This brings my state count to 9 - I've been to California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Ohio and Massachusetts. My goal is to get to all 49 states by the time I'm 10. I say 49 because I'm holding out hope that by then someone will finally decide to merge the Dakotas to save costs.
Glacier is really, really, really gorgeous. I spent a lot of time on my dad's back in my favorite backpack, which I call a "back."
Admittedly, I also spent a bit of time sleeping on my dad's back.
So what did we see? Lots of glacier-carved rugged mountains and valleys:
A lot of animals, including this very cool moose...
plus we saw a bear on one of the paths and had to back away slowly so it didn't eat my mom. No pictures, since I hear bears eat camera-wielding infants, but it was reasonably scary/cool.
We walked across a rickety bridge where my dad totally broke the rules:
And I still made sure I had plenty of time to stop and smell the flowers!
And pose with my mom!
In Seattle, we visited some friends of my parents, Tim and Karrie, who traveled with them when they were off galavanting in South America some time B.S. (before Spencer). They have a 2-year old son named Collin who I felt like I could really talk to:
How do you like this one for synchronized sippy cupping!!
We also visited the Ballard Locks, which lets boats go from Lake Washington to Puget Sound (and back) without feeling like they're going over the falls in a barrell. They also had this very interesting Salmon Ladder there, which let...get this...salmon..swim up over a dam to get to their spawning grounds where they promptly die. Senior prom at Salmon High School must be pretty empty. Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing on those metal posts they have at the docks...
...and I spent a lot of time running from post to post, hitting the top of each post before running to hit the next one!
I have to give a big shout out to the Westin in Seattle. But first I'll give a big shout at the Westin in Seattle. Why are your closets and bathrooms too small to fit a pack 'n play? Geez! But thankfully, when my parents asked for some help in finding a way to let me sleep in a quiet spot, they gave the mother of all upgrades - to the top floor, crown suite! I'm not kidding! Just to orient you, here's a picture of the map on the back of the door, so you can get a sense for how big the suite is...and the suite doesn't even include the bedroom next door!
Here's the "entertainment room" and the "dining room." I won't bother including pictures of the kitchen or sitting room, or the second bathroom. Again, not kidding.
And the amazing view out the 40th floor window!
How unbelievably lucky were we? The place was bigger than our apartment in SF!!
Oh, did I mention my parents bought a house? We close tomorrow....more to come on that soon!!!
Love,
Spencer
