Beer fest!

We have a bit of a sleep in - we're not up and going til about 10:30. It feels fantastic! We work out some plans for the day which include heading out to the Museum of Flight and Space with Steve and Charles Dulac. It's a bit of a drive from downtown, so we split up and 3 of us go with the Dulacs (who have driven into the city to drop Maria, Sarah and Joey off at the Goodwill to do some shopping. Yes, you read that correctly. I guess the Seattle Goodwill is HUGE, and the pictures Maria sent on her phone confirm this.) Aidan, Julia and I head via taxi to the Flight Museum and meet up with the others at the original Air Force One. As we have just visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library at the end of June, it's cool to compare the two planes. (Interesting fact: Lyndon Johnson flew out to Dallas on this particular plane and flew back to Washington in it as the new President.) There is also a Concorde that we can board to take a look at. These are 2 of maybe 6 aircraft parked outside.

Indoors, there are many exhibits and tons (ha!) of planes. The WWII exhibit hall is truly fascinating. Colin spends most all of his time there and in over an hour, I only crack part of it's surface: so much interesting information. The fact that my grandparents met in Army service during WWII makes this part of history especially interesting to me. Ed and I learn a bit about the "Flying Tigers" (plane insignia designed by a Disney animator) and then Ed heads out to another hall to try his hand at paper airplane making/flying. Aidan and Julia follow him (which is great since I've lost Colin and Brian to the depths of the museum) and are entertained for the better part of an hour. I'm able to get through a few more exhibits myself (the hall is full of video excerpts from veterans, which I find completely fascinating. Especially the women pilots - who were dismissed from the WASC during the war and couldn't find jobs as pilots in the private sector, and "Would they like to be stewardess instead?" What?!?) At one point, I try and find Colin - the only one who will answer his phone - and the following exchange via text occurs:
Mom: "Where are you?"
Colin: "WW2 gallery"
Mom: "By what exhibit"
Colin: "Planes"
Ahem. The entire room is Filled. With. Planes. It's a FLIGHT MUSEUM. Smart is *all* *relative*.

After a quick peek at some of the other space craft and planes, and with a cursory walk through of the the space exhibit, we have a fast bite to eat and are ready to get back to the other Dulacs (more accurately, they are ready for us to be done.) Brian and the boys head out to the bus stop for a bus back into town (I have procured a time table from the information desk) and Julia and I hitch a ride with Steve back to Pike's Place Market to meet up with the rest of the Dulacs.

After a bit of discussion, it's decided that the girls will set out on their own and try and find a chocolate shop/coffee place to sit down and have a little pick me up. We check out the Goodwill treasures- and they do have some pretty cool stuff! - and make our way to where Maria thought she saw a chocolate shop. We pass by the original Starbucks and see the line out the door. I have no need to visit for another bad cup of coffee. Instead we buy some great cherries from one of the plethora of outdoor fruit markets. After MUCH walking, and no real success in finding the shop, I see a bus stop and decide to cross over and wait for the free bus, as I don't want to walk back up the hill toward the Monorail. We wait. And wait. And wait some more. And then decide to take a taxi, which turns out to be cheaper than the Monorail would have been for the 4 of us. We ride to our hotel and take a little break in the room. Brian and the boys have just returned from their bus ride and 10 block walk (yeah, I feel a little guilty) so the short rest is appreciated by us all.

Off to the beer fest across the street at Seattle Center, in the shadow of the Space Needle. We've made a plan to send all the kids up in the Space Needle (a little shuffling of kids and tickets is done) while the adults attend the Seattle/Portland International Beer Fest. It's a 3 day festival that we've crashed in the final hours - but as it was a highlight of the trip for Brian, we're glad we can squeeze it in. We keep in contact with the kids via cell-phone (it's so nice to have the ability to check on them, now that we are back continental stateside). The beer fest operates with tickets - each beer is between 1 and 6 tickets and I couldn't begin to tell you how many varieties there were. So it's up to you and your choices on how many times your 4 oz. glass can be used with the 10 tickets you've been gifted from the entrance fee. Some of us splurge on 2 and 3 ticket beers (Wittekerke is only 1 ticket!!! and since my local TJ's has stopped carrying it, I am happy to be reunited with it) and others go for just the 1 ticket beers. I pass on the tangerine tinged lager - it sounds disgusting. While there is mostly just beer at the festival, the wise organizers have also made sure to include some food vendors (and porta-potties). I find a stand that offers...are you ready?... Pork Candy. PORK CANDY!!! How amazing is that? It's really sugar glazed pork jerky, but still, the name says it all and I. Eat. The. Entire. Bag. (Don't worry: it wasn't that big of a bag.)

[I'm just keeping up the pork theme for this summer: I had an amazing meal in Boston that started with fried pork tails and ended with a main dish of pork done 3 ways - with a side of bone marrow. Ahhhh... pig lover's heaven. It's no wonder that my backside is starting to resemble my favorite food...]

While enjoying the last of our beers at a table we've found in the middle of beer fest, we get a phone call from Aidan asking us where we are sitting. We tell him, start waving, and then get the call that they can all see us from up top of the Space Needle. I guess I didn't realize that the top observation deck was open air - and I'm feeling a little nervous that I've sent all the kids up there on their own. Not to worry - they're fine. (NB: I have successfully used "there" "their" and "they're" in the last 2 lines. I'm available if anyone needs a refresher course, for say, facebook posts...)

Beer fest tickets all used up, and Space Needle done, we reconvene and make our way to the large water fountain at Seattle Center. It's not exactly warm outside, yet not cold either. But as there is water shooting out of a large fountain that is easily accessible, Edwin quickly becomes soaked. We say our goodbyes to the Dulacs with promises to meet up in Vancouver.

Danahys head the 2 blocks back to our hotel. Ed changes into dry clothes. We pick up dinner for the kids in now my favorite supermarket of all time and Brian and I head to a Zagat rated Thai restaurant on the corner of our block. The service is ssslllooooww, and the food is decent, but honestly, our local Thai place in Santa Clarita is better. We are home by 9 and Brian is asleep by 9:05 - he's coming down with some bug. He's blaming it on me. I contend that if it were from me, he would have been sicker much sooner than this. So it's not my fault. It never is, actually.