Long-Awaited Update

Sorry we haven’t updated the blog in so long! We’re starting to settle into our new home. We love it here and most of our exploring lately has been just driving around through the neighborhoods of Seattle – nothing particularly picture or blog-worthy. The weather has been amazing lately! We’ve lost count of how many consecutive 80-degree days Seattle has had. Tomorrow, it may even get up to 90 degrees! O_O Next week should be really nice, too – temps in the low-70’s.

Nick, Marie, & Amanda

Nick, me, and Amanda at Grandma and Grandpa W's

A few weeks ago, Nick, Amanda, and I visited our grandparents in the Tri-Cities (in Eastern Washington, about a 3.5 hour drive). We were very busy while we were there! Grandma and Grandpa W (Dad’s mom and stepdad) took us out to dinner at Red Lobster (where we feasted on crab!) and P.F. Changs. We also picked peaches (nectarines weren’t quite ripe enough yet – darn!) and went to a fruit market that had GIGANTIC Walla Walla onions. We also got to spend some time with Jackie (Grandma’s sister), Luther and Esther (Grandma’s brother and his wife), Gary and Karen (Dad’s brother and his wife. Thank you for the home-grown veggies, Karen!), and Grandma and Grandpa D (Dad’s dad and stepmom). We played a few games of Shanghai Rummy while we were there, too. 🙂

Snoqualmie Pass Backup

Snoqualmie Pass Backup

On the way home from the Tri-Cities, our 3.5-hour drive turned into a 6-hour drive! :O There was an accident on Snoqualmie Pass that caused a huge backup for miles miles. We were literally parked on the interstate. There was a horse trailer up ahead of us and they took the horses out and walked them along the interstate. Some people desperately needed to use the bathroom and had to resort to going in the forest on the side of the road. Thankfully, we had food, water, and Internet access!

A week or so after the Tri-Cities trip, Mom, Amanda, and I went to the Washington Park Arboretum. We walked 4 miles through the park and along Union Bay. It was a very warm day, so by the end of our walk, Amanda and I were very hot, sweaty, and worn out. Mom was still full of energy, though! The pictures below are all from the trip to the Arboretum.

Arboretum Path

Arboretum Path

Marsh Island Walkway

Marsh Island Walkway

Union Bay Canoers

Union Bay Canoers

Husky Stadium

Husky Stadium

Mom and Herbie

Mom and Herbie

Totem Pole

Totem Pole

Well, those are the most exciting things that Nick and I have been up to in the last few weeks. We’ve also tried a few new recipes, I suppose. I made Peach Muffins with the peaches we picked in the Tri-Cities, but they didn’t turn out that great. There was not a lot of peach flavor. We also made Chicken Shawarma, which was awesome. It wasn’t like the shawarma we had back in Michigan, but it was still really, really good. Tonight, Dad is coming over for dinner after his baseball game and we are going to try out a Baked Salmon Fillet recipe.

Categories: Cooking, Outing, Restaurant, Seattle, Social Gathering | 1 Comment

Alki Beach Park

Sunset at Alki Beach

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins

Since we have so many blueberries, I decided that it was time to do something with them! What a brilliant idea, huh? 😛 I always make blueberry muffins with mix from a box, so yesterday was my first time making blueberry muffins from scratch. I used a recipe I found online for “To Die for Blueberry Muffins” and the muffins turned out great. My only complaint was that the muffins were a little too blueberry-y, perhaps because the blueberries were pretty big. The muffins sure made the apartment smell amazing, too. 🙂

Yesterday afternoon, Amanda called me to see if Nick and I wanted to remove another post-it note by going to Alki Beach Park yesterday evening. Why, sure! So after Nick got off work, we headed out to West Seattle. We walked along the beach and then went to Duke’s Chowder House for dinner. Duke’s was right off the beach, so we had a nice view of the water while we ate. Or well, Mom, Amanda, and Nick had a nice view. The setting sun was directly in my eyes, but Mom saved the day by sitting on a booster seat (lol!). Thanks, Mom. 😛

Pictures of our dinner:

Marie's Crab ChowderNick's SalmonMom's Chowder

Amanda and I got the NW Coast Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder (yum!), Nick ordered the Wild Copper River Cedar Plank Salmon (he loved the asparagus that came with it! O_O), and Mom got a triple chowder sampler with NW Coast Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder, Lobster Pernod Chowder, and Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder.

Pictures of Alki Beach Park:

Volleyball on Alki BeachStairs to NowhereSunset w/ Ferry

Categories: Cooking, Outing, Park, Restaurant, Seattle, Social Gathering | 2 Comments

Crunching the Numbers: The Drive

Cars

Our cars, Gunter and Scapers

Nerd Alert! Number crunching results below!

I love spreadsheets. I use them all the time for everything from keeping track of gas purchases to seasonal event achievements in World of Warcraft. Really. I have gas purchase logs going back to 2004 that document mileage, gallons, and price so that I can track my miles per gallon and price trends.

I finally got around to entering the data from the 4-day Michigan to Washington drive today. Here are some interesting tidbits:

  • 2490 total miles (approximately) – Side note: My gas receipts end in Cashmere, WA with 2380mi, so I added Google Map’s estimate of 110mi from there to the cabin, where the trip actually ended. All other statistics below will consider Cashmere, WA as the ending point of the trip.
  • Just over $600 for gas
  • 38.8 average mpg for the Smart Car (Gunter) and 23.3 average mpg for the Escape (Scapers)
  • Halfway through our trip (approximately at the South Dakota/Wyoming border) marked a significant change in mpg. 36.1 average mpg (first half) and 41.8 average mpg (second half) for Gunter. 21.7 average mpg (first half) and 25.0 mpg (second half) for Scapers.

It’s particularly interesting how the mpg increased on the second half of the trip, especially considering that that’s when we started encountering mountains. Weird!

Another interesting trend is that as we drove out west, the quality of the Comfort Inn hotels we stayed at went down and the price went up. Go figure. 😛

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Blueberries & Horses

Blueberry Picking

Nick picking blueberries

Nick and I were busy yesterday! We took some boxes up to the cabin for storage and when we got there, Uncle Eric was there to greet us. We learned that he had been up at the cabin to carry wood from the dock all the way up to the driveway… and he could use help! So Nick and I helped him haul wood for a while (what a workout!). Grandma, Grandpa, Martha Sue, Jim, and Caleb (my cousin) came up to the cabin with pizza for lunch shortly after we finished hauling wood. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and then visited a nearby u-pick blueberry farm with Grandma, Martha Sue, and Caleb. Nick and Caleb had a competition to see who could go the longest without eating a blueberry and (supposedly) neither one of them ate a single blueberry while we were there.

Horse Riding

Stephanie riding Tawny with Keegan and Grandpa leading

We went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house after picking blueberries and by the time we got there, Brooke, Stephanie, and Keegan (aunt and cousins) had shown up. We had fun hanging out with everyone. We played Ladder Golf and Caleb, Stephanie, and Keegan took turns riding Tawny (one of Grandma and Grandpa’s horses). Keegan, in particular, really enjoyed riding and leading the horse and feeding her apples. I even got peer pressured into riding Tawny for a little while, too. 😛

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Munchkin & Tandoori Chicken

Munchkin

Playing Munchkin

A few days ago, Nick and I bought Munchkin, a role-playing card game that we’ve been wanting to try out. On Saturday, we went down to visit Amanda and brought Munchkin with us. We had fun wielding the Rapier of Unfairness while wearing the Horny Helmet. Together, we fought monsters like the Gelatinous Octahedron, Flying Frogs, and the Wannabe Vampire (which Nick avoided by shouting “Booga booga!”). We got cursed with Chicken On Your Head a few times, too. I think Nick and I will be picking up a couple expansion packs in the near future. 🙂

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken

For dinner on Saturday, Nick and I tried another new recipe: Tandoori Chicken, which we ate with rice and naan bread. It was really good and very flavorful, but a little spicy for me… though that was probably because someone forgot a couple ingredients. 😛

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Seahurst Park

Martha Sue and Jim

Martha Sue and Jim (with Sandy and Ike)

Martha Sue, Jim, Mom, Nick, and I removed another post-it note when we visited Seahurst Park Friday evening. Mom and Amanda had visited Seahurst Park for the first time on Sunday and loved it, so Mom was excited to take us there. Because we went there in the evening, though, we weren’t able to see the Olympic Mountains (the setting sun got in the way). The tide was really high while we were there, too.

Martha Sue and Jim brought their dogs, Sandy (Labrador retriever) and Ike (Yorkshire terrier), and Mom brought her dog, Herbie (beagle, of course!). Sandy and Ike had lots of fun running around, swimming, and chasing sticks. Herbie (a show dog), however, seemed to think that such behavior too unsophisticated for him. He preferred to stay away from the water with Mom and just look pretty. 😛

Mom and Herbie

Mom and Herbie

For dinner, we stopped at Skippers for fish and chips and clam chowder. The clam chowder really hit the spot. 🙂

Shortly after we got back to Mom’s, Dad showed up with Amanda (they went to a concert together). Nick and I chatted with everyone a bit before heading home for the night.

[P.S. Sorry for the delay in posting this. Looks like I forgot to hit the “Publish” button on Saturday! Whoops!]

Categories: Outing, Park, Restaurant, Seattle, Social Gathering | 1 Comment

Volunteer Park

Space Needle through Black SunFor the last couple of days, Nick and I have been spending time with my great aunt and uncle, Martha Sue and Jim, who are visiting from Texas. On Wednesday, we spent the evening with them at Mom and Amanda’s.

Koi Fish Pond

Koi fish pond at Volunteer Park

Yesterday, we (Martha Sue, Jim, Mom, Amanda, and I) started the day by going to Saint Mark’s Cathedral on Capitol Hill to see an art exhibit, Icons in Transformation by Russian-Swedish artist, Ludmila Pawlowska. The artist was at the cathedral will we were viewing the exhibit, so we got to talk to her while we were there. I wasn’t sure if photography was allowed or not, so I didn’t take any pictures, but you can view the artwork on the artist’s website.

Marie Amanda Mooses

Amanda and me being "mooses" at the Black Sun sculpture

After that, we drove around Capitol Hill for a bit and made our way to Volunteer Park. Volunteer Park is home to the Seattle Asian Art Museum, a conservatory, a water tower, the Black Sun sculpture, and a great view of Seattle and the Space Needle. The picture at the top of this post was taken through the Black Sun sculpture. There was an awesome koi fish pond at the park, too, with lots of different-colored koi.

After Volunteer Park, we headed to University Village to have lunch at Boom Noodle. Om nom nom! Then, we headed over to Nick’s and my apartment so that they could check out our new home. Martha Sue and Jim used to live in the area, so we went looking for their old house and found it!

Here are some more pictures of Martha Sue, Amanda, Mom, and me being a little goofy at Volunteer Park:

The Girls StandingMarie Mom AmandaGirls w/ Tree

Categories: Outing, Park, Seattle, Social Gathering | 2 Comments

Magnuson Park

Magnuson Park

One of the awesome things about our new apartment is that we live right next to Seattle’s second largest park, Magnuson Park. It is located on a former Navy airfield and there are still old military buildings throughout the park. Seattleites even play tennis in the old hangar.

Magnuson Park Beach

A beach at Magnuson Park

Nick and I visited Magnuson Park for the first time yesterday. We spent an hour walking nearly 3 miles to, from, and around the park. The weather was fantastic (sunny and temperatures in the mid-70’s), so it was a nice day to visit the park. Speaking of the weather, the last couple weeks have been amazing and the 7-day forecast shows more sunny, warm days ahead. I love Seattle summers!

There were lots of people at Magnuson Park – out on their boats, swimming, playing frisbee, sunbathing, barbequeing, walking, biking, playing baseball,… We even saw a group of people playing cricket!

This last weekend was Seafair weekend, too, so there were lots of events going on in Seattle, including Blue Angels performances. Although Nick and I didn’t get to the park in time to see them, we certainly heard them practicing this last week!

Lemon Garlic Fish

Quick lemon garlic fish

I’m glad that Nick and I (finally) visited Magnuson Park and I’m sure we will continue to go for many walks there in the future. 🙂

For dinner, Nick and I decided to try something new. I found a recipe online for Quick Lemon Garlic Fish that looked yummy and pretty easy to make. We used the recipe for the marinade (parsley, lemon, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper), but we baked the tilapia in the oven rather than grilling it. We had steamed broccoli and corn on the cob for side dishes. Everything was delicious, especially considering that it was Nick’s first time cooking fish! For dessert, we had fresh strawberries. Yum!

Categories: Cooking, Outing, Park, Seattle | 2 Comments

An evening on Capitol Hill

Last night we met with Marie’s mom and sister (Carrie and Amanda), her great aunt and uncle (Marian and Karl) and their daughter and her son (Sally and Sam). While on Capitol Hill we stumbled upon some folks playing Bicycle Polo on a tennis court at Cal Anderson Park (picture above). It’s pretty crazy to watch them navigate around the court trying to whack a ball with a polo mallet while not running into each other. Their handling on the bikes is impressive.

Parking on Capitol Hill

A Smart Car sized parking spot

Parking on Capitol Hill is never easy, even on a Thursday night! We were really lucky though and found this Smart Car sized parking spot that no one else dared to try to fit in. Normally when I “parallel park” I can just pull into the spot head first. This time, though, I actually had to parallel park. It felt like more of a tight fit than the picture makes it look; I think I’m just spoiled. After we found (free) parking, we met up with everyone else at the Elliot Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill. After exploring the awesomeness that is the Elliot Bay Book Company we all went wandering in search of a meal.

Fried Fish

From Pike Street Fish Fry

With a little bit of luck we found ourselves in front of the Pike Street Fish Fry. The place is a tiny hole in the wall (almost quite literally) but the food was awesome. Unfortunately we didn’t think to take a picture this time, so the photo is (CC) courtesy of wordridden on Flickr. It’s not exactly what we ate, but it looks the same. The 8 of us crammed ourselves on to a bench and chowed down on the fried awesomeness that was presented to us. It turns out this place is pretty famous and we were quite fortunate to stumble upon it. Quick service, awesome staff, small and delicious; what more could you ask for?

After the Fish Fry we headed up to Cal Anderson Park. Sam, being a fourth grader, really enjoyed himself at the park. He, Amanda, Marie and I had a race to the fountain, and even though Sam lost one of his shoes before the finish line he still beat us. Come to think of it, maybe that was his strategy, since I stopped to grab his shoe for him. Hmm, sneaky kid! Cal Anderson Park is a really nice park. There’s playground equipment with a soft squishy sort of ground below it. It’s so much more high tech than the playgrounds I remember as a kid. The park’s fountain is pretty awesome too (picture below). So we had a really great Thursday night!

Categories: Outing, Restaurant, Seattle, Social Gathering | 1 Comment

Seatac Botanical Garden

Mom and Amanda have been coming up with a list of places they would like to go and things they would like to do with Nick and me. Their fridge is covered in post-it notes with these ideas. Yesterday, we were able to remove one post-it note – the Seatac Botanical Garden. We’ll have to go back again sometime, so Nick can also see it. 🙂

Seatac Botanical Garden (click pictures to enlarge them):



After that, Amanda and I ran some errands and then drove down to Pacific Lutheran University (where she goes to school) to drop off some books she had borrowed. We walked around campus and had pita sandwiches at The Pita Pit.

Categories: Outing, Seattle | 1 Comment