Seattle is a place we have always wanted to visit. Michael’s high school friend Brian, his wife Michelle and their dog Pepper were kind enough to host us in their beautiful home.
We only spent two days in Seattle. Definitely not long enough, but enough time to know that we want to see more someday. We went to Pikes Peak Market and had lunch at Old Stove Brewing. Henry was brave enough to stick gum wall. Lucas was not interested. It is cool but gross. The gum wall was started around 1993 and it is immense. There are places along the wall where the gum is several inches thick.
We drove to Fremont to see the Vladimir Lenin statue, the troll under the bridge, and the center of the universe.
The Vladimir Lenin statue was created in 1988 by Emil Venkov. It was on display in Czechoslovak. An American found the statue in 1993 in a scrapyard and had it sent to Washington. 
The troll under the bridge was created in 1989 as a way to help clean up the area that was becoming overrun with trash and drug dealers. It is a 2-ton statue sculpted by Steve Badanes. It features a giant troll crushing a Volkswagen Beetle. 
Pepper, Brian and Michelle’s adorable pug, babysat one night for the boys while we went out to a delicious dinner at Joule, a modern Korean- fusion restaurant near Gas Works Park.
The temperature before we left was creeping up to 100 degrees. That is hard for people in Seattle because most homes do not have air conditioning.
We spent our last day in Seattle trying to beat the heat and hanging out with Michael’s cousin Jamie who lives in Washington. They have not seen each other in about 25 years.
We love connecting with family and friends on our travels.
The Pacific Northwest exceeded our expectations. We plan to come back and explore more of this area someday.
