Egan Family Vacation '09 [Part 2]

You may be wondering what the Part 2 in the title means... Are there some more shenanigans from the Egan Family that await? Why in fact there is! Although this time it involves another generation of Egan's. Meet Glen and Ester Egan, my grandparents.

They flew out with my cousin Jacob to come visit us in our new home of Seattle. They have been here before although it has been about 20 years, so a lot has changed. The biggest thing that they noticed was that all of the grass was yellow. They could not understand this because Seattle is supposed to have a ton of rain. I couldn't explain it because, to me, it doesn't rain much in Seattle. It also stays in the upper 70's lower 80's; which was the average temperature for their trip. When they got in we decided to hit up McCormick & Schimick's for some $2.50 Gourmet Burgers. We then got some rest for the big day ahead of us.

Early Wednesday morning we embarked on our journey across the Puget Sound en route to Bremerton, Wa. There we would meet up with my grandma's long lost Aunt (who is actually about the same age). After some chatting and a little catching up, me and Jacob left them to reminisce while we drove out to the Olympic mountains to tackle Mount Walker.

At 2,805 feet, Mt. Walker is no push over. The incline grade is anywhere from 25%-40%... the entire way. At parts we thought the trail was going to level out, but to our disappointment that was only for about 15 steps. As if the trail was taunting us, it would then get even steeper after the flat parts.

It took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to hike to the top. Although the view from above was absolutely amazing. From the North lookout we could see the entire Hood Canal region as well as Mt. Baker who resides in the Cascades mountains.

From the Southern Lookout point we could see all the way to Seattle. Mount Rainier was also out in all of its brilliance.

Even though it took a little over 2 hours to hike up, it only took 32 minutes to hike down. The reason for this is because we ran...fast. It seemed easier to let gravity help us out instead of fighting it every single step. Though at some parts it got pretty crazy due to the steepness of the trail. Also, if we missed a step we would be tumbling for a long ways and the trail was no bigger than 2-3 feet wide. It was an adrenalin packed journey down but our legs would be paying for it the next couple days.

After picking up Grandpa and Grandma we decided to drive down around the sound instead of taking the ferry back across. This gave us a chance to drive across the famous Tacoma Narrows bridge. This bridge holds a special significance for me as it was a class project to determine the vibrational frequencies that caused it to be called the "Galloping Gertie". We then of course hit up the South Lake Grill where me, Grandpa and Jacob all shared in the heavenly meal of the Prime Dip sandwich. MMmmmmm!!!

Thursday we went down to the market for some lunch and food shopping for the grill out later that night. We got some fresh fish, squash, zucchini and corn on the cob. The cookout on the roof was as delicious as ever (of course). We then played some amazing games of cards including 5-handed Euchre and Golf.

In case you didn't know, my grandpa is a card shark.

Friday was their last real day here so we decided to ride the infamous DUCKS (also known by their military code name DUKW). In case you have been living in a cave for the past 50 years, the Duck is an offroad land-water vehicle. Yes that's right, it can drive on land AND water. Pretty cool huh? Now some of you may be thinking that this sounds super lame (myself included) although it turned out to be a great time. I think the reason for this was our captain "Johnny Throttle". He was absolutely hilarious! It was also fun because we sat in the very front row, right next to Captain Throttle. Whilst dropping knowledge bombs about the Seattle area on us, he intermingled cleaver and witty remarks. For example, every time we drove by a Starbucks every one would say "Cha-Ching" while giving the "YES!" one handed salute. I would recommend it for a good laugh. Even Jacob enjoyed it!

Afterwords Jacob and Grandma went up in the Space Needle to check it out. We then had Ice Cream to cool us down on the warm 84 degrees day.

We then went back home to relax and play some more cards. The next day we drove them to airport in the morning so they could catch their flight back to the midwest. It was sad to see them go since we had had such a wonderful time with them. It was so nice to see them and I'm really glad that they could come out to see our new home! Thank You so much!

Now enjoy some more pictures from atop Mt. Walker.