Holy Crap I'm writing about Day 7 of my Northwest Trip.... Finally!

So, next week Kate and I are off on our 2015 jaunt, and we are headed to Italy, which ultimately should mean a totally new travel blog provided things go well. That said, since I am pretty piss poor at writing these things in any sort of timely manner, I had better finish up LAST YEAR's travel blog. Right... and it is still in my mind in vivid detail so I'm sure this will be super accurate.

 Mt. St. Helen's. This was a last minute decision to go here and it pretty much came about because we felt like we had seen most of the major attractions in Seattle during the first leg of our trip. We didn't regret coming here, it was fantastic. It is crazy to think that the eruption in 1980 is now 35 years behind us. I remember getting an issue of National Geographic "World" magazine as a kid and being pretty fascinated reading about it and looking at the devastation. It was very interesting to see how much plant life has grown, but also to see how certain plants seem to prefer the volcanic ash. The visitor's center was very nice, it had a theater that was built probably around 10-15 years ago, but oddly enough the CGI that was part of the documentary already seemed dated. That is the trouble with new technology, really cool one day, possibly kind of lame the next.

Mt. St. Helen's had one place to eat, a tiny hamburger/hot dog truck just outside of the Visitor's Center. I want to say that there was a weird rule that we had to carry our trash out of the park too (no trash cans). I needed my sunglasses.

When we left the National park headed back to Seattle for our last evening of the trip I was pretty tired. A good sort of tired, vacation fatigue I suppose. I probably had a severe caffeine deficit. We stopped at a McDonald's for lack of a better option and I had a nice chocolate shake to tide me over. One of the local boys flirted with Kate, and I think gave her a free ice cream. Score.

Once in Seattle we had to first head to our hotel which was situated near the airport. While 40 minutes outside of town by the light-rail, it honestly wasn't that bad. The hotel we stayed in was pretty dated, but comfortable regardless. Actually there was a sort of pleasing quality to the dated hotel furnishings, bringing about that comfortable sense of nostalgia that seems appropriate for the last date of an American vacation.

We had been wishy washy on the agenda for the night, but ultimately and wisely we took the ferry to Bainbridge, an island/town in Puget Sound. The boat ride over was beautiful, it seemed like our trip was ending in the more overcast weather Seattle is famous for, and somehow it seemed fitting.

 It was pretty slow in Bainbridge. I think we may had missed the dinner rush and we ended up just settling on a kind of classic Americanized Mexican restaurant called Casa Rojas. The staff was very nice, I had a large Dos Equis, which of course would put me over the top and make me sleep well after being so exhausted.

Interestingly, I actually spent time searching for the name of the restaurant and here's a picture of Kate standing next to their sidewalk sign (eye roll). 

 The pictures really don't do it justice, but it was a great night and a perfect way to end our 2014 trip. The trip back to Seattle on the ferry, with the wind blowing strong, the boat, bouncing of Puget Sound, and tourists huddled against each other looking out at the lit up city, it was a perfect moment that I'll always remember fondly.