Seattle Trip and Boat Show

Last weekend Lisa and I flew up to Seattle for a dental conference. Thanks to Patterson Dental, we were able to fly up for free. Another big thanks to our parents for watching the kids for us.  My brother Carson (he's a dentist in Seattle) let us stay at his house and he and I attended the conference together, and it was so great having him there. We've decided that we need to do more CE together. 

Lisa and I had a fantastic trip up there. It's always so good to stay at Carson and Marisa's house, to play with their kids, and to stay up late talking and playing games once the kids go to bed. At the end of the Friday sessions, Marisa and Lisa drove down to Bellevue to meet up with Carson and me for dinner. The four of us went to Bellevue Square and ate at PF Changs. Dinner was so tasty. Afterward we went to the mall and did a little shopping. It was so cool being up there in Microsoft country where they have a Microsoft store in the mall. So much cooler than an Apple store and all the sheep that flock to it.

Our classes ended on Saturday around noon, then we went back to Carson's.  They let Lisa and me borrow their car so that we could drive the Olympic loop.  We drove up to Port Angeles that day and went into Olympic National Park.  Unfortunately for us it was typical February weather so it was very cloudy and rainy, but that didn't dampen our spirits as we anticipated that weather.  Despite the weather, we absolutely loved the area.  We have decided that we have to go back up in the summer time with the kids, do the park when we can see all the olympic mountains and vistas and then take the ferry over to Victoria, Canada.  It was great seeing how thick the foliage is everywhere up there.  Even in the middle of the winter everything is still so green. 

That night we stayed in Port Angeles, and then the next morning got up and continued the loop.  We drove out to La Push to go see the coast.  There was a cool hiking trail down to second beach that we enjoyed.

Here's Lisa on that trail.  Hard to believe from that photo that Park City had a high of 7 degrees that day!  We were enjoying the 50 degree weather even if it was wet.

Here's a view once at the beach.  I felt like I was in Goonies or something with the great views.  It really put me in a seafood mood being on the ocean.

 We then drove through Forks, which was quite uneventful, but still cool for Lisa to see since she is such a fan of the books.  It is a really small town, and a few adventurous residents have tried to capitalize off of the Twilight series, bust most of their attempts are extremely cheesy and tacky.

We really wanted to go to the Hoh National Rain Forest, but we didn't have enough time, so instead we went to the Quinault Rain Forest ranger station and did a little nature trail hike.  It's quite surreal being in a rain forest coming from Utah and the red rock country.  There are trees (like the one pictured below) that are completely covered in thick moss.  The moss is so thick that it supports additional plant growth on top of it.  There were ferns growing on top of the moss that was growing on the trees.  Did you know that the Olympic Rain Forest averages about 180 inches of rain a year?  That's more than 10 times the amount of precipitation that Utah gets.  WOW!

It was a lot of driving, but we had a great time enjoying each others company, the conversation, the scenery and some quiet time away from the kids.

Yesterday we went to the boat show as a family.  Well, we left the two younger ones with my parents because it was nap time.  But, when kids 12 and under are free, Lisa and I figured it was a great family activity.  We got some discounted passes and went to enjoy all the boats.
Here's Tucker driving a tricked out Supra.  He and Aubrey loved finding all the storage compartments and would hide in them.

There was this really cool BYU decorated Mastercraft X-45.

The price tag for that bad boy?  Well, for a cool $122,000 it could be yours.

Tucker and Aubrey pretending to drive a wave runner.

My dream boat.  The Supra Sunsport.  So delicious.  Maybe someday I can get one for a mid-life crisis or something.