inspired with ocean creatures and Native American basketry themes dominating the exhibit.

I swear I’ve seen something just like this at the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art.  I read that Chihuly has displayed in Tel Aviv, so I may be more correct than I even realize.  {But as a shout out, the Tel Aviv MOMA was very cool- definitely an emphasis of the creative use of large-scale 3-dimensional pieces.}

I kinda have a thing of octopi...

As I walked in this room I couldn’t get this song out of my head: “Come with me…and you’ll see…in a world of pure imagination…”  (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory- the real one)

Breathtaking.

And I couldn’t have asked for better company!