Boat Locks Tour

Saturday February 18th, 2012

This was a big year for Grammy and Gramps they both turned 80! Which seems perfectly normal for Gramps but with all the Grammy has been through, I was so happy to be celebrating with her. Grammy and Gramps both have a lot of history growing up and causing trouble, back in the 50's, in Ballard. Cindy came up with a great present for them. We all got aboard the Argosy Boats Tour and went to go explore the locks that separate Ballard and Magnolia.

It just so happened to be a nice cold, windy, stormy day. So needless to say our first half of the tour spent out in the open waters of the Puget Sound were nice and choppy. I at some point had to go back down below where the center of gravity was a bit calmer. :) Everyone was having trouble walking around, but it didn't seem to stop Bob, Lou, Tami, Blake, or Ayden. At one point I watched Bob go up the stairs with a hot drink in each hand, barley able to keep his balance, I thought he was going to fall down and die.

Once it finally calmed down and we made are way into the locks we were all back upstairs and even outside. It was about 15 degrees warmer than out in the open ocean and lots of great boats to look at. Grammy and Gramps were full of really great stories about things that use to be in places that were no longer, or some of their favorite things to do in the area. It really is amazing to hear all about historical things from people who experienced it and give a much lighter spin on History. I find myself always very interested in their stories, probably because Bob was a trouble maker and all his stories are hilarious!

Blake and Ayden has a complete blast on the tour. At one point Ayden told Tami she wanted the crazy waves to come back because it was more fun! Blake was in his own little world while on the boat exploring all the cool places and things to get into while Ayden kept dragging Nana outside with her so she could look over the edge and ask questions about everything.

I think the craziest part about the whole trip was it didn't rain a single drop! How often does that happen then you are in Seattle?!? It was a great two hour tour full of some really cool sites.

After we got back we all headed into Red Robin for a big Birthday dinner! Another fabulous time have all the crazy Parks/Helmick Family crowd together around 3 tables and enjoy some good food.








Then after dinner was over since we were so close Jake took everyone over to his office to go check it out and see where he works. Gramps was in heaven taking pictures of all the pictures on the wall and looking at all the cool pieces of art that Glosten has around the office. Gramps even got to talking to another employee, Garth working on a Satruday night, about how when him and Grammy were working years back they got to watch as they dug the wholes for the posts of the Viaduct. Now they get to watch it come down. Crazy how time can change!

Over all it was a great family 80th Birthday Party! One that I don't think any of us will forget.