Playing around with long shutter speeds in the Pacific Science Center's laser dome. Since it's pitch black in there, this is literally writing with light.

Stewart Park is pretty great , and totally worth the drive to Ithaca. It has:

A new accessible play fort, with ramps up wide enough for a wheelchair

The funniest drinking fountain ever

A spray park!Old school metal playground equipment

Swinging benches facing beautiful Cayuga Lake

Grills for picnics

Carousel in the park, $1 a ride

Tons of parking and clean restrooms

A bat sanctuary

Our first stop is always the Dairy Bar, where you can buy ice cream, cheese and yogurt sourced from the smartest cows (Cornell's resident herd). The Cornell botanic garden is a pretty place to walk off all that ice cream!

The Carl Sagan Planet Walk is a 1 to 5 billion scale model of the solar system. Start at the Sun in The Commons and end with Pluto 0.75 miles away at the Sciencenter. 

The first four planets (the ones made of rock and metal) follow the sun in quick succession. The gas giants are way more spread out.

Sweet Frog treat for a hot day. 

Ahhh, AC at the MOST.

Six years of construction and $489 million later, the Colman Dock ferry terminal on the Seattle waterfront is finally open! We went to check out the new terminal and took a quick ride to Bainbridge.

After a three-year hiatus, the free Discovery Park beach shuttle is back!

The shuttle runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Labor Day.

Stops at the visitor's center, the north parking lot and the beach.

Word of advice: don't try to hop on the last bus of the day, it might be full and you'll have to walk back.

No beach parking passes this year!

The visitor's center is currently closed. Port-A-Potty outside.

I could not resist taking another crack at catching the Blue Angels in action. This is the view from Kerry Park in Queen Anne; lots of people but still plenty of room and easy parking.

We could glimpse the action over Lake Washington, and the plane made turns over the city. On the last turn before heading to Boeing Field, they startled us by flying directly overhead!

Til next year, Blue Angels...

Highly recommend the Museum of Flight for watching the Blue Angels. Great views, no hassle.

The museum is all geared up to handle the crowds and the event is really well-run. Tons of parking (YAY), lots of friendly staff and volunteers. The usual front parking lot is closed to cars and tents and chairs are set up in that space.

We got to watch the show comfortably in the shade, restroom breaks just inside the museum (along with AC), traffic and parking completely a non-issue. It was the BEST.

Oh, and the Blue Angels were pretty cool too. They take off and land right in front of you. You can't get any closer than that. The pilots waved to the crowd as they taxied. They flew over the Museum of Flight a couple times during the show, and we had a clear view of the skies during their maneuvers. Just before they landed, the Blue Angels raced down to the museum before swooping off to the side. Absolutely exhilarating.

Not front row seats to the show, but for the ease and access, I'd 100 percent choose the Museum of Flight to catch the Blue Angels again.

I was waaay underlensed, but since when has that stopped me from taking a million pictures?

It was our first time catching the show! Two years we were out of town, two years the show was cancelled, and before that, I had one toddler or another who would have been terrified. Now those kids are big and they LOVED it.

My beautiful cousin got married, and we were thrilled to be a part of the celebration. Backyard wedding with a low-key reception, possibly the most laid-back and happy couple on their wedding day I've ever seen. It was perfect.