As a fan of the Pacific Northwest, and knowing that Seattle was the number one city from Indy that didn’t have a nonstop flight, along with knowing how much Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines were expanding from Seattle, I’d been waiting for an announcement of nonstop service for several years.  That announcement that Alaska would start the route came from the Indianapolis Airport Authority last fall.  From that time, the wheels in my head were spinning on how I could get on the inaugural flight.

Arriving to the gate was pretty spectacular.  There was music, a very nicely done cake, snack foods, a “blue screen” at which to get your picture taken with friends and silly hats, mustaches etc, and a lot of people.  There were several speeches from the likes of the director of the airport authority, an executive at Alaska, and even Mayor Joe Hogsett.  Just prior to boarding there was a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful.  As I hadn’t eaten in a while, and because I can’t pass up cheese and beer, I purchased a cheese tray that included three cheeses and fruit with crackers, along with a Alaska Brewing Icy Bay IPA.  Both were tasty!  I had a middle seat, and mostly watched our progress on the in-seat TV and snoozed.

We arrived around 8pm local, so about 11pm at home.  I’d been up since 6am, so I didn’t stay up long before calling it a night.  After a quick stop at the Alaska Airlines lounge for a small bowl of a soup and a local IPA, I was off to catch the shuttle for a good night’s sleep at the Quality Inn I’d found on Hotwire for a reasonable rate.

After sleeping well, I woke up at about 430am local, around 730am at home, so sleeping in for me!  I quickly got up, showered, packed, and headed to the lobby, where I caught a ride to the light rail station serving the Seattle Airport.  After purchasing a cheap ticket at the station, I boarded the train, and was in downtown Seattle in just over half an hour.  By this point it was about 6am It was a beautiful and sunny, with morning temperatures in the low 50s.

I headed straight to the Pike Place Market.  I spent a few minutes talking to the guys at Pike Place Fish Market, famous for their throwing of fish and humorous antics.  I told them I was just in town for the day and wanted some smoked salmon to snack on for breakfast.  The guy I talked to recommended getting salmon collars, describing the meat as very delicate and buttery.  I was convinced, so bought a package and was on my way.  I walked through the market, where some of the vendors were starting to set up their fruit, seafood, flowers, and gifts etc, though it was early.

I sat down at a table at Victor Steinbrueck Park, with a view of Puget Sound and Bainbridge Island to the west, downtown to the east, and the red cranes at the docks and Mount Rainer (visible on a fairly clear day) to the south.  I’ve always loved seeing all of these from this park, and this was a perfect day to see it all.  I pretty quickly and messily devoured my salmon breakfast.  It was now around 8am, and most of the vendors and shops started opening.  I stopped in Pear Delicatessen & Shoppe and picked up a couple of IPAs to enjoy with my lunch.

I then walked around downtown Seattle a couple hours before getting an Uber to take me a couple miles away to a large Asian grocery store that I’ve always wanted to check out, called Uwajimaya.  I picked up some ahi tuna poke and a few packages of various types of sashimi.  By then it was around 70 degrees outside and sunny, so I sat on a park bench outside the store and had my lunch.  I still had a couple hours until I needed to be at the airport, and didn’t have anything set in stone that I still wanted to do, so the natural solution was to find a brewery!  I took another Uber a couple miles back north and had a sampler at Old Stove Brewing, mostly of very well made Pacific Northwest IPAs.

By this time, it was time to head back to the airport.  So I walked a few blocks back to the train station, and boarded a train back to the airport.  I made a quick stop at the “The Club at SEA,” using my Priority Pass benefits, for a quick snack so that I wouldn’t have to buy food on the way home.  Though I was near the very back on a United 757 to Chicago, it was at least an aisle seat, and I slept most of the way.  After a quick 40 minutes connection at O’Hare, I was in an Economy Plus seat back to Indy, and on the ground just before 11pm, about 29 hours from the time I left.

While I’d been to Seattle before, I was happy to have had the opportunity to be on Alaska Airline’s first flight from Indianapolis.  While it costs too much for the whole family to fly standby on it round trip, it will be a nice back-up emergency option to get home on our trips to Washington.  With any luck, I’m hoping Delta may start up the same route so that we could make the journey for free!

Go home day is always bittersweet.  We were up very early and got the bags and three sleepy girls into the car and headed toward the airport.  We got checked in, through security, and got seats from the agent for our United (Express) flight to Denver.  She had two seats in row 1 and two in row 2, with a 5^th toward the back.  Luckily, the flight attendant told us to just take row two, and those who were in those seats were happy to sit in the first row.  I sat toward the back.  The flight was short and uneventful.  We were very fortunate to go to the gate next door for our flight home.  We were again able to get 4 seats together with one a bit further back, which I took (the girls gotta be by mama).  It was again uneventful, and we were on the ground and had our bags pretty quickly.  After a stop for Chinese takeout, we were home by early afternoon and ready for naps and to get ready for the week.  Another successful trip in the books!

As usual, I woke up well before everyone, and before the sun rose.  Figuring Laura would need a shower, and that we weren’t in any rush to do anything in particular that day, I decided to go on an adventure while they slept in.  I started toward Arches before I remembered, once again, that we needed gas.  Luckily, it was just a few minutes back into town to get gas, and I was still at the park entrance around dusk.  As I made my way up the entry road, I pretty quickly was able to see the sun coming up behind the distant rock formations.  I made my way to Double Arch area, where we’d been before.  The sunrise was pretty breathtaking from all angles, and I got some good pictures.  It also didn’t hurt to get some cardio in to get me started for the morning.

I made my way back to the hotel, where the girls were ready for breakfast.  We headed to the busy breakfast room, where we enjoyed an array from the buffet.  On the way back, while intending to stop at the pool to see if it was swim-worthy yet, only to find it was closed for repair.  I promised the girls we’d find a hotel with a pool in Grand Junction that night.

We leisurely packed up once more, and checked out at 11am on the dot.  We had no big agenda for the day besides to be back in Grand Junction to hit the sack before flying out in the morning.  We didn’t feel like we were able to get much out of Canyonlands, so we said goodbye to Moab one last time and headed back into the park.  We first made one last stop at the Arches entrance, as we hadn’t gotten the obligatory park entrance sign pic.   It was much cloudier this day, so the canyon wasn’t quite as spectacular, though was still quite a sight to see.

The girls napped the whole way there and through much of drive through the park, with who was awake alternating here and there.  We stopped to get some pictures at lookouts here and there, with the sleepy ones staying in the car while we walked a few feet away.  We decided to get one last hike in, so woke everyone up do a quick hike to Mesa Arch.  It was a fairly easy half mile loop with not too much of an altitude gain.  It was busy, but we got a few good pictures, and enjoyed the view at the end of the arch.

We were told by multiple people to check out Dead Horse Point State Park, which offered more nice view of the canyon.  We had sporatic sleepers again, so a couple of us got out at the end of the road for a few pictures, and we were quickly on our way.  I’d say it was just as good as if not better than some of the view from Canyonlands, so would recommend checking it out if in the area.

As I’d done almost all of the driving so far, I let Laura take us back to Grand Junction.  As we had much of the trip, we enjoyed listening to the Broadway show Hamilton on the way back.  In just under two hours, we made it to the town of Fruita, just outside of Grand Junction.  I’d found a place on Yelp called Copper Club Brewing, and while they didn’t have food, they allowed food to be brought in from nearby restaurants.  We got some pizza from Red Tomato Pizza, just around the corner, and I had a sampler of delicious beer.  It was the kind of place that allowed kids and dogs, had a view of the mountains, good beer, and plenty of hippies.  My kind of place.  We were soon on the road again for the quick trip to the hotel, the Holiday.  We got checked in, brought the bags up to repack, got our suits on, and the whole family jumped in the pool for a bit.  I checked our possible flights for the next day, and while I was hoping to leave mid-morning, saw that our best bet was the earliest flight, at 6am.  We got everything packed up for the trip and were in bed by 9.

We woke up with about an hour before sunrise, though it was starting to get light outside.  Once everyone was awake, we got everyone out on the “porch” and snuggled under blankets and sleeping bags to watch the sunrise, which was directly outside our tent.  I got some hot chocolate from the lobby “tent” for the girls.  After enjoying the sunrise, we went back into the tent, opened up the canvas to let the sunlight in, and laid around in the bed for a while.  After a while, we started packing up, as unfortunately I was only able to get one night there, and would have to move on to another hotel for the next night.

We got everything in the car and got some more hot chocolate for the girls and coffee for myself for the road.   We were all sad to leave, as we really enjoyed our night there.  We headed south into Moab to check out a hotel I’d looked out online and get some food for lunch.  I was able to talk to the desk agent at the Aarchways hotel and get us a room on the main floor near the door to the pool and playground.  I’d looked online and chosen the hotel for all the kid friendly amenities.  After that, we headed out to find food for later.  After a couple of frustrating stops at an overpriced health food store and lackluster corner store, we finally got some Lunchables for the girls, and some deviled eggs for Laura and I to have with the remainder of the wraps we’d had for lunch the day before.  After a long morning of relaxing, packing, finding a new hotel, and finding food, we were finally on the way to Canyonlands.

The drive to Canyonlands National Park was about 45 minutes.  We stopped at the entry sign for our obligatory National Park sign picture, though had trouble because it was windy, and the stand for taking pictures required a tripod, and we had no other way to prop up a phone without it blowing over.  The fact that the girls were cranky didn’t help.   Luckily, just as we were about to give up, a couple from New Jersey pulled us up and helped us out.   We stopped at the visitor center for a restroom break, and by that time it was time for lunch.  We ate in the car by the visitor center, with the girls splitting a ham/cheese/crackers and a pizza Lunchable, and me and Laura finishing the wraps from the day before with deviled eggs.

After finally getting some cranky girls to finish their lunch, we set off into the park.  I soon realized that I’d meant to fill the gas tank before leaving Moab and had forgotten to do so.  We were at a quarter of a tank, which I later realized would have been more than enough to go through the park and get back to a gas station, but I didn’t want to venture too far.  With that on top of the girls not being in the mood for getting in and out of the car, we didn’t end up doing much.  We stopped at a couple of spots and got pictures of the canyon, and planned on hiking at Grand View Point, though decided against with the mood everyone was in.  We considered it a wash for visiting the park that day, and headed out, with a quick stop at the visitor center, where I ran in to get stamps on paper for the girls National Park passport.

We got back to the hotel just before check-in time, 3pm, though luckily, the room the woman had set us up for earlier in the way was ready.  We checked in and got everyone out of the car, all of which had napped for part of our time in the park and the 45 minute drive back.  So while mom and dad were ready to take a nap after the challenging day, they wanted to watch TV and make lots of noise.  Laura and I managed to get a nap of an hour or so, and felt better from that.  We spent a bit after that lying around and looking on Yelp for a good place to eat.

Luckily, the evening was better than the bulk of the day had been.  We made our way to Moab Brewing, where even though it wasn’t quite 6pm, was pretty packed on this lovely Friday evening.  We waited about 15 minutes before being seated, and got drinks and dinner quickly.  Laura got a burger and onion rings, partly to try to make up for the somewhat lackluster burger form the day before.  I got a green chili pork burrito, cause ya gotta get the green chili while you can.  It came with rice and what seemed to be veggies and beans in an almost chili-like consistency, which was delicious.  I had it with a 22oz bottle of their Belgian Tripel.  The girls had of course seen the gelato case positioned strategically right inside the door, and having spent the entire 15 minutes waiting for a table staring at the gelato, they had to have some.  So we got a couple of small containers for them, and I picked up a beer to go, and we were on our way.

We headed back into Arches, only a few minutes outside of Moab.  The sun was less than 30 minutes from setting, so we were racing against the clock a bit to get to a nice spot to enjoy the sunset.  We pulled into the parking lot for Balanced Rock, seeing how the girls really enjoyed the hike around it the day before.  We had a couple get a couple of pictures of us in front of the rock formation, while the sun was casting a beautiful light on it.  I popped open the Moab Brewing Hopped Rye, as I’ve always loved the intersection of National Parks, craft beer, beauty, and family.  We again did the hike around Balanced Rock while watching the sun set over the rock formations and distant mountains.  Right before the sun went down, everyone took turns of “holding the rock” while Laura and I got pictures.

Very soon, the sun was past the horizon, so we headed back out of the park and to the hotel.  The girls were still pretty awake, so we got suited up and went to test the water in the heated pool.  Unfortunately, no heating was taking place, and the night was cooling off quickly, so we had to go back to the room and get back into our clothes.  We did, however, have the distraction of a nearby firepit and playground that was populated by a couple of related families with kids around the ages of ours.  The girls definitely needed and deserved some running around time after a lot of time in the car and getting in and out of the car the last couple days.  We spent a good hour down there before retiring for the night.

The morning started early for me, at about 630am.  I got up so I’d be able to get to the airport, a few minutes away, at 7:30 when the rental counter opened.  I was there at 7:10, so spent a few minutes walking to the small park adjacent to the airport that had a few life-size model aircraft.  I got a few decent pictures of the planes with the mountains and tower in the background.  Once the counter opened, I traded our full-size car in for a mid-size SUV (Ford Focus).

After spending a bit of time getting everyone ready at the hotel, we were off and on our way to Utah.  The weather was partly cloudy, breezy, and in the high 50s (my perfect weather).  There was a “we’ll laugh about it later moments” of accidentally leaving the trunk door open because the automatic function failed, driving away from the hotel hearing the noise of shifting bags in the back (actually the stroller falling out of the car), and a mile later realizing there was a bit more of a breeze than there should be because the back was open, we high tailed it back to the hotel to find the stroller that had fallen out had been placed on the sidewalk by someone.  After a frustrating start to the day, we were laughing about it later!

The next stop was to a grocery store to pick up muffins, bananas, and apples for breakfast, along with a tray of turkey wraps and sun chips for lunch.  Some robust coffee and a white mocha for Laura and we were on our way.  After just a leisurely hour and a half drive on a mostly deserted I-70 and then a state highway, we were at the entrance to Arches National Park.  The first stop was the visitor center, where even though we’d forgotten the girl’s National Park Passports, we had each girl stamp a cancellation to staple in their passports later.  Glad we thought to do that!  After a quick perusal of the displays, we made our way back to the car and up the steep switchbacks that took us up in altitude quickly and into the park.

The weather had turned cloudy by then, and the temperate dropped into the low 50s with a strong breeze once inside the park.  The landscape was really unique on the initial drive in.  We made the first stop in the parking lot for Balanced Rock, where we had our wraps and chips.  The girls sat in the truck while Laura and I stood…which has been come a national park tradition for us.  We got bundled up in our coats and hats pretty quickly after getting out of the car.  After lunch, we ventured to the Balanced Rock trail.  We took the stroller part way and the girls walked the rest.  They were really fascinated with this part of the park.

After that, we ventured on to The Windows, where we hiked first to North Window.  All three girls did a pretty good job on this hike.  They wanted us to carry them, but after some encouragement and pushing, they made it to the North Window.   We then made our way to the South Window viewpoint, and then on to Turret Arch before heading back to the car.  For it being a decent climb, the girls did pretty well.

We then made our way to the Delicate Arch.  Because the girls were pretty worn out from the last two hikes, we only went to the viewpoint, which was much further from the arch than we anticipated.  The hike is a decent climb and has some tricky terrain, so it’ll be on our list to visit when the girls are older.  The girls were nearing the end of their rope from being in the car and hiking, so we decided it was time to head into Moab for an early dinner.

After a drive through town looking for food and stopping at a small store to pick up some small gifts for the youngest daughter’s birthday, we turned back to the north and decided upon Atomic Burger, where we were some of the only people there, and the only ones on the patio.  It was a bit cool and breezy, but with our jackets and propane heaters, it was nice to enjoy the nice patio and the fresh air.  Laura and I split a burger and BBQ sandwich, while the girls split mac & cheese and a quesadilla.  We told the waitress that it was the youngest girl’s 2^nd birthday, so after our meal, the staff came out singing happy birthday (though we hadn’t told them her name!) and presented her with a large bowl of chocolate ice cream with two candles.  We were really impressed with the service, and could tell the patio was probably a great place to hang on a busy night.  Highly recommended!

At long last, we finally made our way to the place I’d been looking forward to seeing ever since hearing about it, Under Canvas Moab.  It’s a “hotel,” though would be considered “glamping,” as it’s tents with beds and cots, some with bathrooms, and some with teepees for the kids.  We drove in and checked in with one of the most enthusiastic people I’ve ever encountered in hospitatlity.  She got us checked in, and offered to have us follow her to our tent.  She drove a golf cart to the parking area for it, helped us load our bags onto the cart, and we all piled in for the short ride to our tent.  She showed us inside, where she showed us the operation of the wood fireplace with a wood stack outside, along with the small bathroom with a sink, adjacent shower, and separate toilet.  They were separated from the main area by canvas that could be drawn back.  We got settled in, and headed out to the back porch to watch the sunset and enjoy a couple beers (just me).  It was cool and breezy, so we got into our cozy pajamas and sat on the porch under blankets and in sleeping bags.  The 2 year old opened a bag full of Disney princess goodies that we’d picked up for her birthday.  The sun was setting behind our tent, but the colors the sun cast on the nearby rock formations and mountains was incredible.

We then made our way to the community campfire, where just as we were arriving, the staff was announcing to the approximately dozen guests gathered that it was a staff member’s 22^nd birthday, and a guest’s 2^nd birthday, ours!  They had bought mini cupcakes for everyone to enjoy, and put candles on them for the ladies to blow out, and sang happy birthday to them.  The staff hung out with us and the other guests at the fire and we talked for a while.  The girls were ready to crash, so I helped get them to the tent and into bed.  I was still wide awake and can’t resist a good fire and conversation, so I headed back to the fire.  I talked to several people there, and somehow the conversation turned to John Denver, and then turned into a John Denver sing-along.  Laura came back to check on me after a couple hours, at which point the night auditor shut us down for being up too late and being too loud!  By this point the stars were showing quite well, so Laura and I enjoyed that before putting some wood on the fire and snuggling up in our tent for the night.

 

 

We started this trip a bit later in the day than usual, as Laura worked late the day before, and seats looked good enough.  So, we hopped on an 11am flight to Dallas.  This was the youngest’s last couple flights as a lap child, as she’d turn two during the trip.  We were able to get two seats together in one aisle, and two the aisle behind, which is really nice when traveling with small children.  Once arriving in DFW, the girls had nachos and BBQ, while I had a delicious Vietnamese inspired bowl with a tofu spring roll from Bahn Shop on D Concourse.  Both were delicious, and will be a go-to anytime I’m at DFW from now on.  We were able to get a similar seating situation on the way two Grand Junction, and were on our way after a 2 hour layover.

Because we weren’t able to book day-of hotels and cars on my travel rewards credit card, we booked a full size car for the first night, and a hotel adjacent to the Grand Junction airport.  We’d like to have booked the car for the full 4 days, but it ended up working out just fine, as the car seats fit just fine, and we found plenty to keep us entertained in Grand Junction.  After checking into the hotel, I looked around online for something fun to do.  Within a few minutes, we adventured out to drive through the Colorado National Monument, a picturesque canyon just a few minutes away from town.  After getting the obligatory National Park Service sign family picture, we drove the length of Rimrock Drive, the road passing along the edge of the canyon.  We made several stops along the way to get out and get pictures.  The girls especially loved going through the tunnels, and we carried on the tradition of singing “John Henry” (which started at Tunnel View in Yosemite) from Disney’s short features as we passed through.

Toward the end of the drive (it took close to 2 hours with multiple stops), the youngest was getting antsy.  After two flights of two hours each and putting up with a ride in the car to see the canyon, it was time to let the wee ones run around a bit.  Through the magic of Yelp, I was able to find Kannah Creek Brewing’s Edgewater Brewery, which I could tell from pictures would be kid friendly and have room for them to stretch their legs.  We headed there where the girls were able to run around in the grass and play on a stage that was set up.  There were a couple other families, so plenty of other kids to play with.  Laura and I each got a salad, and I had some pork green chili, a must when in Colorado.

After some time running around and eating, the girls were either falling asleep (the oldest), or running around trying to keep themselves awake.  We headed back to the hotel, and after a long day of constant movement, everyone was ready to crash.  Now that we’d made it to our destination and no longer had to worry about getting seats, I booked a mid-size SUV for the remaining days, and booked our lodging for the next day, though was unable to book it for Friday night also as I had hoped, as it was full that night.  We at least got to experience it one night, which was so much fun.  More on that later…