Scenes from the road

Setting outLunch in Yakima (day 1)Eastern OregonWorld's most scenic fertilizer? grain? cement? plant in eastern Oregon.Lunch at an old-fashioned soda fountain in Boise (day 2)Eastern Idaho

The Utah

We have pulled in to Ogden, Utah for the night, after another productive day of driving. We took a small detour and tried a highly-recommended restaurant in Boise, Idaho, called Moon's Kitchen. There was a soda fountain and much fried food, and it was wonderful. Boise also looked like a fun city that I would like to explore more in the future. We drove past the Boise State University football stadium, but I was unfortunately not able to catch a glimpse of the famously weird blue field. Oh well.

"School bus, this is little blue, over"

Today we started our journey to Fort Worth, and I am blogging from a motel in Baker City, OR. We actually packed up the apartment on Saturday (quite quickly, thanks to much help from our great friends), and we spend the weekend with our friends Scoot and Meh and their adorable baby Zachary. Scoot wrote a really nice piece on their feelings about our leaving Seattle on their blog today, and I can assure you that we feel the same way. I have lived in Seattle since 1999, and Kate since 2000. In that time, we have both made a lot of incredible friends, and Scoot and Meh are some of our oldest and closest (actually Scoot and my friendship dates back past our Seattle days, to our childhoods in Michigan). It was hard to leave Seattle today.

Two things made our journey a little easier. First, Kate's best friend, SYL, is accompanying us. We are taking both a moving van and a car, and thanks to SYL's presence, one driver always has company. Second, yesterday we picked up a pair of walkie-talkies, on the recommendation of SYL's boyfriend K. We have given each a code name -- the big yellow moving van is "school bus," and the smaller sedan is "little blue" (hence the title of this blog entry). And they make coordinating things between the cars easier and more fun.

Almost gone

We leave tomorrow morning. Of course, the last few days in Seattle have been absolutely gorgeous, with bright blue skies, tall green trees, and amazing views of the snow-capped mountains. If only we were leaving in November, this would be much easier. . . .

But we are leaving. Here are some shots of moving day. We had an amazing crew of friends that came to help us load our truck.

Here's the before:And the after:What a difference a pack of smart, talented, and brawny friends make!

We are now staying with Zachary's parents. Compared to the last few days in our apartment, staying with them is like a pure vacation - a hammock, lemonade, home-made ice cream, and, of course, a very cute water baby:

Party Animals

As our days here in Seattle draw to a close, we're trying to see everyone one last time.

That, of course, includes our favorite four-legged creatures. On Saturday, Jen Em had a belated birthday party, and Daisy and her friend Muffin were there.So cute!

And then last night, we had a wonderful picnic down by the beach. Unlike the last time I'd gone to all the trouble of reserving a picnic shelter, this time the weather actually cooperated (Mike made the reservation this time. Coincidence? I think not.). Unfortunately, I was too busy talking and eating to take any pictures.

But we did wander down to the beach and watch the sun set. At 9:45pm. Gotta love Seattle in the summer!

Rice Paddy Art

For the record, we think this is pretty cool.

the template, it is a-changing

So I've used my mad computah skillz to make some changes around here. You know, in honor of our big move.

I'm still working on a few things. In particular, I'd like a little feedback regarding whether the black text on a blue background is too hard to read [we strive to be nothing if not reader-friendly here!]

Graduation Redux

Although Mike actually defended his dissertation last summer and his degree was awarded in the winter, he officially participated in graduation last week.

We had the whole gang in town [my brother isn't in this picture, but he was here, too].Mike wore a fancy dress to the department ceremony on Friday.Afterwards, we had a little party. Mike again modeled his dress, and Meredith tired to guess how much it cost if you wanted to buy it (hint: MUCH more than you think).Saturday we had planned on going to the big university ceremony in the football stadium. But the graduate decided he would much rather go to the park and have us all spend time together than have us sit apart during a 4 hour ceremony. So a picnic in the park it was!And then a very nice dinner down on the water.
The graduate and his proud parents:

Heat wave?

Okay, so I know the rest of the country is suffering right now (and, believe me, I know that will be us soon enough).

But it's snowing here. I mean, not in the city, but in the local mountains. 7 inches of snow in the local mountains last night. For real.
Photo credit goes to Thomas James Hurst, Seattle Times

A successful half marathon!

This weekend we went to Port Angeles, WA so that Kate, SYL, and Brian could participate in a half marathon. For those of you keeping track at home, that is 13.1 miles of running. And you are not allowed to get on a bus or a train even once. Brian's spouse Claire drove, and I just came along for the ride. It was really fantastic to watch. Brian has run several half marathons, and he got a personal best time. This was Kate and SYL's first half marathon, so they also got personal best times.

Here are the runners before the race, showing us their strides:


Here is Brian finishing:


Here is Kate and SYL just after finishing:


Here is Brian posing with the rabbit that was used to decorate our hotel room:


Here are before and after photos of the group on the ferry:

Update: SYL informed me that this was actually her second half marathon, but that the time was a personal best. So, there you go.

Update #2: We just found out that Brian finished 4th in his age group!

Wish me luck!

We're off to the Olympic Peninsula so I can run my first half marathon.

I've been sick this week, so I missed my last long run, but I did do 8 miles last Saturday and 6 miles on Wednesday, so I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The weather is expected to be cloudy and cool, but not rainy. I'd prefer a little sun, but I'll take no rain (hopefully!).

The good thing about running your first race is that any time will be a personal best! Also, given our upcoming move, I figure that this is one of the last times I'll be running a race outside for a while.

Beisbol Day

On Saturday we went to see the Moaners play the Tiggies. It was much warmer than our last time at the ball park.

It was also "Salute to Latin American Beisbol Day." This meant that the music was considerably better than usual and that all the announcements were also in Spanish. We also got hats that said "Marineros" on them, to match the special uniforms worn by the players.

Thanks to our friend dwatkins, we had great seats.Also, the Mariners won! (although that was the only game of the series they won, but who's counting?)

Summer shows itself

Finally! Just when I was starting to think that all the nice days were going to arrive after we'd left Seattle, we had a few gloriously sunny days.

First, we had a picnic in the park.The picnic also featured a crawling race.The ducklings are starting to swim in the lake!We took a jaunt to Deception Pass State Park. It was a perfect Pacific Northwest scene - tall green trees, deep blue water, rocky cliffs.I also did a little Seattle tourism - I finally went on a Duck Tour (note that it was not especially sunny that day).Here's SYL's old house - the little blue one down in front (not to be confused with the big blue one in back).

The Graduate

So my brother graduated last weekend. From Berzerkeley. With a degree in Environmental Economics and Policy. He is a superstar!

The ceremony was at 9am on Sunday morning in the Greek Theater on campus. 9am seemed early, but since it was a brilliantly sunny day - and the theater has no shade at all - we ended up feeling very happy (and only a little sunburned and dehydrated).

Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

There was a dog on stage! I love that a professor brought his or her dog!

My brother walks

and he shakes (I guess he is kind of like a dog, too).

Obligatory graduation shot

In the flesh.

With his novia.

The whole crew.

Celebrating. With white grape juice, of course.

Jake, the wonderdog that owns my San Francisco family.

p.s. A very happy congratulations to my friend Joanna (if you follow the link, she's the one in the pink, not the one in the wedding dress!) who became Mrs. Joanna over the weekend.

These boots were made for walking

On Sunday I replaced these hiking boots.These weren't just any hiking boots - they were all leather Italian Zamberlans with Vibram soles. In my mind, these were, like, the hot fudge sundae of hiking boots. They kicked, well, you know. . . .

The boots were tough to break in. I remember quarter-sized blisters on both my heels, pressure points on my ankles, and chafing at the spot where the cuff of the boot tightened around my lower calf. But once broken in, these boots were the best.

I've had them longer than I've known Mike, possibly longer than I've known Miso.

They've been hiking, backpacking, and after-ski wearing in:
Montana
Hawaii
Massachusetts
California
Oregon
Washington
Idaho
Colorado
Wyoming
Vermont
New Hampshire
Virginia
Maine
British Columbia
Alberta
Japan
Australia
New Zealand
France
Switzerland

They've had a good, long, full life. No boots could ever ask for more.
I wore out the original insoles, and I wore out the original laces.

But all good things must come to end. And the end has been long in coming; it is entirely possible that the boots needed to be replaced two years ago. The breaking point came last summer after our backpacking trip. I ended the trip with purple nail polish. Except it wasn't nail polish. The boots had finally reached the end of their life and now I was bleeding under my toe nails. Yes, it hurt. A lot.

But it was still with a heavy heart that I went to REI. They were so good, for so long.

R.I.P.