Top Ten Tuesday: "Autumn is a second spring ..."

"Autumn is a second spring

where every leaf is a flower.”

Albert Camus

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Last weekend we traveled to the Seattle area, specifically Tacoma, as well as traveled south to Portland to visit my aunt, cousins and their children.  Before the trip I assumed Tacoma and Seattle were very close and traveling between the two cities would be simple.  However, upon arrival we learned that it is about forty miles from one to the other and we did not enter Seattle city limits even once.  Nonetheless, we had a marvelous time.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the vibrancy of the leaves on the trees as autumn really set in there.  In North Texas, we have maybe a week of autumn before winter arrives, which results in only a handful of leaves turning any colors at all before they brown and the wind blows them off.  I was amazed at the bright yellows (see above), the deep reds, and the shockingly pink leaves that abounded.  SC and I traveled to a local city park called Wright Park where she was able to run around, play on the playground and collect "treasures" like leaves, acorns and moss.  (I found some of these treasures in my washing machine after we returned home, forgetting she had placed them in her pocket!)  Here are some of the pictures of Wright Park.

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SC and I also went to the Tacoma Children's Museum, which was located right across the street from our hotel.  It was the perfect museum for her age, and had many things to climb on, move, touch and interact with.  She played in the water area for quite some time before being urged to move on to other areas.

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One of the play areas was fashioned into an fort with an area that had a telephone to talk to someone on the other end in another area, plus buckets that went up and down a pulley system and stuffed animals and other toys to place into them.

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The other area SC really wanted to spend time was the art area.  The day we went, they had large fish and leaf rubber stamps the kids could paint on, and then press onto blank sheets of paper.  SC completed three works of art before it was time to go home.

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Finally, on the day before we were scheduled to head home, AC decided he wanted to take a drive.  He looked up scenic drives and found one that was recommended and we headed toward Ocean Shores, WA.  It was absolutely beautiful, and when we arrived at sunset at the seashore, we couldn't help but watch the sun go down.

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As much fun as we had in Washington, we had an even better time visiting family in Portland.  However, we were so busy catching up (and SC playing with her newly-found cousins), that I only remembered to take a few pictures.  Here is one I did get with all of the cousins (all the great-grandchildren of my mother's mother).

Where are your favorite Washington/Oregon spots to visit?  Leave a comment, then check out some other top ten posts here: