Fun Holiday Week in Washington State

I absolutely love the pacific northwest! I grew up in Washington State and every time we go back there for a visit I am once again blown away by the beauty with the green everywhere you look! It is definitely a change from the brown and grays of Arizona. Here’s all the activities we were up to for our fun holiday week in Washington state.

 

Whale Watching Tour

During our stay, I was able to go on a whale watching tour with San Juan Cruises. Two of my boys, my sister-in-law, and two of my nieces came along with me and we had an enjoyable day out on a cruise. The cruise departed from Bellingham, Washington first thing in the morning. Once the ship got out of the harbor we went out to the front of the ship and really enjoyed looking around at the islands and towns we would pass and soak up the scenery. After a while out front, we headed back to the inside area where we still had a great view of the surroundings without the wind and we could relax and play some games and munch on snacks.

When we arrived at the spot and got to start watching for whales things got exciting. We were able to find a mother and yearling pair that we followed and watched for a while. It was so neat to see how the whales would come up for air a few times in a row and then would go back down and hunt for 5-10 minutes or so and repeat the cycle. We had a great guide telling us a lot about the history of the land we passed by and interesting things about the whales as well. At one point, we even saw a research team out and got to learn about what the research team was there to do. After cruising along beside the two whales we enjoyed a really delicious meal of barbeque chicken, salmon, pasta salad, rolls, brownies, and grapes. Everything was so good!

While we ate we continued along to Friday Harbor. We docked there and got to get off the boat for about two hours and walk around and explore the town. It was fun to walk around and see the harbor town, stop into a few souvenir shops, and we even made a souvenir penny which we have been collecting with our kids. The stop was a nice opportunity to get out and stretch our legs and really move about. Then, we were back on board and on our return journey back into Bellingham. Along our route home we found a pod of whales and were able to stop and follow along with them for a bit. It was really neat to see this second group of whales as there was probably 7 or 8 whales in this pod and so there was always a whale or two up for air for a few minutes straight until they would dive back down to hunt.

 

Big Lake 3^rd of July

Our visit to Washington was right during the fourth of July so we had a lot of fun festivities planned. We spent July 3^rd out at Big Lake where they traditionally celebrate with a big firework show every 3^rd of July. It was such a fun place to start off the holiday fun with some awesome planes flying overhead in a variety of configurations shaping themselves together to be an arrow, airplane, or even just do fun tricks and figure 8’s. We also set off a few fireworks ourselves, smaller fireworks that are good with kids like tanks, sparklers, and a firework that launches out paratroopers.

 

Sedro Wooley 4^th of July Parade

The next morning, we headed to Sedro Wooley to enjoy a 4^th of July parade. The parade was a lot of fun for all of us as we saw motorcycles, bicycles, logging trucks, city vehicles, dance teams, even my sister-in-law and her roller derby crew were a part of the parade! We had candy, water bottles, otter pops, and even Mardi Gras bead necklaces to the kids which made the event so fun! We finished off the day with fireworks booming all around us, the perfect end to a beautiful holiday weekend in Washington!

On our way out of town, we had to make a quick stop at my favorite Mexican restaurant – Ixtapa! I grew up near the Ixtapa restaurants and it has been a tradition to head back whenever we can! They once again didn’t disappoint! They have really good spicy salsa and lunch specials that make their meals not too bad. My husband ordered their lunch special and I had to get my classic favorite of enchiladas! Then, our final stop in Washington state ended with a bang as we got to rid in grandpa’s classic 1921 Model T!

 

Disclosure: I received a complimentary admission on the San Juan Cruises Whale Watching Tour for my editorial consideration.