O'Shea Summer Tour: Part Two

Back to the O'Shea's whirlwind wedding tour of the country; here was our first stop and now onto the second!

Vashon Island
I have to break this trip into two because it was really like two different places even though they are just a 30 minute ferry ride a part (Seattle is up next!). We were in town for my best friend since 9th grade's wedding and it was super fun to see all my old punk rock friends with all their kiddos, being adults and stuff. Crazy! Vashon was a dream, the wedding was perfect and I cannot wait to go back. I am a city girl through and through but Vashon was my favorite part of this trip. It is just so gorgeous and easy and relaxing; 10/10 will go back! Here are some things we loved on the island:

Eat/Drink
Gravy - We had an AirBnB and the wedding one evening, so we did not eat out too much on the island, but this was where we had dinner upon arrival and it was really tasty. Lots of local stuff and a salmon dish that made Matt actually like salmon (!!). I liked their beer and wine list, too, which was filled with local selections.

Zombiez - Maddie is currently obsessed with the Plants vs. Zombies game, so this was her request for lunch as we were getting ready to head off the island. Super good burgers, corn dogs, fries - all the good stuff and with some cool twists (my burger had sriracha mayo and avocado) and the girls both liked their kids meals. It had a great ambiance with lots of zombie stuff, games and coloring. My only sadness was the counter ordering, because I would have loved someone to bring me and my wedding hangover a second beer.

Do
Just being outside was amazing; we lucked out and got perfect weather (no rain!) and spent as much time outside as possible. I went for a run that was very hilly but had a great view to distract me. We stayed super close to two different farms and one of them had the prettiest pony that Maddie quickly became bffs with. The girls and I would walk up and down the street our house was off of saying hi to the animals and looking at all the flowers. Those city kids were super impressed by all the pretty sites! We also managed to fit a couple of fun outdoor adventures in:

Low Tide Festival - Held on the day with the lowest tide of the year, this gave the kiddos a chance to explore the sea creatures that they can't always see and get to ask questions of some of the parks staff. It was also near a lighthouse (Point Robinson Light) that we got to go into and climb to the top of. Annie pulled her typical move of heading into the ocean fully clothed, but we had brought a towel just in case so we were ready for her!

Hiking - There were so many options, but we decided to do a downhill to the waterfront, since that is pretty much the opposite of any hiking we do. We chose Maury Island Marine Park and it did not disappoint! It was a little hot and I wish we had brought more water, but totally doable with the girls (Annie was mostly on a back) and well worth getting to a totally vacant and quiet stretch of sand where crabs were squirting water at us! We collected a bunch of shells and rocks with barnacles on them (Maddie was obsessed) before hiking back up and heading off the island.

Stay
I think there are a couple of hotels and bed and breakfasts, but it seems that AirBnB is the way to go and we loved our little loft. Renting a car was a must-do and it was really cheap to take it on the ferry (though the Friday afternoon wait to get on was about two hours). This is the house that we rented, but there were a so many cute options and I doubt there is a bad place to stay on this beautiful island!

Kiddo suggestions
AirBnB (or any house site) is a great resource for family travel. We like being able to cook breakfast and either lunch or dinner and just do one big meal out a day. We travel with Matt's famous homemade pancake mix as well as Annie's mac and cheese instant cups and microwave popcorn and then fill up on perishables when we land. This also allows us to have snacks on hand when we are out exploring so we don't have to cut anything short by going searching for something the kids will eat. For this trip I found a Safeway closest to the ferry so we could stop there and fill up between the airport and going on the island. Even if we can only get a hotel, most rooms will have small fridges and microwaves, so we get juice, fruit, etc to have on hand. This way our money is going to yummy meals instead of pricey snacks at museums or hotel shops.

And now, some of the millions of pics I took while we were on Vashon: