Find pics from the weekend here.
After getting some new furniture delivered and taking time to organize our things once and for all, Anya and I are finally feeling settled and were able to do some fun stuff this weekend (not that furniture shopping isn't fun, but living out of boxes gets old).
We had planned on going to a wine festival being held by a bunch of Washington wineries, but it turned out to be rainy and somewhat cold that day (it was nice the rest of the weekend, though). Instead we went to the Redhook Brewery, which started in Seattle but relocated years ago to a suburb called Woodinville. Unlike most seemingly nature-inspired suburbs, this one actually lived up to its name and was quite green and foresty.
The brewery has a large pub with surprisingly decent food, but we of course were there for the tour. I've been on quite a few brewery tours over the years, but Redhook's was by far the most drinking-oriented. Despite being available nationwide, Redhook is still a relatively small brewery, and as such there were really only 3 rooms to see. The tour guide was humorous and personable, and led us back to a central room after each short informative speech. This central room was where the real "tour" occured, as a different beer was given to us to sample each time.
Overall, this tour was the most worthwhile brewery tour I've ever been on. I didn't learn much about beer or the brewing process, but the tour only cost $1 per person and included a small beer glass and essentially unlimited beer to fill it with. For anyone visiting us who is a beer enthusiast, I would highly recommend it.
Another day during our weekend we devoted to seeing some of the beautiful nature that surrounds Seattle. We drove about 35 miles east into the Cascade mountains to Ollilie State Park, where we walked on a recommended trail. We went on a 2-mile path (each way) through a temperate rainforest and along a mountain river to a pair of waterfalls. It was a very beautiful place with lots of huge old-growth pine trees (actually firs and hemlocks), ferns, and moss. The main waterfall was around 150 feet high and we got a nice view of it from an overlook and a special foot bridge. In total the trail gained about 1000 feet in altitude, so it was a decent workout.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Trip to Victoria, BC
To celebrate our 1 year anniversary, Anya and I took a weekend trip to Victoria, British Columbia this past weekend. View the photos here.
To get there we took the Victoria Clipper, a high speed passenger ferry (it goes about 35 mph, which seems pretty fast for a boat its size) that makes the trip from Seattle in about 2.5 hours. Overall the ferry experience is rather like an airplane trip; you check your bags, get a boarding pass, go to the gate, take your seat on the boat, wait, collect your bags, and go through customs - it's Canada, after all. The seats and food were only marginally better than most airplanes, but the views were great (assuming it's a clear day you get spectacular views of the Olympic mountains for most of the trip).
The hype for Victoria is that it's a quaint European or British-style town with cute streets and lots of small cafes, pubs, restaurants, and shops. To the extent that it's supposed to be a good tourist destination, we found it to be somewhat overrated. Although the downtown area is compact enough to walk everywhere, it's too big to be called cute and too rundown to be called quaint. Boring 60's and 70's government buildings (it is the capital city of BC) abound everywhere except for the area immediately around the harbour. Because of the temperate climate compared to most of Canada, Victoria is somewhat of a retirement hotspot. This has lead to the construction of glass & steel condo towers which, while quite fitting for Seattle or Vancouver, seem looming and out of place.
Perhaps I am making it out to be worse than it was; we stayed at a good hotel and ate at some wonderful restaurants. Overall, it was a very good Anniversary weekend! It's just that the city did not impress us. The two highlights of Victoria itself are the British Columbia Parliament building, and the 1908 vintage castle-like Fairmont Empress Hotel. (See the pics).
The definite highlight of the trip was the second day, when we took a bus 15 miles outside the city to the Butchart Gardens (again, check out the pictures...link is above). Several generations of the Butchart family have spent 100+ years converting an old limestone quarry into fantastic rolling gardens. It's hard to describe, and harder to come up with a comparison...the best I can do is "Disneyland for botanists and landscape architects." There are many different sections; a Japanese garden, an Italian garden, a rose garden, and the signature "Sunken Garden" where a giant cleft in the ground (the result of the quarrying) was filled with hills of flowers, a pond, lawns, moss-covered rocks, and walking paths. The cold weather and rain didn't really dampen the experience, in a lot of ways it seemed appropriate to the climate and made everything feel very fresh and alive.
As I said before, it was a good weekend getaway; the splendor of the gardens made it worthwhile. However, I don't think Anya and I will be in any rush to go back to Victoria, especially with so many other good destinations near Seattle. We're already planning a trip to Portland sometime later in the summer, which is a city that is quite different from Victoria and drastically under-rated as a weekend getaway. Until then, we have a countless number of places to explore and things to do here in Seattle.
To get there we took the Victoria Clipper, a high speed passenger ferry (it goes about 35 mph, which seems pretty fast for a boat its size) that makes the trip from Seattle in about 2.5 hours. Overall the ferry experience is rather like an airplane trip; you check your bags, get a boarding pass, go to the gate, take your seat on the boat, wait, collect your bags, and go through customs - it's Canada, after all. The seats and food were only marginally better than most airplanes, but the views were great (assuming it's a clear day you get spectacular views of the Olympic mountains for most of the trip).
The hype for Victoria is that it's a quaint European or British-style town with cute streets and lots of small cafes, pubs, restaurants, and shops. To the extent that it's supposed to be a good tourist destination, we found it to be somewhat overrated. Although the downtown area is compact enough to walk everywhere, it's too big to be called cute and too rundown to be called quaint. Boring 60's and 70's government buildings (it is the capital city of BC) abound everywhere except for the area immediately around the harbour. Because of the temperate climate compared to most of Canada, Victoria is somewhat of a retirement hotspot. This has lead to the construction of glass & steel condo towers which, while quite fitting for Seattle or Vancouver, seem looming and out of place.
Perhaps I am making it out to be worse than it was; we stayed at a good hotel and ate at some wonderful restaurants. Overall, it was a very good Anniversary weekend! It's just that the city did not impress us. The two highlights of Victoria itself are the British Columbia Parliament building, and the 1908 vintage castle-like Fairmont Empress Hotel. (See the pics).
The definite highlight of the trip was the second day, when we took a bus 15 miles outside the city to the Butchart Gardens (again, check out the pictures...link is above). Several generations of the Butchart family have spent 100+ years converting an old limestone quarry into fantastic rolling gardens. It's hard to describe, and harder to come up with a comparison...the best I can do is "Disneyland for botanists and landscape architects." There are many different sections; a Japanese garden, an Italian garden, a rose garden, and the signature "Sunken Garden" where a giant cleft in the ground (the result of the quarrying) was filled with hills of flowers, a pond, lawns, moss-covered rocks, and walking paths. The cold weather and rain didn't really dampen the experience, in a lot of ways it seemed appropriate to the climate and made everything feel very fresh and alive.
As I said before, it was a good weekend getaway; the splendor of the gardens made it worthwhile. However, I don't think Anya and I will be in any rush to go back to Victoria, especially with so many other good destinations near Seattle. We're already planning a trip to Portland sometime later in the summer, which is a city that is quite different from Victoria and drastically under-rated as a weekend getaway. Until then, we have a countless number of places to explore and things to do here in Seattle.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Coffee
It's fun not to have a job. I spent the past week walking around, exploring different neighborhoods close to where we live, visiting different museums & tourist attractions, etc. The weather has been great; contrary to popular belief it's not always rainy and gray in Seattle. We're doing well at figuring out the lay of the land...where is the best sushi within walking distance, who has the best pizza, the coolest wine bar, etc.
I've also been trying to find the best coffee, which is no easy task in Seattle. Of course there is Starbucks and their Caribou-like counterpart called Tully's, but there are also plenty of independent coffee shops. I've counted at least 6 such small, "craft" shops & roasters. They're all based in the coffee-Mecca neighborhood called Capitol Hill, but most have opened a few branches around time. Luckily, there are 3 branches within a few blocks of our apartment. Some specialize in American drip-style coffee, some in very strong Italian style espresso, some in cappuccino & latte. I've read that some of the best baristas, the ones who can make hearts or palm trees out of the foamy milk on the top of your latte, can make $40k/year and get full benefits! That's how seriously they take it here. For those of you reading who are coffee drinkers, needless to say I will have plenty of great places to take you when you come to visit.
Have to run now. Anya is building a small forest of a garden on our balcony and we have to make our 3rd trip to the nursery in as many days :-)
I've also been trying to find the best coffee, which is no easy task in Seattle. Of course there is Starbucks and their Caribou-like counterpart called Tully's, but there are also plenty of independent coffee shops. I've counted at least 6 such small, "craft" shops & roasters. They're all based in the coffee-Mecca neighborhood called Capitol Hill, but most have opened a few branches around time. Luckily, there are 3 branches within a few blocks of our apartment. Some specialize in American drip-style coffee, some in very strong Italian style espresso, some in cappuccino & latte. I've read that some of the best baristas, the ones who can make hearts or palm trees out of the foamy milk on the top of your latte, can make $40k/year and get full benefits! That's how seriously they take it here. For those of you reading who are coffee drinkers, needless to say I will have plenty of great places to take you when you come to visit.
Have to run now. Anya is building a small forest of a garden on our balcony and we have to make our 3rd trip to the nursery in as many days :-)
Monday, May 7, 2007
North Cascades National Park
Updated: see the pics here.
Being sick of constant unpacking & organizing, we decided to take a break Sunday. We drove ~2.5 hours to North Cascades National Park. Neither of us had been there before, but it has a reputation of being an extremely beautiful (and uncrowded) place. It didn't disappoint.
The north Cascades are nicknamed the "American Alps" because they are steep, jagged, and covered with glaciers and could easily remind you of Switzerland or Austria. The road takes you past countless small waterfalls (the kind people buy posters of) that run down the side of the mountains every few hundred feet. There are several large lakes which were formed be dams that give people like Anya & I cheap electricity, but that doesn't make the lakes any less impressive.
We have lots of other cools places to explore also, but I know both Anya and I would like to go back sometime.
Being sick of constant unpacking & organizing, we decided to take a break Sunday. We drove ~2.5 hours to North Cascades National Park. Neither of us had been there before, but it has a reputation of being an extremely beautiful (and uncrowded) place. It didn't disappoint.
The north Cascades are nicknamed the "American Alps" because they are steep, jagged, and covered with glaciers and could easily remind you of Switzerland or Austria. The road takes you past countless small waterfalls (the kind people buy posters of) that run down the side of the mountains every few hundred feet. There are several large lakes which were formed be dams that give people like Anya & I cheap electricity, but that doesn't make the lakes any less impressive.
We have lots of other cools places to explore also, but I know both Anya and I would like to go back sometime.
Finally in Seattle
Sorry for the lack of updates. Anya and I (and all of our stuff) are now moved into our new apartment in Seattle. Most of our things are still in boxes, but that's a different story. We're going to spend the next few weeks unpacking, organizing, and acquainting ourselves with our new neighborhood.
We will have plenty of room to accommodate guests, so consider this your invitation...
We will have plenty of room to accommodate guests, so consider this your invitation...
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