As you guys know I spent the weekend in Tacoma, Washington for my Grandfather’s funeral.  I debated on sharing photos of the actual funeral with you guys but ultimately decided against it. To summarize, the funeral went as expected, and as my brother had opted for a funeral plan for my grandfather, it gave the family time to reconnect with each other than worry about other things. However, I did want to share with you guys a little about the most influential man in my life.  Since, it’s throwback Thursday or Thinking Out Loud Thursday in the blog world I thought it would be a good day to share.

My Grandpa started as an airline mechanic for the Navy, he worked on planes on aircraft carriers.  After leaving the Navy he worked his way up through the ranks of a major airline and retired as a Vice President in the company.  Hearing that story as a little girl always made me feel like the American dream was a special reality in my family.  My Grandpa was a remarkable man with an unmatched sense of honor equally met with a witty sense of humor.  He was the closest thing to a Father I ever had and I cherished every moment I spent with him.  The photo below is from when Mr. Hungry and I went to see him and visited the famous Gorge five years ago.

My Grandfather believed in me, he supported me not only financially but he was also a pillar of emotional support when I went to college.  He played a huge role in my education, steering me in the right direction and lovingly pointing out wrong turns as any father should do.  The last four years have been hard to witness a decline in cognitive function as the onset of dementia/Alzheimers wore on.  I knew I had to let him go when I called and he could no longer respond or really even listen to me tell him about my day (he didn’t know who I was for years.)  The loss of ones cognitive capabilities is most definitely harder on the family than the person it is happening to, it results in a long good bye.  So I’ve been saying goodbye for many years now, it was nice to finally honor is life and know he was in a good place free of the restrictions of an aging body.

The rest of this post will be a recap of our trip minus the funeral.

Seattle/Tacoma Recap

We got in super late but Mr. Hungry was SUPER HUNGRY so we headed out to 13 Coins a 24/7 Diner featured on Food Network for some eats.  I got shrimp cocktail and shared the complimentary appetizer plate and fries with Mr. Hungry.  He got a crab sandwich which ended up being a bowl of crab soup with bread underneath it.

I got a workout in via Nike Trainer on Friday morning, the only workout I got in #toomuchwine

After the services my mom took us to Point Defiance, a lovely park full of gardens that my mom remembers going to when she was little with her parents and my aunt.

Thanks for the love on this Instagram pic from all my IG friends out there! The rose garden was beautiful!

After walking along the pier for a while we stopped at Duke’s Seafood to get dinner.  Our favorite dish was the Salmon Sliders!

We spent most of Saturday going on one long walk around the hotel area and then headed to a friends house to visit with them and their 6 month old baby.  I had the best Thai food of my life but didn’t take pictures because I didn’t want to be that girl, a cookie from the hotel and more snacks.  Just for fun I thought I’d include pictures of the other eats including hotel eats, add about 3 bottles of wine to this.

That’s it!  Have a great weekend!