Olympic Coast

In Seattle, very few people have air conditioning in their houses. There are maybe only a couple days per year when you really would need it. Saturday was one of those days. As a way to deal with the 90+ degree heat (very hot for Seattle) and to enjoy the crystal-clear skies, Anya and I went to the beach.

There are, of course, beaches in the city (both on Puget Sound and Lake Washington), but we wanted to go somewhere a little more rugged and remote: the Pacific Coast. Even though Seattle is technically a coastal city (it's on salt water), it takes almost 3 hours to drive to where North America ends and the ocean begins.

We took a car ferry across the Sound to the Olympic Peninsula, drove around the northern end of the peninsula - taking in great views of the mountains, the Sound, lakes, etc. From the northern edge of the peninsula you can easily see to Canada (Vancouver Island, to be specific) across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

A big chunk of the Pacific Coast is protected from development as part of Olympic National Park. This means pristine beaches that are nearly deserted. We took a small spur road off U.S. 101 (the only way into the region), parked at a trailhead, and hiked through lush temperate rainforest to a place called Second Beach. It's not a very creative name (although it is located between First Beach and Third Beach), but it makes up for it by being one of the most spectacularly beautiful - and humbling - places you will ever visit.

At this point I'll let the pictures speak for themselves even though they don't begin to do it justice. There are quite a few pics, but I think these are definitely worth flipping though.

Housing

A lot has been said in the media lately about the "housing crisis" or "mortgage meltdown." Some of the talk is legitimate, and some of it is just talking-head punditry. For some reason I feel compelled to offer my two cents.

When Anya and I purchased our townhouse in March & April, our unit was one of 3 remaining of 8 units in our small townhouse development. The rest of the units were quickly sold. Construction continued on 16 additional units in our development to completely cover the parcel of land - a former oversize, decrepit half-way house (or something similar).

The 16 new units went on the market on Memorial Day weekend. One month on, 9 of the 16 units have been purchased. From what I can tell, they were all sold at or near the original asking price.

Obviously, I don't live in Las Vegas, Miami, or LA - where a serious adjustment is probably occurring. But from where I sit, it doesn't appear that the housing market is doing as badly as we're being led to believe.

Summer begins

I just got back from spending a fun week at a conference in San Francisco. We were able to get out of our hotel's overly-air-conditioned conference rooms and enjoy SF, which, as I've written before, is a wonderful city.

Now, back in Seattle, the weather has warmed up and it's time for the first major festival of the season - the Fremont Solstice Parade. Although Fremont is now rather yuppified, it still hangs on to it's bohemian (read: hippy) past by hosting a wacky, irreverent parade to celebrate the beginning of summer. The most interesting part of the parade is usually the hordes of nude bicyclists. Some of these people are elaborately painted and obviously put time and thought into their "costumes"; others are just exhibitionists who want to hang around naked without getting arrested.

Will summer ever arrive?

Snoqualmie Pass, June 10th

So far we've had the coldest June on record here in Seattle. As much as a foot of snow fell last night in the mountains; we just got rain and wind in the city. Everyone is getting pretty sick of this...

I got a brief respite from the unseasonable weather this past weekend by visiting comparatively sauna-like Minnesota. For those of you I was lucky enough to spend some time with - thanks for a fun weekend!