Alki Point

This morning Mike loaded our bikes onto our bike rack and we took off for Alki in West Seattle. We headed south on I-5, took the West Seattle Bridge, got off on Admiral Way, and looked back at the city.


Now I know why Jimi Hendrix sang Purple Haze...


We parked the truck, unloaded the bikes and biked west on Alki Avenue. We cruised past Alki Beach Park and turned onto Beach Drive.


Years ago I had friends who lived at Harbor West Condos and I remember the sound and feel of the waves splashing hard against the pilings.

The houses, condos and apartment buildings are either very quaint or quite unusual…following are some of the ones I found interesting.


I just love the blue and white color combo.


This one looks like a cozy beach cottage.


Here's a tall, skinny house making the most of a narrow lot.


Colorful condo.


Dark condo that just seemed out of place on Alki.


My favorite!


And I guess these neighbors have a real “keeping up with the Joneses” attitude.


The sun was shining and the waters of Puget Sound were as blue as could be. I was surprised to see this kayaker so far out.


And I was even more surprised to see this lone diver getting ready to enter the water solo.


We came back around to Alki Drive and then went east to Harbor Avenue. Mike took a break on the stairs that lead right into the water...until the tide goes out...and then the stairs lead to the beach.


The water was very, very clean and clear.


I never get tired of seeing ferries. They are such a vital part of the transportation story in Seattle.


And here are a couple of alternative types of “beach transportation.”


Can you see the small, colorful “balloon” with the little thing dangling from it? That’s someone parasailing – being towed by the white boat right over Elliott Bay in downtown Seattle!


We stopped before turning back and gazed over at the city.


This is Alki Beach and it was filling with people for an afternoon in the sun. We parked our bikes and relaxed on the beach for a while, never tiring of watching all the wacky people. I waded in the water, but it was TOO COLD for me to go swimming.



And that was our day at Alki. It is so different from our neighborhood that it was like a little one-day vacation. Hope you liked it!

teresa in Lake Stevens

If you’ve been reading any of the ex-pat Mexican blogs that I read, you know of “teresa in Lake Stevens.” She doesn’t write her own blog, but she reads and comments on several blogs.

I came to know Teresa because of a picture on Bliss' blog back in February 2008 that shows Teresa and her son swimming up to the SV Bliss in Chacala Bay. I found out more about Teresa and when I learned that she was teaching English in Mexico we began emailing...it was the beginning of a friendship that began in the blogosphere and has resulted in more than one visit to each other’s homes, including Teresa's visit to us when we lived in Salem, Oregon.

Today Mike and I went to Lake Stevens to meet Teresa’s husband, Steve, Jack (the dog), Rico and Red (the cats.) It was another scorcher here in the Seattle area with temps in the high 90s and the 25-mile drive north on the mostly 1-lane highway with views of Mt. Baker and the Cascade Mountains was nice and cool in the cab of our truck with the AC on full blast.


Mt. Baker. (Pic from the web, not my camera.)

Teresa and Steve bought their new home last summer and we got the grand tour. They have lived around the world including Japan and Italy and their furnishings and decor reflect their international style. Plus, the house is filled with plants, plants, and then some more plants.


Here’s Jack, the Jack Russell Terrier, sporting his new cool haircut that he just got yesterday.


Teresa with an orchid we brought to add to her voluminous plant collection.


And here’s the orchid in front of Teresa and Steve’s son’s kimono (now a wall hanging) that he wore for a ceremony when the family lived in Japan – aren’t the colors glorious?


Steve grilled chicken on the BBQ and Teresa made three salads. We all sat down to enjoy lunch in the cool house…it was just too hot to be outside!

We looked at photographs and yakked and yakked and even had some of Mike’s homemade Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Before long it was time for one more pose with Jack and then we hit the road.


Jack and Teresa.

Now we’re home and watching the evening news and we hear that temps were 99F in some places! Aye yi yi. THANK YOU teresa from Lake Stevens (and Steve) – we had a great time. Stay cool everyone!

The Ready, Set, Bag! Grocery Bag

Recently I wrote about seeing the Ready, Set Bag! documentary – it was so good – go see it. And yesterday my reusable grocery bag that was part of the Groupon offer came in the mail. I love it! I wish I had about 5 of them.


Now when I have a crummy bagger who attempts to squish my grapes and tomatoes by putting them on the bottom of the bag I can just point out the correct position – on the top, of course!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Yes, it was HOT here today. Well, hot for Seattle that is...mid-80s or so in our neighborhood. No problema. I sat in the sun to read and Mike hosed me down with the garden hose. We ate late and now it’s nice and cool.

Continued heat is expected over the next few days. Ugh. I think I smell a beach day coming up!

Ride the Ducks and the Pike Place Market

Sunday afternoon we got a surprise call from the wife (Mira) of one of the attorneys I worked with in Salem. Mira and her daughter (Miju) were in Seattle! They had taken the train from Portland with Mira’s mom, niece and nephew who are all visiting from Korea. We made plans to meet them on Monday morning and spend the day together.



Soooo...what to do with visitors to Seattle? Ride the Ducks, of course! This is a tour of Seattle on an amphibious World War II vehicle that looks like a duck. The tour takes off in downtown Seattle with a “quacky/wacky” tour guide who shares lots of interesting tidbits about Seattle. We went straight to Lake Union on wheels and then right into the lake.




Captain Fun Tastic – he was very entertaining and had a plethora of funny hats that he donned during the tour. As an aside, all the tour guides have at least a 25-ton USCG Master's License and a Class C commercial driver's license.


The Horizon was the original ship from the first season of Deadliest Catch.


The Banjo, a sternwheeler Mike and I wanted to buy several years ago.


Gas Works Park.


My hometown.




Houseboats – in the top pic, the green house on the very far left is where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed. It sold not too long ago for over $2 million.


Another duck on the water.


Mira's mom was really getting into singing Y-M-C-A!

Back on land we toured the Fremont neighborhood, headed to downtown, the waterfront, Pioneer Square and finished the tour at our starting point, Westlake Center.


Controversial Waiting for the Interurban statue in Fremont.


Next on our agenda was a walk to the world famous Pike Place Market.


Mike kept his eye on all three kids!



Miju got cute with one of the flying fish guys at Pike Place Fish.


I could not believe the size of these lobsters! They were $25 a pound and each weighed about 3 pounds so that’s a $75 lobster.


I don’t ever remember seeing these small red king salmon.



The produce stands make good pics.



And so do the flowers fresh from the local fields.


Lastly, we couldn’t leave the Market without the kids getting on Rachel the Pig!

We had a wonderful day with our friends…maybe I could get a job as a tour guide….

Groupon and Ready, Set, Bag!

Have you heard about the website called Groupon?? It’s a group coupon offer sent via email. Every day an offer is sent out in major US cities for something at a nicely discounted price. A certain number of people have to agree to purchase the offer (often a 50-person threshold) and once the threshold is met, it’s a go and you get the discounted offer. Of course, you have to pay for it, but it’s usually a great deal for things like restaurants, golf, coffee, hot yoga classes, wine tours, SEA KAYAKING, movies…

Recently we got the Groupon offer for Crystal Seas Kayaking and we went kayaking in the San Juans for just $45 each (instead of $81 each.) And tonight we saw a movie, got popcorn, a reusable grocery bag, and a $1 donation to Food Lifeline Food Bank for just $16 total! Check it out.

The movie we saw is called Ready, Set, Bag! It is a documentary featuring state champions in the US that are practicing to compete in the National Grocers Association’s Best Bagger competition in Las Vegas – you know, the people who bag your groceries and that can do it quickly and efficiently.

Bad bagging is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I can’t believe how crummy some baggers are…putting bread in the bottom of the bag or delicate produce under a box of laundry soap. Or baggers that are so used to using plastic bags that they can’t figure out to use one of the many reusable bags I schlep to the grocery stores. ARGHHH!!!

I loved the movie! It was so refreshing to see people who know how to bag. And it was fun to see how they prepared for the competition and how their family and friends encouraged them to do their best. Plus, the movie is showing at Seattle’s Central Cinema, a theater that serves a full menu along with adult beverages and soft drinks. It was our first time to try Central Cinema and we’ll be going back.

It was a great date night with Mike!!!

Veggie Garden in Kenmore

My friend Bliss recently posted a picture of the tomatoes she grew in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico and it reminded me to check on our own tomatoes.

Having moved to Kenmore from Salem, Oregon in mid-May we had furniture to buy and a household to set up – with little time left for starting a garden. So by the time we got seeds in the ground it was toward the end of June. Late planting, combined with a very rainy June, has resulted in a stunted veggie garden. But we brought 2 "patio" tomato plants with us from Salem and one of them recently gave birth.


I have to laugh. This is the first tomato we harvested. And that’s a regular-sized Red Delicious apple. The tomato was fairly sweet, but it had no seeds. ??


This is the plant it came from. Mike gave all our tomato plants “haircuts” a few weeks ago – he saw a black sort of fungus on the leaves and didn’t want it to spread. In retrospect, we’re not sure that was the best thing to do. But I did harvest the other red tomatoes last night and we ate them with fresh basil from our garden. Again, no seeds in these tomatoes from the patio tomato plant. ??


On the side of our apt building we have a long, narrow garden with the other tomato plants, radishes, green onions, squash and the row of mammoth sunflowers. I just hope we get more sun so we can eat at least one radish and the sunflowers produce big, yellow, happy sunflowers.


In the back yard, we didn’t even dig up the soil. I just planted some pumpkin seeds and they have come to life. Again, we need some sun if we’re going to make jack-o-lanterns with these babies.


We have a small patio outside our dining room and since it’s covered it provides a cool refuge when the sun does come out. And Mike has become quite the expert with the charcoal BBQ. It’s a lot different than using our old gas grill, but he’s got it down.


And here we have 2 tiki light fountains that match the one in the bathroom. That reminds me...where in the world is that Baby Jesus? MIKE!

Lots of Kelp in Friday Harbor

Mike and I had a great time on Tuesday, beginning with the drive from Kenmore to the Anacortes ferry. We left at 7am and boarded the ferry at 9:15.


The Elwha in the morning mist and another ferry in the distance.


The trip took about an hour and before we knew it we were in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, part of the San Juan Archipelago in the Salish Sea.

We were met by our guide, Anglea, from Crystal Seas Kayaking. She loaded us and 6 other kayakers into a van and off we went to the other side of the island to Snug Harbor Marina Resort – that is where Crystal Seas Kayaking is located.


Here we had a quick kayaking lesson and off we went! Right off the bat we saw several different kinds of jellyfish, including this giant one that Mike is holding. We also saw large purple starfish clinging to the rocks on the shoreline.

The sun was out and the water was calm, although there is a strong current. It took some coordination between Mike and me to keep us on track. He sat in the back and had the foot controls for the rudder which steers the kayak.




At one point we pulled into a kelp bed and Angela educated us with all kinds of information about kelp. The one in the first picture grows TEN INCHES A DAY! It’s used in ice cream and toothpaste. Angela eats kelp every day and I tried it – fresh out of the ocean – I liked it!


There were several enormous freighter ships on the sea…maybe they were headed to Seattle? They were so big and probably further away than they seemed. I sure wouldn’t want to get to close to one of those in a kayak.

We saw massive, soaring bald eagles, sunning harbor seals, and playful porpoise – but no killer whales that day. Angela says she comes across orcas about a quarter of the time she takes tours out. We were disappointed in that, but overall we enjoyed the 3-hour tour. We didn’t get wet and neither of us fell out of the kayak.


The gang heading back into Snug Harbor.


Mike and Angela.


Angela drove us all back to Friday Harbor and we had 2 hours to kill before our ferry to Anacortes arrived. We walked around the quaint little town and settled on Downriggers Restaurant for a late lunch on the deck overlooking the marina. Mike and I dreamed about boats and checked out all the marina activity.

Before long we were on the ferry where we both sacked out and took naps in the sun streaming though the windows. By 6:30 or so we were back on the road and home to Kenmore around 8. Happy (early) Birthday, Mike!

Sea Kayaking

Last year I wrote about my secret birthday present for Mike and how it turned out. And then there was the surprise birthday party in Guaymas in 2008. (He still wears that cowboy hat on occassion!)

Well, there are no secrets this year. Last week I booked a sea kayaking excursion for the two of us in the beautiful San Juan Islands, north of Seattle, bordering Canadian waters. And even though Mike’s birthday isn’t until September 18th, we will be sea kayaking tomorrow!

We’ll be in a 2-person kayak with Mike “steering.” I think that means he sits in the back of the kayak. We get a short lesson about kayaking (we’ve done it once before on Lake Union in downtown Seattle) and then off we go with about 4 other kayaks and the guide for 3 hours exploring Friday Harbor.

And are you wondering why I booked the trip so far from Mike’s birthday? Well, now is the best time to see eagles, seals, porpoise and ORCA WHALES! In fact, there is a 90% chance that we’ll see orcas since the water is full of migrating salmon, the orcas’ favorite treat. I can’t wait. With any luck I’ll have tons of pics to post!