Last Friday we drove up to Washington and then came back home on Sunday. Mapquest’s estimate was that our destination was only four and a half hours from Eugene, which sounded pretty good to me. It ended up taking longer than we expected, though, and I tend to forget about things like regular bathroom breaks for kids (and adults) and stopping for gas. Not to mention the traffic we ran into in Portland, even though it wasn’t anywhere close to rush hour. (On the way home we drove around Portland, we still ran into traffic, but even so I think that’s the route we prefer.) Later when we were in Washington, some of our directions we’d printed out weren’t quite accurate, so I used our cell phone to navigate and now I don’t know how we ever managed without it before. It has come in handy so many times when we’ve been travelling and have gotten turned around.

We went to Washington to visit Jeff’s daughter and her sweet family, and to celebrate his grandson’s first birthday. They had moved, so we got to see their new house and the new town where they live. We were so grateful to have the opportunity to see their world and spend time with them. It was so fun to watch little Henry devour his birthday cupcake and open his presents. Jeff carved a special spoon for him, in Oregon myrtlewood, thinking it would be an heirloom for him that he could have forever. (Bracken drew a picture of him with a pumpkin to give to him for his birthday.)

I was so happy his pumpkin hat fit. I didn’t knit him one hat for his first birthday, but two hats, because I figured the pumpkin hat would be fun for fall, but it would be nice to have another hat to keep his head warm throughout the winter. (He actually doesn’t like to wear hats much, but maybe the cute hats will change his mind?) I was working to finish it on the drive up. I used the leftover yarn from the sweater I knit for him, as well as leftover green yarn from Bracken’s hat. I love striped hats. (This is another favorite go-to pattern of mine, whenever I want to give a knitted hat for a gift. It’s called Magic Coffee Baby Hat, and it’s a free pattern on Ravelry. My Ravelry notes are here.)

It was quite the rainy weekend. Jeff’s daughter wanted to show us the beach near their house (she thought Bracken would love hunting for agates and looking for the little crabs under the rocks), so was disappointed with the weather and the fact that the water was so high, covering the beach. But we were glad the skies were clear for just a bit so we could at least see their favorite beach spot and walk out on the dock. You could see the city of Seattle across the water, it looked so small from there.

We got to explore Bremerton and Kingston, Washington and we thought both places were just beautiful, right along the water. We enjoyed two good restaurants while we were visiting too. Nightshade was a great find, with delicious food, and with something on the menu for all diets. And The Grub Hut had the best burgers. They had the option of gluten-free buns or lettuce wraps if you preferred no bun at all, and they had grass-fed beef burgers or veggie burgers for those who don’t eat meat. Again, options for everyone, and the burgers were so good.

It was a short trip, but we were grateful for that time and so glad we got to be there to celebrate that sweet boy’s first birthday!