Eclipse Road Trip - August, 2017
Day 3 - August 16, 2017 (Wednesday)
We all slept in this morning and woke up to a beautiful day. AT/ET brought us to this buffet restaurant in Tukwila for lunch. This place kind of reminded me of Luxe in Ontario, not as good but close enough. A huge spread of food from sushi to desserts with lots of seafood offerings. The restaurants here in the greater Seattle area are getting better every time we visit.
Federal Way Community Center
AT/ET wanted to show us where they spend some of their time now that they are both retired from their work. The Community Center/Senior Center in Federal Way is one of those places where they enjoy occasional Korean senior lunches. This is a beautiful complex with many activities inside. I was totally impressed with the indoor swimming pool completed with water slides and floating stream. They even have a rock wall for those who are up to the challenge.
Rock Wall
Pacific Bonsai Museum, Federal Way
We have never been to this bonsai museum even though this is the #1 things to do in Federal Way on Tripadvisor. This is on the premises of the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus with wide open space. It was very quiet when we were there and the display was certainly impressive! No, bonsai is not a Japanese thing. It's a Chinese form of art originated in China and, like many other things, adopted by the Japanese and claimed it their own. There are many native miniature shrubs and trees that are from California and other states in the US. One unique feature is that they put some background pictures behind these bonsai to make it more dramatic. Worth to spend an hour or two here, especially it's free admission.
Entrance to the bonsai garden
Path leading back to the parking lot.
An empty parking lot.
World Vision International Headquarters, Federal Way
The headquarters of World Vision is not far from the Bonsai Museum so it was natural that we took a visit there on our way home. Both AT and ET retired from this non-profit organization and I worked at their Monrovia office in 1980 for a few months before switching professions, it was nice to come back for a short visit.
Main building
"Jesus Loves the Little Children"
There is a path behind the WV building that leads to Lake Killarney.
Lake Killarney
Beautiful!
It must be nice to be able to spend break time here, just a few minutes walk from the office.
After this, we went to the Super Mall (now called the Outlet Collection) and did some shopping before going home for the evening.
Day 4 - August 17, 2017 (Thursday)
Today our plan was to drive down to Montesano to visit AP and JP's new home. They have moved here from north of Seattle and settled here in this small town near Aberdeen. It was a long drive from Auburn but we were very excited to see them and the new baby whom we have not met before. We really did not want to disturb them that much but AP canceled one of his appointments with his clients to spend time with us that day. Bless his heart!
What a nice spacious house! We are so happy for them!
A deck looking out to the swimming pool and huge backyard.
AP just finished mowing that big lawn.
Astoria, Oregon
One thing that I regret was that we were not going to Astoria on this trip since we will be going down Fwy 5 on our way to Albany for the eclipse before turning west to the coast. Now that we were in Montesano, which is about 80 miles from Astoria, I thought this could be a good time to drive down for our favorite fish and chips for lunch. AP/JP and the kids also joined us on this long drive down to Oregon.
Oh mine, the long line at Bowpicker fish and chips. It took us a little over an hour standing in that line before we were able to get our hands on the delicious fish and chips.
Almost there!
Yay! It's our turn! We purchased 11 whole orders and boy, what a wonderful meal!
Still my favorite fish and chips! These huge chunks of delicious fried tuna made up for the long wait in line.
Unfortunately, it was windy and cold sitting outside that day, so our fish turned cold rather quickly.
After our late lunch, we went up to the column where the 'kids' had a great time flying their $1 planes from the top. Us 'old folks' just stayed down and enjoyed the magnificent view of Columbia River and the surrounding area. Parking is now $5 a year.
So much fun!
Saying 'goodbye' before we went our separate ways.
By the time we got back to Auburn, it was a little after 8:30 and we made it to the Vietnamese restaurant for a bowl of pho for dinner.
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