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Every year we try to take a few trips to go somewhere we've never been, or try to do something new. This summer we spun the globe and landed on the state of Washington. My wife and I had never been there before, and it was close enough(ish) to drive. After a few late nights of research, (we wanted to surprise the kids with the exact details of the trip so we waited until they were dead asleep to avoid their prying eyes) we decided on a lakeside vacation rental on Lake Sawyer in Black Diamond, Washington, about an hour east of Seattle. Day one was a five hour drive north to Eugene, Oregon where we did a little back to school shopping after dragging the kids out of the hotel pool. Day two was another five hours north to Black Diamond, Washington. We drove through Portland, Oregon on the way which was cool to see, kids sure do love themselves some bridges. We spent the rest of day two, and all of day three on the lake. The rental we were staying at had a private dock with gazebo, and a boat house filled with a paddle boat, kayaks, and fishing gear. On day four we headed west, destination: Seattle. Our first stop was Pike Place Market where we spent a few hours looking around; Luke loved the fish throwing, Liv loved the trinkets, Ash hated the gum wall, and we had a great time taking them to their first comic bookstore. We then hopped on the monorail up to the Space Needle! A few hours and a million pictures later, we jumped back on the monorail and somehow ended up in a mall where we did even more back to school shopping. Day five was yet another lake day, and after finally finding some nightcrawlers, Luke and Liv both caught their first ever fishes! Day six was time to go home. We rolled the dice and opted to drive the whole ten hours in one day. This was significantly risky as Olivia gets car sick when we drive from Fieldbrook to Arcata, so you can imagine what ten hours would be like. Luckily for us all, the dramamine was very effective and we were able to make the journey with no issues. We stopped in Salem, Oregon for lunch and walked around the Capitol building, and then stopped again in Grants Pass to eat at Sonic (obviously). It was so much fun being able to watch the kids have their first lake life experience and exploring somewhere new together. Even the little things like being stuck in a car together for hours are great, because it forces you to talk about anything and
everything and reconnect. I highly recommend the vacation rental we stayed at (link - https://www.vacasa.com/unit/49487 ), there were a ton of cool features and things to do, plus the entire town of Black Diamond seemed to be brand new. Back to school it is, and thank god, I needed a break from summer break, very glad to have the kids back in the classroom, because like Einstein said, 'Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school".
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