Relaxing Days in Seattle

Huffing along on a power walk at 6:30 a.m. east on 155 Ave in Shoreline, WA at a rate of 3.3 MPH on these steep hills, that speed is hard to maintain.  Sweating like a pig (hmmm I wonder if pigs sweat and where did that expression get started?) up these hills, it is a lot different than a walk in Romeo, MI.  I’ve been getting in between 3 and 5 miles a day for the last several days getting ready for our clime on Mt Baker and Mt Rainier next week.  Although we will only go to the 8500 foot level of Mt. Baker and the 10500 foot level of Mt Rainier, the air at that height is thin and will take a lot out of Adrian and me.

I have been spending some time with my daughter and Rob staying in their house.  It’s relaxing.  The sky has been clear every day the temperature in the day a nice 75 degrees and 58 in the evening. 

Shoreline is a Seattle suburb where they moved to a couple of years ago and now they have decided to buy a house here and are going though the anguish of finding the right house and bidding at the right price.  This is the fourth house they have bid on and they have determined that if they stand any chance of getting it they need to bid $40K to $50K higher than the asking price.  The housing market is very strange here, it is a seller’s market and even then many investors, with cash on hand, are driving the locals out of the market because the demand for rental housing is so high they can ask for unreasonably high rents and they get it.  More importantly, homes that normally sell for $100K to $150 K in Michigan are selling here for $350K to $450K – it is an insane market.

Right now I am relaxing in the back yard with a beer and my laptop.  Rebeca has taken the kids to the movies and with my companion, Stela Artois from Belgium, I am having a wonderful and creative time.  And I just got a real treat.  I heard the humming birds feeding on the honeysuckle behind me, I sat perfectly still and the bird came and hovered right in front of my face for at least 15 seconds looking straight at me.  It was no more than 12 inches away and I'm glad I had my glasses on.

We went crabbing yesterday but forgot to bring the bait, so we spent some time at the pier in Everett, WA watching people fish.  They were catching all types of fish, the most impressive was the flounder.  One little girl about Adrian’s age go so excited with the star fish on the pier pilings that she dove in to get a couple.  Later we decided to take a ferry ride to Whidbey  Island – the kids loved it.  

 Adrian crabbing off some rocks

 A nice flounder

 On the Ferry

We stopped and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Everett, it seems that there is a Mexican restaurant every block.  I counted 15 in the drive on State Highway 99.  The Mexicans are making the Chinese look bad in this part of the country!

Today I took the kids to the Seattle Aquarium and we had a treat, they were feeding the Giant Pacific Octopus.  Boy I would hate to meet that critter in a dark alley.  The Aquarium is very popular because it’s like a petting zoo, you can touch the exhibits (except for the ones that eat you.  Seattle is very accessible, lots of parking on the street so you don’t have to get ripped off for parking.  Tomorrow will spend some time on the pier and do some crabbing.  Maybe we’ll get some Dungeness crabs for dinner.