Magnuson Park

This morning we tried out the new Tillicum cafe for breakfast, and later drove to Ravenna for some bagels. I couldn't believe it took us 12 minutes to drive to a neighborhood that took us 3 hours to walk to last Sunday. I love comparing driving and walking; we think nothing of driving 60 miles in an hour but do you have any idea how long it would take to walk that far!? I think I can walk 15 miles a day; the problem is by the 3rd day I have shin splints and sore ankles from walking the previous days.


I'm finally getting the 3 "M' parks straightened out: Magnuson, Myrtle Edwards, and Marymoore. We went to Magnuson Park on Sand Point to try and find the Sound Garden. We could hear it, and see it in the distance, but we couldn't figure out how to get past the barbed wire and locked gate to get to it. A lady at the dog park told us that there's a guard there on weekdays who would let us in. guard? barbed wire?



We still saw some other art though, the fin project (old airplane tails that look like a pod of orcas) and the salmon shower.

Grandpa's Lounge?

Bryce and I headed to grandma and grandpa's for a visit and to get car stuff taken care of. Grandpa has this really cool garage. It's a true grandpa garage: NPR playing, old fashioned tools and pullies hanging on the wall, pictures of the projects he's done, and a neat wood stove. I was thinking, it would be cool to have a lounge called "Grandpa's" or something and it would look just like my grandpa's garage. I would even make it so the place wasn't heated so it would be sorta cold inside except for heat from gas lamps or something.


We had Thanksgiving at Roy and Tammie's house. Tammie let me play with the grandkids' bouncy balls in the hallway.

Shopping

Bryce and I walked downtown today after dinner to go shopping; he went a little crazy at Banana while I got to look at all the new pretty things at Anthro. They have the prettiest coats out this year! I finally got a new coat at Banana on Monday; $100 off! woo hoo!

Of course, we had to follow that up with cervezas and nachos at Pacific Place.

Wellington!!

Geoff from NZ job seek wrote this afternoon and said he found a job in Wellington!



Bryce told me just a few days ago that Wellington would be ideal because it's on the southern tip of the North Island-- easy access by ferry to the South Island. Wellington looks amazing. Of course I'd live pretty much anywhere in New Zealand, so that's not saying much. It's about 4 hours away from the nearest ski resort, Mt. Ruapehu.

Wellington's the capitol of NZ (Embarrassingly, we just found that out. We thought it was Auckland). Wellington is NZ's 3rd biggest city. I found this out on Wellington's website:

New Zealand's currency is based on dollars ($) and cents (c). There are five notes ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100) and five coins (10c, 20c, 50c, $1, $2).

Brussel Sprouts

Kari and Christine told me that broiled brussel sprouts are yummy (some olive oil, some salt and pepper, 400 degrees at 20 minutes, and yada yada yada, you're done). They were good! I've never had them before. Tastes like broccoli.

Christine got some sprouts for me when we went to Pike Place Market together on her lunch break. (I worked from home today). While we were there we saw this broccoli/cauliflower hybrid, I wish I had a picture of it.


Here's a picture of our building that I took. I've been doing a lot of walking since we moved to Seattle, it's great! I think I have shin splints though from our long walk yesterday.

Seattle Hike

Click here to see our Trail Map (Give it about 5 seconds to load)

Bryce wanted to go for a hike today-- somewhere in the mountains where snow would be involved. I suggested walking to Pies and Pints; a restaurant we've been wanting to go to in Ravenna. Advantages: no snow, no wild animals, plenty of rest stops, and Pies and Pints has beer AND meat pies. Needless to say, we went with my plan. All in all, our Seattle hike took about 6 hours, was 12.5 miles long, and included an extra rest stop at the Triangle in Fremont. We walked to Ravenna via the University Bridge, and walked back through Latona, Wallingford, and Fremont, stopping to see the Fremont Troll. We were exhausted when we got back home.

Cool double-helix door handle on a lab building on Eastlake.


I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park


Found at the mountain biking park under I-5 off of Eastlake.


In U-District.


Our mission: walk to Pies and Pints in Ravenna from Belltown.


Fremont Troll under hwy 99.


I finally e-mailed NZ and said I could not take the job in Gisborne.

Restless

I need to get out.
Saw Warren Miller last night, it was great. Had like 20 people from the ski school there.
Went for a short run today, I'm definitely not as capable a runner as I normally am in late November. I'm kinda disappointed I took the easy way out and didn't sign up for the 1/2 marathon this year. That race really does a lot to keep November flying by and keeping me determined. I'm definitely fighting a rut lately.
Well at least I did work out Thursday and today. I can't wait to ride. I need some more riding partners. I think I need to do more weekday riding this year. Less lines, more vert, more powder.
Well it's time to go grab a beer or two.



Julie's note: I think Bryce was bummed because he was stuck in the studio all day while I baked with Kari. Yummy brownies. mmm. Bryce perked up once we met up with Ryan and Joe at Kushi, a cool sushi place, that oddly enough is right next door to Wasabi Bistro.