Riding the bus - I dig it

One of the things we looked for in a rental in this new city was easy access to downtown, where I'll be working (starting Monday!!). We got really lucky with our apartment - we love it, we love the location, and it's about 100 yards from a bus stop that goes right to my work without needing to transfer buses. Today Steve and I did a test run...hop on in front of our house (well, almost), ride downtown (~18 min), hop off about 100 yards from my office building. Incredibly easy, and the bus was clean and on time. I think that's going to be my ride into work most days. I'm also thinking about maybe busing in and walking, running, biking, or rollerblading home some days - it's about 3.8 miles from home to work. The best part - the bus will be free (since I'll be a state employee and they have a rider program for employees) and I'll save on the monthly parking fee I'd have to pay if I drove in!  Win-win!

Now, that said, we're also going to Seattle tomorrow to look at a small scooter that's for sale. It's a great price, and might be a good option on decent weather days when I don't want to bus or drive the truck. I'm not sure if I'd have to pay to park that, but I'll ask when I start the job.

While downtown we also stopped at the farmer's market and stocked up on groceries. We've signed up for a CSA again, but it's still a couple of weeks until it starts. Man, it's sooooo great being back in a city/state where you can get good, fresh, local produce! If this job works out, I think we could be here for a looooooong time.  : )

This is what we picked up today:
Eggs - beets - rainbow colored radishes - Thai basil plant starts - rosemary garlic bread - green garlic - sweet cherries - asparagus

Now, off to plant the basil!

Camping weekend, part 2

The second two days of our camping trip we went north from our campsite and explored Mt Rainier National Park. The weather took a turn for the worse, so most of the time we were in the clouds or rain while near or in the park. But, we saw lots of gorgeous waterfalls, elk (!!), deer, clouds, and rain. Oh, and apparently over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, the town of Packwood (about 40 minutes from our campsite) is home to a HUGE flea market. It was a complete madhouse, but we did stop and wander around for a bit.

 Things were just starting to really turn green at higher altitudes in the park. There was still snow on some of the paths at the Paradise visitor center (which is as far up as you can go with a vehicle).

We also drove a bit over towards the 'sunny side' of the state - over the pass towards Yakima, WA. It was a very different climate over there - sunny, dry, and in the 70s, as opposed to 45, wet and cold over on the west side of the pass. This is near the summit of the pass, and you can see the clouds pouring over from the wet side down a wide glacier-carved valley.

 I got cool time-lapse video of it!

What a fun trip!  I can't wait to do it again.

Camping weekend

Once I start work, it's going to be hard to find 'fun' time since I'll be working full time and still trying to make progress on my PhD. We decided to get one good camping trip in before I started, and because it was Memorial Day weekend and we didn't have a campsite reserved, we got a jump on things are left Wednesday morning, with a plan to come back Sunday. It was perfect, we had the campground to ourselves until Friday, all of the hikes and waterfalls and scenic overlooks were deserted until Saturday, and we missed all the traffic.

We headed south to the area around Mt. St. Helens, which is also close to Mt. Rainier National Park and Mt. Adams.  All three mountains are active volcanoes, which is weird to think about. Obviously, Mt. St. Helens has erupted the most recently - the 35 year anniversary was the day before we arrived at the park.

We spent two days exploring Mt. St. Helens National Park - one day on the north/east side and one day on the south-southeast side. We didn't get a chance to see the western side, but since this is really close to home (about 2 hours), we'll be back. 

The lake you can see in the picture below was there before the eruption, but was ringed with resorts and the surface was 200 feet lower than it is now.  If you look closely at the water, you can see white/grey logs covering a huge portion of the surface; those were trees uprooted during the avalanche and are still floating today. That's crazy. 

After the eruption, a lot of the downed trees were removed and new trees replanted (particularly in valleys around water to stabilize things) but in some places you can still see how the blast topped trees in waves.

On the south side of the park there's a lava tube (Ape Cave) that was formed by a lava flow...as the lava poured down the mountain, the outer shell cooled and hardened into a tube, and the liquid lava inside eventually flowed on through, leaving the tube intact. Now you can walk through it...it's totally dark inside, and actually while we were there, filled with kids on a school field trip (I forgot we did run into some people one day!). It's also really cold inside!

Farther along the road is the site where a huge mass of water (heated groundwater and melted glacier triggered by the eruption) mixed with rock and mud and debris slammed down the mountain, scouring out valleys and leaving this behind:

 The flow also removed trees and earth down to the bedrock, which is now slowly growing back, but revealed this gorgeous canyon and now waterfall:

Finally, we stopped at a few waterfalls. This first one is Iron Creek waterfall.

 This is Lower Falls on the Lewis River. This one was pretty spectacular.

I can't believe such cool things are now practically in our backyard!

Exploring new digs, part 2

Tonight was beautiful. One thing I've noticed here (vs Juneau) is that there are 'normal' clouds. In Juneau, if it's cloudy, it's most often a solid sky of flat, grey clouds. Here, there's puffy clouds and flat clouds, and clouds that look like blooming thunderstorms. It's nice.

We went to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge tonight. It's about 10 miles from home and there's a 4-mile (round trip) hike that goes through marsh and tidal flats. The last mile is a wooden boardwalk over the water/tide flats. I thought they must be exaggerating when they said the boardwalk was a mile (who builds one that long??) but it was definitely a mile.

This is a really nice park for walking and wildlife (mostly bird) viewing. Dogs and joggers aren't allowed. We saw some ducks and geese, a rabbit, and a bald eagle. To me, the wildlife viewing isn't as exciting or interesting here as it was in Alaska, but it was still a nice night. We've traded wilderness for pastoral scenes...

 Goose families. Steve said the babies look like 'fuzzy footballs with legs'. Yep, they kinda do.

As we were leaving, the sun was getting low and really lighting things up beautifully!

Exploring new digs, part 1

Now that we're mostly unpacked and mostly settled (I've planted herbs in pots!), I've been working on school stuff during the day and we've been out exploring in the evenings. We went for a bike ride to try the route I'd bike to work, if I decide to bike to work. It's ~4 miles, pretty easy except for one hill. We passed where I'll be working and went to the marina and park past downtown Olympia. It was a gorgeous day to be outside.

We also checked out Tumwater Falls park, which is pretty close to where we live! It's the site of an old mill and brewery, and there's a nice walking path along the river following along a series of waterfalls.

 Also in the park: the biggest slug I've ever seen...

Condo pics, etc

I'm at Starbucks this time. We're in the process of setting up internet at home, but apparently it's complicated and it may be another two weeks until it's set up (and at last count I've talked to seven people!). Actually, it's taken far longer to get cable/internet set up than for us to get our WA drivers licenses AND WA vehicle registration taken care of - and that required visiting two different locations.  But despite having to visit two locations, getting licensed and registered here was by far the fasted and easiest of any state we've lived in so far.

We are pretty much set up at the new place now. One of the weird quirks with the new place is that the bathroom has windows up towards the ceiling, which means the mirrors end halfway up the wall...and are too short to see your head in them (in my case) or anything above mid-chest (in Steve's case). W.T.F? We've developed a work-around, but still, it's weird.

Also, the kitchen cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, which makes about 75% of them out of my reach without a step stool. I can deal with that, we don't have that many dishes. One perk of this place - it has massive amounts of storage. A pantry, probably 25 feet of hanging space in closets, and storage cupboards everywhere. It's nice.

Also, we scored this table and four (sturdy) chairs on Craigslist for $85. It's in great shape.

Last Saturday, after picking a place to rent, but before meeting to sign the lease, we went downtown to the Olympia waterfront to explore the wooden boat festival. Steve found this one, how adorable is that?

Ok, I'll go back now and post some updates from the ferry trip. Scroll down (or go back one page) to see them.

Three days on a ferry...threeeeeee daaaaaays

Tuesday – Ferry Day 1

We got up at 3 am, got dressed, and loaded the last bit of stuff in the truck, then headed to the ferry terminal. It was cold and not yet light out, so Steve froze outside as we wait for the ferry to arrive and loading to begin. But, it wasn't raining! 

Then, we waited, and waited, and waited. 

Above: the Kennicott ferry waiting for the Columbia to depart. 

It took a reaaaaaally long time for the ferry to unload – it was coming from Haines and Skagway and had several cargo containers down in the car deck that were unloaded one at a time. We were almost an hour late in departing. We checked into our room – an inside room that actually has a window looking over a back deck, a shower and toilet, and a bunk bed. It’s actually pretty nice – nicer than the room on the Tustumena. 

Above: One of the Sitka harbors.

By happy accident, our friend Maggie was headed to Sitka, the first ferry stop, on the boat with us. She was headed there for field work and had her car, so when we got to Sitka, we hopped in with her and she drove us downtown. Steve hadn’t been to Sitka, so the three of us walked around and explore the shops, the harbor, and got ice cream. It was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day. Then she drove us back to the ferry, we said our (final) goodbyes and the ferry departed again. 

Above: the upper forward lounge on the Columbia.

The boat is pretty empty. I’d bet there’s only ~35-45 passengers on board, and this is one of the largest boats in the fleet (250 feet long?). It feels empty. Sometimes we’re in a lounge and are the only people there. I guess it’s a bit early for summer tourists, and since we’re headed south there’s even fewer tourists. When we took the ferry north we met some great people that we’re still in touch with, this time, not so much.

Wednesday – At 3:15 am we arrived in Petersburg. I woke up about the time we were departing (~4:15 am) and went on deck to see what I could of the area. It was just getting light out, and I shapped a few pictures. Beautiful area.

The passage between Petersburg and Wrangell (the next ferry stop in a couple of hours) is narrow and winding. The ferry, and apparently sometimes even cruise ships, creep along, keeping to the channel. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the red channel marker on the left and the green one on the right, and the boat is going to slip between them.

Still Wednesday...

At 1 pm we docked in Ketchikan. We got off in Ketchikan and walked about a mile to the downtown area, where we grabbed a late lunch. It was a nice change from boat food. There were a bunch of ferries in dry dock in Ketchikan; the Malaspina and the Chenega (getting a new engine I think?), and then the Tustumena and Matanuska were there also.

Today I saw a single, small whale breach 8 times in a row. Didn’t get a single picture though.

Before bed we watched “Blast from the Past” on my computer in the lower forward lounge.

Thursday – Ok, ready to be off the boat now. We get in tomorrow ~7 am. I’ve been working on school stuff throughout the trip, so not seeing as much scenery or taking as many pictures as past trips. There are 4 power outlets on the boat that are at or near tables or seats. Four. That’s a bit outdated, I think. 

So far I have seen a sea lion, some porpoise, a couple of whales, and lots of birds. Every day has been sunny and calm. Wow.

Friday:

We're off the boat. Once we unloaded the vehicles, we stopped quick to re-strap the kayaks, which we'd moved forward so they fit within our 19-ft vehicle length limit. Then we grabbed breakfast in Bellingham before heading towards Olympia. We wanted to give some time from any lingering rush hour traffic to dissipate.

The hotel is adequate. We're going to start looking for a place to live today.

First impressions of WA and life in the L48 again...

    - Ack, traffic. I was strangely nervous driving in that much traffic. But as I write this one week later, I'm over it all ready.

    - Prices are so cheap! Restaurants are so much less expensive down here.

    - It's warm! I'm having temperature control issues.

Quick update

we made it to Washington!  And the very first thing we did after checking into the hotel (or,as Steve called it, the 'home-tel') was look for a more permanent place to live. Ultimately, we looked at only 6 places and pick one that has a great location and really reasonable rent. It's quirky and a tad dated (hello flowery wallpaper!) but it feels HUGE. It's two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a single car garage. The owners seem great and let us move in right away. Tomorrow we should be able to get our shipment and finish unpacking.

We don't have internet at home yet, but as soon as we do I'll post pictures of the ferry trip and more updates.  For now, we're sitting at a McDonald's for Internet. Not ideal but it gets the job done. More from us later!

Friends.

Last night our friends Tara and Kristan hosted a going-away party at their house for all our friends. It was a beautifully sunny, calm evening, and a great night with friends. We are so fortunate to have made great friends in every city and state we've lived in.

Several friends either have lived in, or were raised in the area where we're moving...and two gave us lots of ideas for places to explore. Wendel and Annie, recent transplants to Juneau from Washington made us this card, were the map they drew on the front has numbers corresponding to fun things to do and see that are detailed inside the card. What a great idea! We can't wait to explore the new area.

Today is another flawlessly gorgeous day in Juneau and we've made the most of it, throwing open the doors and windows this morning while we were cleaning, then going for a drive this afternoon to visit some of our favorite places.

The labyrinth at the Shrine:

Blooming flowers, finally!

 Cairns at the Shrine, with the Chilkat mountains in the distance:

 The Mendenhall Glacier, of course:

 And our favorite bear-viewing site (but no bears today):

Tonight we're going to a friend's house at the beach to help her celebrate her birthday. Tomorrow we'll load the truck with the last of our stuff and strap the kayaks on top. Then we need to do a final cleaning of the apartment. We handed over most of the keys to the new tenant this morning. Tuesday we need to be at the ferry terminal at 4 am. That's less fun, but it should at least be mostly light out, and we can wait to shower until we're on the boat, which will mean we can sleep a bit more.

Almost time to go!