Wests Go West | Nick and Marie's move to Seattle

Happy 2015!

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Marie

I was going to post about our hiking trip this weekend when I realized it’s been a while since I updated the blog – whoops! So here’s a quick update before I post about the hike.

Christmas

It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since Christmas when we still have our Christmas decorations up. Nick told me not to take them down until February lol. They make our home so happy and festive. 😛

Uncle Peter took us out on his boat for the Christmas Ships Festival, where a choir on the Argosy Christmas Ship sings Christmas carols in Lake Washington. Thankfully, the weather cooperated this year!

We spent Christmas with family at my grandparents’ cabin. Uncle Peter got remote-controlled helicopters for himself and Uncle Eric and it was fun watching them play. Another highlight was that my cousin, Keegan, got a drum set. Aunt Brooke (his mom) was thrilled about it. 😛

Seahawks

Seattle has been going nuts about the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl again. Did you guys see their last game against the Packers? It was intense and I still can’t believe the Seahawks won. Lots of cheering and fireworks outside after that game. Neither of us are really football fans, but even we had to admit we enjoyed watching it.

Around the House

It’s not terribly exciting, but Nick and I framed and hung some of the photos we’ve taken in our stairway. In the picture below, the collage frame on the left has some of the zoo pictures we’ve taken. The photos on the wall on the right are our favorite photos from our Wallace Falls hike.

Inspired by Saturday’s episode of Gardening with Ciscoe (a gardening advice show with a goofy local gardener), Nick and I went to Molbak’s to get ourselves our first indoor plant. We were planning on getting a Chinese Evergreen, but we went with a Dracaena instead when we saw the price tag ($50 for a little plant? Sheesh!). 😛 So say hello to Wallace the Dracaena (pictured above)!

Categories: Outing, Seattle, Social Gathering, Townhouse | Leave a comment

Woodland Park Zoo

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Marie

As a Christmas present for ourselves, Nick and I got annual memberships to Woodland Park Zoo. It’s only 5 miles from home and, if nothing else, it’s a good excuse to go for a walk and practice photography.

Nick and I went to the zoo over the weekend. It was kind of a gloomy day (not like the 68 degrees we had yesterday!), which made photographing the animals a little tricky, but it almost felt like we had the zoo to ourselves. The male lion was showing off and he was really fun to photograph. I really liked the otters, too; it was fun to watch them play together. Go to our Flickr photo album to see more photos from our trip to the zoo.

By the way, our zoo membership makes it so guests can get in for half-price admission, so let us know if you’d like to take a trip to the zoo with us. 🙂

Flickr photo set: Woodland Park Zoo

Categories: Outing, Photography, Seattle | 4 Comments

Painting the Kitchen

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Marie

This long-overdue post is about Nick’s and my painting project that started back in September, while Nick’s mom was in town. Neither of us had much painting experience and she (generously!) offered to teach us the ropes.

We painted the entry, stairway, living room, mantle, and kitchen. We liked the greyish color the previous owners had chosen, but we still wanted to give it a fresh coat of paint, so we picked an almost identical color. The mantle was light grey, which we changed to white. We also painted the recessed area above it. All of that’s not super noticeable, though. The biggest change is that the kitchen went from cream to green, which we love.

Living Room & Kitchen – Before

Living Room & Kitchen – After

We also finally got around to doing something with the recess above the fireplace. It’s a really stupid spot to have a TV, so it’s just been collecting stuff. Until now! We found out that our TV stand cabinet fits in there PERFECTLY, so we got another one and we’re using it for extra board game storage. We’re going to get something to hide the cables.

Mantle & Recess – Before

Mantle & Recess – After

And here’s another view of the kitchen:

Kitchen – Before

Kitchen – After

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Museum of Flight

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Marie

Dad with his MSBL tournament champion trophy

Here’s a quick update on what’s been going on. Neither of us have been feeling well and Nick stayed home sick for most of the week. There was a shooting at my cousin’s school, but thankfully he’s okay. Yesterday, there was a big windstorm in Western Washington with 50 mph winds. Nick and I lost power, but it only lasted an hour and I was prepared with plenty of candles. And in good news, my dad has been down in Arizona playing baseball and his team just won the 2014 MSBL World Series. Good job, Dad!

Last weekend, Nick and I went to the Museum of Flight. Located at Boeing Field, it is the largest private air and space museum in the world. The museum includes the 1909 wooden Red Barn that was Boeing’s original manufacturing plant.

In addition to the exhibits and hundreds of rare planes, you can also board Air Force One, the retired Concorde supersonic airliner, and the first 747 ever built. The space exhibits were my favorite parts of the museum. I really liked going in the ISS Discovery module mock-up and the NASA Shuttle fuselage trainer, as well as seeing a Soyuz descent module. I knew the Soyuz descent modules were tiny (just barely big enough to cram 3 astronauts/cosmonauts inside), but seeing it in person was really neat. Nick’s favorite things were going in the Concorde and the gutted 747 (it really shows you how big the jumbo jet is when the inside is empty) and seeing the Soyuz descent module.

I took some photos while we were at the Museum of Flight, which are below. Some of them are kinda crappy because of weird lighting and no flash. Sorry about that.

Great Gallery

Wright flyer reproduction (1903)

SK-1 Vostok Space Suit (1960)

NASA Shuttle trainer

Williams X-Jet (1974)

Nick inside Air Force One (1958)

Soyuz descent module (2009)

Caproni Ca.20 (1914), the world’s first fighter plane

Aviatik (Berg) D.I (1918)

Red Barn, Boeing’s original manufacturing plant

Inside the first Boeing 747 ever built

Categories: Museum, Outing, Seattle | Leave a comment

Cherry Creek Falls

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Marie

On Sunday, Nick and I hiked Cherry Creek Falls in Duvall (about a 45 minute drive from home). It was a sunny day with temperatures in the low 70’s, so I thought it’d be a good day for a hike.

Cherry Creek Falls Trail

Cherry Creek Falls statistics*:

Roundtrip: 5.0 miles
Elevation gain: 450 feet
Highest point: 705 feet

*Unless you go the wrong way, like we did… more on that below.

When we first got there, we couldn’t find the trailhead. We drove around for a few minutes looking for it before parking on the street to look online for answers. We saw some people up ahead get out of their car, so we followed them and found the trailhead on the corner of Cherry Valley Road and Mountain Valley Road. It was literally just a cement block on the side of the road that marked the start of the trail.

There were no signs on the trail whatsoever, so I tried to follow the directions on WTA’s website, but that didn’t work out for us. We ended up making a wrong turn and hiking uphill before encountering some other hikers who let us know we were headed the wrong way. That part of our hike cost us an extra ~1.5 miles and the most significant elevation gain of our hike.

The trail itself isn’t bad difficulty-wise, but it’s very rocky and there are lots of small, steep up-and-down parts over dried up streams. Just before the end of the trail is a creek that you have to go over, which is the trickiest part of the hike. There’s a maybe 12 foot steep hill you have to navigate down and then walk on slippery rocks and logs across the creek (20 feet or so). Or you could walk across the creek, but the water is probably deep enough to be above your ankles, so your feet would definitely get wet.

The falls at the end of the trail are 25 feet tall and really lovely. There is a short, but very steep, path down to the base of the falls that is definitely worth going down. You get a beautiful view of the falls and the pool down there. Just watch your step!

Marie’s guide to Cherry Creek Falls

Since we had some difficulty finding our way around this trail, here’s a guide to help out anyone looking to visit Cherry Creek Falls.

Cherry Creek Falls trailhead

The trailhead is located on the east corner of NE Cherry Valley Road and Mountain View Road NE. It is marked by a cement block. There isn’t a dedicated parking lot, so you’ll need to look for street parking on Mountain View Road. Just look out for “Private property! No parking!” signs.

Take the RIGHT trail here.

Follow the trail and you’ll cross a bridge over Margaret Creek. Up ahead on the right is a grassy path. Ignore it. Shortly thereafter, you’ll come to a split in the trail. Take the more well-traveled path to the right. Do NOT go left (this is where Nick and I messed up).

Take the LEFT trail here.

Continuing along the path, you’ll eventually get to a dead end where the trail splits. Go left.

This creek is larger than it looks in the photo. Carefully cross it and then look for a trail on the RIGHT.

When you get to the creek, you’re almost at the falls. Carefully make your way across the creek and then start looking for a path on the right about 50 feet past the creek. There are a few pathways down to the falls, but they all work, so don’t worry about getting lost here. Once you get to the overlook, there is a short, steep path down to the base of the falls that is worth taking.

The best rule of thumb we found was to take the more well-traveled paths and ignore any grassy or overgrown trails. Checking with other hikers to make sure you’re going the right way is also very helpful. 🙂

Categories: Hiking, Outing | Leave a comment

Seattle Central Library & Seattle Art Museum

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Marie

Nick and I recently went to Seattle Public Library’s downtown Central Library and the Seattle Art Museum with our friend, Sean. It was the first time Nick and I had been to the Central Library (*gasp!*) and Nick’s first time visiting SAM (I had been there before, but it had been a long time).

Seattle Central Library

Central Library exterior

Downtown Seattle’s 11-story glass and steel Central Library was opened in 2004. One of its major features is the “Books Spiral,” which is a 4-story gently sloping continuous spiral of nonfiction books. The Central Library has lots of reading areas, hundreds of public computers, and an auditorium. It also has a really impressive automated check-in and sorting system.

We didn’t spend a lot of time at the library, but we went up to the top and walked down the spiral. One thing I didn’t like was a weird, disorienting red corridor that is a bold, bright red everywhere on the ceiling, walls, and the floor. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of that.

Seattle Art Museum

In addition to its permanent collection, SAM’s featured temporary exhibition while we visited were was City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India (through February 16, 2015). SAM allows photography, so I brought my camera with. Using a flash, however, was not allowed, so please pardon the crummy photos. 😛

Inopportune: Stage One

Face from a Native American totem pole

Peruvian ceramic vessel

Australian aboriginal painting

The First People

Untitled (Self in Progress)

India Shining V (Gandhi with iPod)

Sea Change

Mexican seated figure

Ceramic Egyptian hippopotamus

Burkinabe antelope mask

African Opa Mma costume

Egyptian marble head

Episodes from the Aeneid

South African caterpillar suit

Categories: Museum, Outing, Seattle | 2 Comments

Curling & Pinball

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Marie

Curling

My family has found curling fascinating since, I think, the Winter Olympics in 2002. When I found out there was a curling club just down the road from us that offered open houses where they teach you the basics of curling, I got super excited and Nick’s mom’s visit was the perfect opportunity to try it out!

Amanda sweeping

When Margaret, Amanda, Nick, and I got to the curling club, they first cleaned our shoes of debris and attached rubber grippers to the bottoms of our shoes. Then we donned our hoodies, hats, and gloves (thanks, Raynaud’s!) and got out on the ice. We took turns practicing throwing the curling stones (occasionally falling over while doing so) and once we were passable doing that, we added sweeping, which makes the stone travel farther. Then, it was time for a game! There was a group of young guys there learning to curl, too, so we played against them and we won 3-1! Woohoo!

We had so much fun and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested. For those of you in Seattle, there are open houses through March or you could just go watch for free.

Seattle Pinball Museum

Looking down at pinball machines on the first floor

Another cool thing we did was visiting the Seattle Pinball Museum in the International District, because Nick’s mom loves pinball. They have a wide assortment of 50+ pinball machines spanning 7 decades. It’s not your typical museum, though, because all of the pinball machines are free to play with your $13 admission fee. We spent a few hours playing and had a great time.

My favorite machines were probably the 1995 Theater of Magic and the 2003 Lord of the Rings pinball machines. The Theater of Magic machine uses magnets and mirrors to perform “magic” tricks while you play. My favorite part of the LotR machine was when you get to fight the Balrog. The Balrog lights up and moves into the playfield and you have to hit him with the pinball.

Categories: Museum, Outing, Seattle, Social Gathering | Leave a comment

Wallace Falls

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Marie

Two weeks ago, while Nick’s mom was visiting us, we drove up to the tiny town of Gold Bar and hiked Wallace Falls. Wallace Falls features a 265-foot waterfall along with several smaller falls.

View from Middle Falls

Wallace Falls Statistics:

Roundtrip: 5.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 1300 ft
Highest Point: 1570 ft

One really neat thing about Wallace Falls is that you don’t have to hike all the way to the end. There are 3 tiers to the hike and they get progressively more difficult. The first tier is from the trailhead to Lower Falls (870 ft elevation), a 1.8 mile hike that’s easy difficulty. Next is Middle Falls (1100 ft elevation), which is another 0.6 miles down the trail, and moderate difficulty. The last leg of the trail to Upper Falls (1570 ft) is the most strenuous, going up 470 ft in elevation in only 0.35 miles. We only hiked to Middle Falls and back. At the end of each tier of the hike, there is a viewpoint where you get a clear view of the waterfalls.

Wallace Falls is a super popular hiking spot that is reportedly often crowded with people. We went during the day on a weekday and it wasn’t crowded at all. The weather was really nice, too… not too hot and not too cold, perfect hiking weather. It was a little cloudy when we first got to the trail, but it was sunny by the time we were done. There was even a wedding party at the beginning of the trail taking photos.

Unlike Rattlesnake Ledge, which we hiked earlier this summer, Wallace Falls has beautiful scenery the entire hike. Although you get the best views of the waterfalls at the viewpoints, you can always hear the running water as you walk through the old growth forests and over rivers and streams. We definitely plan on taking all of our out-of-town guests here in the future. 🙂

I took my camera with and got some really beautiful photos of the hike, so be sure to check out the Flickr album below!

Flickr album: Wallace Falls

Nick and his mom

Bridge on the trail

Wallace Falls trail

Nick having fun

Sun peeking through the trees

Caterpillar

Chipmunk

Categories: Hiking, Outing, Photography | Leave a comment

A Post About Moms

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Marie

Marie’s Mom

A couple months ago, Mom found out she had a gigantic cyst on her liver. Although the cyst was benign, its massive size was causing problems for Mom, so she had surgery at the beginning of the month to remove it. The surgery went well (although the tumor had wreaked more havoc than anticipated, making the surgery take longer) and she went home the next day, tired and sore, but glad to have the surgery behind her.

Mom in her hospital room after surgery

A week after her surgery, Mom was getting worse and worse, so they readmitted her to the hospital. She went in for minor surgery a couple days later to take care of a blockage in her intestines that was causing the problems. After that, she was able to start eating again and they sent her home a couple days later.

Today, she’s still really weak, but she’s recovering and feeling better. We went in for her post-op doctor appointment this morning and they told her everything looks good, but she’ll probably have another two weeks of weakness and fatigue before she starts feeling back to normal.

Nick’s Mom

Nick, Mom, and me hiking Wallace Falls

Nick at the Seattle Pinball Museum

For the past few years, we’ve been alternating between Nick’s mom visiting us in Seattle and us visiting her in Michigan and this year, it was her turn to stay with us. She spent almost two weeks with us this month and we really enjoyed spending time with her.

Nick curling

Nick’s mom had done most of the touristy Seattle stuff before, so this trip was more low key. We walked around our neighborhood, went to the farmer’s market, had game nights, cooked a lot of good food, and painted the living room and kitchen (I protested having her paint while she was on her vacation, but she actually wanted to help us and teach us how to do it — which was a big help; thank you!), but we had some fun highlights, too. Everyone’s favorite activity was when we hiked Wallace Falls, which was an absolutely gorgeous hike (post coming soon!). We also really enjoyed going curling (again, post coming soon!) and playing pinball at the Seattle Pinball Museum. We were sad to see her go home on Tuesday and we’re looking forward to visiting her in Michigan next year!

Categories: Daily Life, Outing, Seattle, Social Gathering | 2 Comments

Woodland Park Zoo

Painting the Kitchen

Museum of Flight

Cherry Creek Falls

Marie’s guide to Cherry Creek Falls

Seattle Central Library & Seattle Art Museum

Seattle Central Library

Seattle Art Museum

Wallace Falls

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