Non Progredi est Regredi: Little Brother Comes to Seattle!

In April I was blessed to have my not-so-little little brother come to visit me! We planned to go camping along the Oregon Coast for the week that he was here. People had been telling me how absolutely beautiful the Oregon Coast was, so I was glad I had my buddy with me to drive down to visit it! :)

It's getting harder to take selfies with my little bro! He's getting too tall!

When we used to go camping as a family, when we were kids, Dad would make this dish with ground beef, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and whatever else it was. When we asked Dad what it was called he said he didn't know... that he just made it up. So us kids decided that it should be called "Grub". And so "grub" has lived on in our camping trips as a staple of tradition. :)

When donuts start to get dry at home, you pop them in the microwave. When they start to get dry on a camping trip, you grill them over the fire. Paul said they were pretty tasty!

Paul playing with fire while waiting for supper...

He amused himself for a long time with this little piece of wood.
He called himself the "master of the fire" or something along those lines.
Goofy kid!

We didn't get very far down the coast, (only to Tillamook, Oregon). We visited Christ Reformation Church in Tillamook on Sunday and met some wonderful people. They were so hospitable! While in Tillamook my car started acting funny, so we decided that it might be better to turn around and head north again. I didn't want to end up in southern Oregon with car trouble.

We got back to Seattle on Tuesday and finished up the week doing some touristy things. I think Paul enjoyed them. I certainly did!

We ascended the Space Needle and took in the views of Seattle.
A bit pricey, in my humble opinion, but still pretty cool.

The views from the Needle:

If memory serves, this is Lake Union. Lake Union unites the Puget Sound to Lake Washington.

Downtown Seattle.

Another thing we did was the Underground Walking Tour. You see, Seattle is actually built on top of Old Seattle. When Seattle was first founded it was built right up against the water... at low tide. This caused major problems during high tide! The Great Seattle Fire occurred in 1889, giving the city to start over again. They rebuilt the city in the same place, but with plans to raise the streets 8 feet. All buildings had to built with brick or stone (to prevent another great fire), and had to be at least two stories tall. Essentially what happened was that over the next several years the streets rose and the second floors became the first floors. The first floors and storefronts became the basements. This change prevented flooding when the tide came in. It's a really cool tour! I can't explain it all here... you should go on the tour yourself when you come visit me!

One of the original first story doors between buildings.

Seattle's original sewer system was a mess. A literal mess. In more ways than one. This wooden pipe was an original part of the original sewer system.

When the streets and sidewalks were raised to the second story, the city installed skylights so that the underground storefronts could have natural light. Pretty cool, huh?

We also went on the "Ride the Duck" tour. It's a tour that takes you around Seattle and shows you key spots, then the bus converts into a boat and you go out on Lake Union and see Seattle from the water.