Opening day at the Washington State Fair! I spent gobs and gobs of money, we ate gobs and gobs of junk food and it was a SUPER FUN day.

We are back home after an epic 6-week East Coast trip. It is a little surreal coming back to our very young city, though I don't miss feeling sticky at all!

Our last stop before hopping on a plane was the Statue of Liberty. For $24, you get a round-trip beautiful ferry ride to two islands, and admission to two museums with free audio guides and ranger tours. It costs an extra 30 cents for pedestal tickets, and lockers are 25 cents (you get your quarter refunded when you bring the key back). LOVE the National Park Service.

Rainy day refuge: the Museum of Flight.

We got to board the real Air Force One, which was used for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. This Boeing plane was made in Renton.

Some wild facts about this plane:

There's a doggie door to the conference room, for Lyndon B. Johnson's dogs, Him and Her (actual names).

The plane remained in the diplomatic pool, so the Reagans and Clintons have also traveled on it.

Lyndon B. Johnson liked to mess with the temperature, so the Air Force One crew installed a fake temperature control to fool the president into thinking it was real. And he totally bought it.

We got to hear a 100-year-old pilot, Capt. Dick Nelms, describe what it was like flying a B-17 during World War II. His job was to fly into Nazi Germany and bomb anything that helped Hitler remain in war. He was all of 19 years old.

"You didn't know where the shells were going to burst," Nelms said. "It was almost like going into another dimension."

Favorite target: oil refineries, because German planes and tanks can't run without gas.

Most important mission: flying ahead of ground troops pushing toward Germany after D-Day.

After the war, Nelms went to art school and became a graphic designer. He designed the state flag for Washington!

Nothing in New York is cheap, but price per floor, the One World Observatory is the best bang for your skyscraper buck.

Empire State Building: $77 for the 102nd floor

One World Trade Center: $43 for the 102nd floor

One Vanderbilt: $60 for the 93rd floor

Top of the Rock: $40 for the 70th floor

The boys were impressed that it is the tallest building in the Western hemisphere and 7th in the world. It measures 1,776 feet tall (not a coincidence).

Seventeen years in the PNW and I am still a reluctant hiker, never a camper. But give me city blocks and I will walk and walk and walk. My preferred scenery is tall buildings and crowds, ahead of mountain ranges and evergreen forests. My family mocks me because I find traffic "comforting," but only because it means I am near my favorite things.

I'll take any excuse to hop on the Bainbridge ferry just for that view, that light.

I could not decide what to get at Sabine Cafe, so just to be safe, I got them all! The pastries often sell out in the afternoon, so consider yourself warned. We tried the chocolate croissant, a twice-baked almond croissant and a plum danish with the prettiest chamomile blossoms on top.

Sabine is designed to look like an retro Parisian train station, and the Vestaboard smart display in front is so perfect.

Now THIS is a Chinatown. Ice cream and food and shopping!

Times Square and 30 Rock, to the world's greatest toy store. FAO Schwarz isn't a regular store; there are people inside doing magic tricks and cool demos. It takes alllll your willpower to walk out without buying everything.

Keep scrolling if you're not into Harry Potter (COME ON NOW). We couldn't go to NYC without stopping at the Harry Potter store, across the street from the Flatiron. When it opened last summer, you had to make a reservation to even get in. Now you can just walk in, but it is still PACKED. So many fun visuals.

Theodore Roosevelt's home. He wasn't in.

"Oy vey, the city in August!" Despite the heat, an older gentleman next to us was dressed in a tan suit for his Zabar's run. We weren't in suits, and we were definitely toasty by the time we trekked to the Upper West Side. But knishes!

A few more pictures from Lincoln Park. A day like today makes me thankful to live in the PNW. Cool and cloudy, tall trees and beautiful beaches.

Thomas Dambo Seattle troll #2! At Lincoln Park in West Seattle.

Here's a link to my story about the troll project for Seattle's Child.