The Not-So-Rainy City

I'm back from my fabulous trip to Seattle! It came at a time when a vacation was greatly needed, and it was exciting to journey westward from Boulder instead of back east. I left last Thursday morning and arrived in Seattle around 2pm, to be greeted by my lovely cousin Vicki at the airport. We had a few hours of afternoon to explore, so after we checked out her luxurious apartment, we hit the streets.














































Pretty nice eh? Anyway, the first thing we did was hit up Pike Place Market, a Seattle legend and my folks' strong recommendation as a must-see.


























































There were so many gorgeous flowers I could hardly stand it. Not to mention samples galore of local honey (Mountain Raspberry is where it's at), the famous fish throwers, and dozens of cool local artisans displaying their handiwork. Quite a place! We walked around town bit more, saw the original Starbucks, ate some truffles, and met Mike for dinner at the top of the Space Needle! Oh yes. Complete with rotating floor and 360 views of Seattle at sunset. Loved it.
























































The food was delicious and our dessert was quite spectacular.

























The next day, Vicki and I took off on an adventure to the western coast of Washington to visit the Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach. Vicki was quite a trooper, as she took on a total of 8+ hours of driving in one day but it was well worth it. It was a day of firsts for me- first visit to a rainforest, first sighting of an elk, and first time to the Pacific Ocean!

















































































We got lucky and it wasn't actually raining in the rainforest when we got there, so we got to see the green in all its glory! Pretty unique habitat with moss covering every surface and trees growing at more than twice the rate of those in other areas.

After we got our fill of moss, we headed to Ruby Beach to check out the Pacific Ocean! Pretty exciting stuff, puppy Max and I were ready to dip our toes in the water.
























































Isn't he just the cutest?


On the way back from our voyage, we had a delicious seafood dinner in Port Angeles and returned home as two tired travelers. But not before Vicki ever so subtly snuck Max onto the ferry deck from Bainbridge Island.
Cute : )




























Saturday was Seattle day and Vicki and Mike patiently showed me all of the various tourist attractions I needed to see. These included the troll, city locks, Gas Works Park, Pioneer Square and the underground city tour. Did you know that the original city of Seattle was built at sea level and would flood at high tide every day? The city leaders finally decided this wasn't too fun and built the streets 15 feet higher than they had been, even after the buildings were already up. So the original Seattle storefronts can now be found underground. Pretty awesome!

For dinner, we headed to West Seattle's Alki Beach. It felt like a completely different town, bonfires on the beach, funky little beach houses and lots of people out roaming around. I loved it. We ate at a seafood restaurant called Salty's where I had some fresh Pacific salmon that was some of the tastiest fish I've ever put in my mouth. Plus the restaurant boasted a lovely view of the Seattle skyline across the water.












































Oh my! Overall, it was a great trip with extremely generous and enjoyable hosts : ) I hope to come back soon. And that just might be possible because, as I volunteered to take a later flight back home on Sunday, I got a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the US! Oh yeah, icing on the cake.

In the planning stages of the big move back to VA, there are quite a few details to handle but I enjoy a good bout of researching and organizing. The folks will be out here in about 7 weeks and then it's time for TELLURIDE. Seriously excited. Bluegrass in the San Juans will heal what ails you, and me.

Getting to Know CO

How did it get to be mid April already? These last few weeks have definitely been long, but it sure is crazy to think that I've been in Boulder for almost 8 months now! But, I'll go ahead and drop the bomb now for those who haven't heard-- I'm moving back to the east coast in July. I'm taking advantage of Mom and Dad's summer visit and wrangling them into helping me move back when they'll already be out here. There are lots of reasons for the return, but I will say that I am so glad I decided to make the move out here-- I think it has helped me grow up a LOT and it's always nice to have a fresh perspective of the world after living in a new place. Boulder will always hold a special place in my heart : ) I'm so cheesy.

That said, I am trying to pack in everything that I've wanted to do in Colorado into these last few months. Luckily, my friends here Melanie and Heidi are totally game for tagging along, and we've already made a few fun trips around the state. A couple of weeks ago, we drove out to Idaho Springs, CO which was one of the first cities involved in the Gold Rush! Also, more the reason we went, the town houses some natural hot springs. Healing waters! We were in need. They had the springs feeding into an indoor swimming pool which, though festive, was not exactly relaxing with screaming children splashing us the whole time.























It was a fun experience though, and after about an hour of soaking in the minerals, we got to wandering the cute little downtown. And of course, we had to snap some pictures.
















































On the way back, we passed Golden, CO and couldn't resist exploring the hometown of Coors.


























And taking more pictures of ourselves. It was definitely a cute town with lots going on, we hope to come back and spend more time there since it's only 20 or 30 minutes out of Boulder. But the calendar is pretty full! So we'll have to see.

We checked another destination off the list last weekend when we drove down to Colorado Springs to see Garden of the Gods. I had been dying to see this place and it just so happens that Melanie's parents live about 45 minutes away so we had a place to crash AND they ever so graciously hosted us for Easter dinner. It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal and a welcoming place to be for Easter Sunday : )

Garden of the Gods, though, was quite a place. We had a blast climbing all over the rocks and trailblazing around the park.





















































































































That last one is Balanced Rock. 700 tons of sandstone precariously balanced for hundreds of thousands of years! Pretty cool. I bet I could push it over.

Anyway, next up in my travels is Seattle! I'm leaving Thursday for a long weekend with my cousins Vicki and Mike. I've never been to the West Coast before so I'm super excited, and I've got my rain boots so bring it on Seattle!

Enjoy the spring time. Colorado is getting there, slowly.