Happy Halloween! ...and much more

First things first ... Happy Halloween!

Saturday: Bainbridge Island

On Saturday we went to Bainbridge Island.  We took a 35 minute ferry ride from Seattle over to the island and had the most incredible views from the Sound.  Once we were there, we walked around the cute shops, went to the farmer's market, and ate lunch at Cafe Nola.  All in all, I think everyone had a nice time.  The island also has many outdoor activities to do if you are so inclined, such as: kayaking, hiking, biking, nature trails, bird watching, salmon 'sightings' etc.  I'm sure we will go back to do some of those things soon :)

At the local farmer's market.

This lady dressed up as a baked potato to match her booth.

Once we returned to the mainland we stopped at the REI flagship store and spent, oh, two hours or so there. 

I think Mr E needs some spandex.

Sunday: Pike's Place Market
No trip to Seattle would be complete without going to Pike's Place Public Market.  You always see lots of interesting people when you go, it was difficult to tell if some people were dressed up for Halloween or if that's how they normally dressed. 

After Pike's, we went over to Fremont and had lunch at Roxy's Diner.  I seem to have ordered the wrong thing, because everyone else liked what they got but me.  *Tip: If you go to a diner, do not order a black bean burger. Get the breakfast.

A 10-person bicycle came riding by and honking. Looked
like a fun way to spend an afternoon..where can I get one?

Busy in Ballard

My in-laws came in town this week to see our new digs in Seattle (I guess I should say to see our 'airbeds', but you know what I mean) and really they came because it's Will's 30th birthday today! Yes, he is getting to be an old and distinguished man ;)

Since Will has been at work this week, I've been entertaining Mr and Mrs E the best I can.  So far, weather has been very cooperative.  Yesterday we went to the Ballard Locks to see where the ships come through the canal system from Lake Washington out into the Puget Sound.  It was really neat to see them raise and lower the water levels to let the ships in and out.  We also got to see a few salmon migrating through the 'Salmon Ladder' and walk around the gardens at the locks.

The gates open and close to change the water level
and let the boats through.

Mr E thought he would be funny and chase the geese...
who's laughing now? Not the man with poo on his shoe!

A salmon making his/her way through the ladder.



So, the next stop after the locks was over to the fisherman's terminal to see the fish boats.  It was a really nice day and I've never been this close to a 'working' shipyard before.

After the fisherman's terminal, we went on a scenic drive through some of Seattle's neighborhoods.  We found some amazing views in Magnolia of the Puget Sound, The Olympic Mountains, and Mt Rainier (but you probably can't see it in my photos).

 

The last activity of the night was a bit humorous. 

Only the best for company!

And today...

Since I have a minute to post, I'll go ahead and put up a few photos from this morning.  As I mentioned, today is Will's birthday and he loves opening presents.  My present to him was moving to Seattle.  So, before he went to work, first thing this morning, his parents let him open his birthday present. He may be 30 but he still acts like a little kid.

Baked French Toast.  It was delicious!

Happy birthday Will!

Addendum

Adding to my post from yesterday about differences between Seattle and Dallas, I thought this morning's event was appropriate. 

8. People take public transportation here.  Seriously, everyone takes it -- see below.

That's Will waiting for the bus. He made me take
the photo from our window so I didn't embarrass him.

The Number 16 bus to downtown.

Did anyone notice the car in the above photo by chance? Yep, a Subaru circa 1990.

I also wanted to share some photos that I took this morning of the sunrise, I thought it looked really pretty today.

We have lots of pretty 'fall' colors now.

Observations

In the few days that I've been in Seattle, I've started to note some major differences between my old city, Dallas, and my new one.  Keep in mind that these are just surface-level observations, but I thought they were noteworthy :)

1. Without Seattle, Subaru and the Toyota Prius would not be in business.  I rarely saw Subaru's or Prius's in Dallas.  They are so prevalent in Seattle, Will and I have come up with a game where we guess how many we will see in a span of five minutes.  Creative, right? Or, could be the fact that we don't have t.v.  If you are wondering, we typically see one Subaru per minute out of our front window.

2. There are a ton of bike commuters and walkers.  Even when it's raining outside, there are runners, bikers and walkers all over.  Very different from Dallas.  Oh, and yesterday evening, I saw a commuter on a uni-cycle!  Not kidding...he was going up a steep hill on his way home on a uni-cycle!

3. The weather.  Not much needed to say here, this is an obvious difference.  I have only sweated twice since we moved here, once on a bike ride, and on my run today.

4. Trees and hills...everywhere.

5. And...coffee shops...everywhere.

6. The age of cars and houses.  In Dallas, we lived in the oldest neighborhood in the city, everything else in the suburbs and most areas of the city were new or re-developed.  The culture in Texas is to knock down old buildings/houses and build new ones.  Not so in Seattle.  Most all the houses here are older and people tend to remodel rather than re-build.  And, it seems Seattleites use the Melanie and Will Agenda when it comes to replacing vehicles.  Run them into the ground, then replace.  Need I remind you of the posting on Will's Jeep hitting 200,000 miles?!

Oh, to give you a car example, I've seen three of these vans within a few blocks of our house in Seattle, never saw one in Dallas.

http://www.motorhomes-for-sale.com/

7. People are more expressive here. Example.

Fire hydrant on our street.

And I'm only getting started!

Trek Across the West

We are in Seattle, WA after having driven for four days across the country.  We have actually been here since Wednesday afternoon, but we don't have internet at our rental yet, hence the delay in postings.

I have a few topics to post about, so I'll summarize into three parts. 
Part I: The Drive.
Part II: The Ride.
Part III: The Hike.

Sounds exciting, right? haha..

Part I: The Drive.
The trip consisted of four days of driving, roughly 575 miles each day (trip totaled 2,210 miles).  We broke it up into the following segments: Day One: Dallas, TX - Hays, KS, Day Two: Hays, KS - Rawlins, Wy, Day Three: Rawlins, WY - Boise, ID, and Day Four: Boise, ID - Seattle, WA. 

Notable events during the drive included:
. Seeing wind energy windmills
. Snow and ice in Wyoming
. Multiple animals {antelope which I almost hit, deer, sheep, cows, wild horses and goats}
. Going through a windstorm in Denver, blowing my bike halfway off the rack, twice
. Lovely fall colors, mountains, winelands and apple orchards
. Seeing beautiful and diverse scenery in the 9 states that we crossed through -- TX, OK, KS, CO, UT, WY, ID, OR, WA.  It's amazing how different each state's topography is.  Although it was a long drive, I am happy we did it, because I would, most likely, never have seen the parts of the country that I did.
. Ah, one more notable event was the sign in the Subway in Oklahoma that read 'Out of lattuce, sorry for the incoivnienace'.  Made me laugh.

View I saw for four days.

Tumbleweed! I actually caught a photo as it was blowing!

Dinner at Pizza Hut, delicious.

Cows, in Kansas I think.

Entering Wyoming

Coldest point, 26 degrees (maybe highest, too?) on the trip.
In Wyoming, saw snow.

Downtown Boise, ID. They have bike parking.

Boise, ID state capitol.

Oregon

Wrong turn?! Nope, different Dallas.

Winelands in Washington.

First sign of Seattle...almost there!

Cascade Mountains, Washington

Tired, but finally at our new home.

Part II: The Ride.
Our second day in Seattle, we decided to take a ride around town on our bikes and explore.  It was drizzling slightly and we got a bit lost, but eventually found our way home.  On our second bike ride (yesterday), we had much better luck, with sun all day and didn't get lost!

Found Will's 'brothers in the bond' - UW Phi Delt.

With my bike, 'Wiliana.'

Part III: The Hike.
On our third day, we took a hike in the Cascade Mountains.  The trail we hiked was on Cougar Mountain, called Bear Trail.  It was a beautiful hike and the weather cooperated.  One of many hikes we will take, I'm sure!

I spotted lots of slugs along the trail, but no other animals.

Me acting like a bear.

Isn't this a cool picture of a spider web?

So, that's about it for now.  We are getting into our groove here.  Will started work today and I am spending most of my day today at the library getting free wi-fi and some work done.  Check back later for more updates :)