The sun came out for a few hours this afternoon so we decided to take a drive. We stopped in Silverdale to stretch our legs and walk down by the water. I can't wait until it feels like Washington is our home and we aren't just tourists.
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Over Presidents weekend last year I went down to the Ojo Caliente Springs in New Mexico with my girlfriends Robin and Andrea. On the last day we were there Andrea and I woke up early to take some photos of a Hispanic graveyard we had seen up the road. I was going through some old photo files on my computer and had forgotten about those photos. Here are a few of my favorites.
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We were in Bellevue on Monday afternoon. It was gorgeous...the sun was out and it was warm.
It was foggy like this for about 4 days. It was a spooky Stephen King "The Mist" kind of fog. At times visibility was down to less than 200 feet...and let me tell you that makes for fun driving. In the end I will take fog over freezing rain. |
As promised Boyfriend took me out for pancakes this morning...and boy was I needing those pancakes. He took me to a place called Chase's Pancake Corral up in Bellevue.
Chase's has been around for about 50 years and is the type of place where the staff knows the names of all the regulars. It is a tiny little place that is always packed. We went around 11am on a Monday and still had to wait 20 minutes for a table...but it was worth it.
Today is the 14th day I have lived in Washington with Boyfriend. With the exception of going downtown last weekend, it has been a rather uneventful 2 weeks. I miss Colorado, my friends, and dare I say it...a job to go to everyday. Mostly I miss having a sense of direction...as in an actual direction sense...not in a life, career, relationship sense. I miss having those mountains to the west. If they are on your right you know you are heading south, to your left north, and in the rear view mirror east. Here the only real landmark is Mount Rainier...and that only helps if you actually know what direction Mount Rainer is and if it is not hidden in the clouds. It also does not help that the roads not laid out in a nice grid system like they are in Denver. You can drive 3 miles on on the same road and it will change names five times. If it was not for my GPS system I am not sure that I would ever get anywhere. Even with it I still feel like I am driving in circles...how can you make four left turns and not end up going on a circle? It is like NASCAR sans the go fast part. People do not go fast here and are actually quite happy going 5-10 mph under the speed limit. And did I mention that it does not mater how many turns you make you always seem to be heading in the same direction? In the end no matter how slow I go and no matter how many left turns I make I always manage to end up where I am supposed to be. Anyway it is a 3 day weekend so Boyfriend does not have to work tomorrow. I am going to blow off work and we are going to drive up to Bellevue for pancakes. YEAH PANCAKES!!! |
Boyfriend and I went to Costco last night to pick up a few things and he could not leave the store with out the jumbo 28 count box of Corn Dogs.
I guess I can't give him too much flack because just minutes later I found a 6lb bag of Gummy Bears I could not live with out.
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When I first heard that we would be moving to Washington I decided that at least once a month I wanted to take a picture of the Space Needle. Other than the Market I could not think of anything that screamed Seattle Louder. I also thought it would be a good way to guarantee that we got out of the burbs and into the city at least once a month. We were feeling a bit touristy yesterday and decided to head downtown. We were just outside of the Queen Anne neighborhood when I snapped this photo. I commented that I had just taken my first Space Needle photo. Boyfriend replied "that is great! Now we don't have to stop".
Ummmm...yeah...no...we are going to have to stop and then you are going to have to stand around while I take a billion photos in the hopes that I get at least one that I like...then and only then we we get to go to the Market to buy fish and get a bite to eat. Conditions were far from ideal, it was raining, the sky had decided to turn all the same shade of dreary grey, and I was cold. I did manage to get a few shots that I liked. I present to you Space Needle...the first in a series of 12
Since we were feeling touristy we decided to fo ahead and pony up the dough to go up to the observation deck for a look around. Now when friends come to see us we won't have to do that and can spend more time eating dim sum. P.S. Dear Universe, I desperately want a new camera. Anything you can do to make that happen would be greatly appreciated. Smooches, Melinda |
I have met three people in Washington so far...and all of them are from Colorado. A coincidence...I don't think so. |
So in keeping with the New Year resolution I decided to take a couple of personal training sessions...you know just to get off on the right foot. The trainer I got is named Dan, he is 24, tan, has that spiky club hair, and is well built. I was more hoping to get a female, PE teacher type of trainer and not some good looking cocky kid...but what can you do. Our first session together consists of Dan getting my weight and measurements and discussing the workouts, nutrition and my goals. The later part I was okay with it was the weight and measurements part I was dreading. I knew I had gained some weight over the last couple of months but was shocked to see just how much. Dan then used that caliper thing to measure my BMI. That is something I can totally live without...a hot young guy pinching my fat. After calculating my BMI and my lean muscle mass Dan comments that he is surprised at my numbers. I ask how so and he says "you carry your weight very well"...which is code for "you are a lot fatter than you look". Ummmm....thanks? The weight range that he would like to see me in is the same as I had in mind so I know that neither one of us will be working towards and unrealistic goal. I am not going to tell you my starting point because yeah I am just not...but when I meet my goal I will be around 130-135 with 20% body fat. Day One I meet Dan at noon the next day for my first workout...we will be focusing on legs. Dan tells me he is excited about training me because he does not have to start at square one with me. So with that he says that he is going to start my workouts where I would be had I been working out with him for a month. I am a little flattered at his confidence in my ability...I am also hoping that he has not misjudged me. We start out warm up on the stair climber. The first thing Dan tells me is to look at my feet and only my feet because if I fall off the stair climber he is going to laugh at me then walk away and pretend I am not his client. We are going to do 2 minutes at level 10 (I usually only go to 7), 2 minutes at 12 skipping every other step, and then the final 2 minutes back at 10. All is going well and we are chatting away and about a minute into me skipping every other step I look up and I trip. OH MY GOD I was about to fall off of the stair climber just 3 minutes into my workout...not a good way to start. Using my cat like reflexes I was able to catch myself and get right back into step. Dan does not laugh but instead tells me I am awesome. After the warm up Dan has me do about 50 different kinds of squats, leg extensions, leg curls and there is a lot of jumping up and down off of boxes. Finally our hour comes to an end and not a second too soon as my legs are Jello. Tomorrow we are doing chest and triceps. Day Two Today when I show up Dan tells me that even though he knows I had my heart set on chest and triceps he had something else in mind. He had thought about burning out my chest and then doing a boxing workout but instead of that we would be doing a full body circuit. He runs me through the circuit which consists of 2 leg, 2 arm, 2 ab, and 1 total body exercise. I can't help but laugh as he is showing me the circuit because he only did 2-3 reps at each station and had already broken a sweat. I would be doing 15 reps at each station for 3 circuits. I was not looking forward to this. But first I had to warm up on the stair climber...there would be no falling off today. We are about halfway through the first circuit when Dan informs me that he this workout has made most of his clients puke. Great...not only do I have to concentrate on keeping my abs zipped up but I also have to try not to throw up. This work out killed me. I was pouring sweat, my legs and shoulders were on fire, I could not hear out of my right ear, but I did not puke. I literally feel like I want to die...but I am proud of myself because I did it. I addition to working out with Dan I have been going back to the gym with Boyfriend in the evenings to do about an hour of cardio and additional ab work. I am sore beyond words. Boyfriend says that pain is just weakness leaving the body...yeah and that pain he feels is just me punching him in the gut. I like the way I am feeling though and I want to keep it up. |
I woke up at 4:00am Sunday. It could have been because I am not used to the time change...or because I fell asleep at 7:30PM the night before...or maybe just maybe it was because today was the day we were going to IKEA!!! I was like a kid on Christmas morning, I wanted to go right NOW!!! But of course Ikea is not open at 4:00am...I checked...it did not open until 11:00am. We had to pick up Boyfriend's truck first so I would be following him to that great store of all things Swedish. I plugged the address into my GPS just in case he did not know where he was going. So we drive around a bit and then my GPS says to turn left and I was arriving at my destination...but Boyfriend was not turning. It was right there...the big blue building on the left...why aren't you turning Boyfriend...turn, Turn, TURN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TURN!!! Then a block and a half later he turned. All the while this huge blue building was on our left. I had heard it was big but I had no idea it was this enormous...and when I say enormous I mean almost as big as the state of Rhode Island. Finding parking is not a problem as we are there early, this would not be the case when we came out 3 hours later. I was unprepared for all the wonderful things inside this blue box. I was not 10 feet inside the door and had found about 7 things I wanted. I thought that we would look around a bit as we could always go back and grab anything that we wanted. Here is a tip if you find something you want grab it and carry it with you as chances are you will not remember how to get back to where is was that you saw it. We got lost no fewer than three times while wandering around. This place has everything...including the kitchen sink. Oh and did I mention there is a restaurant right in the store?!?! If you find yourself getting a bit peckish while shopping you can go right in and get yourself a plate of Swedish meatballs. Right now I would say that the Ikea is my favorite place in all of Washington. I could have easily spent a couple thousand dollars in the store that day. I want to live at the Ikea...it is so big that I am sure that no one would notice if I were to move right in. I think I will have to limit myself to only going once a month. Boyfriend has instated a rule that I am not to go there alone...that is probably for the best as I don't think I could be trusted to keep my spending in check. |
We knew day two was going to be much easier than day one with only about 400 miles to go. We slept in until 7:30 am and after breakfast and a Starbucks run were on the road by 9:00 am. It was cold, but we had blue skies and no wind.
Once the sun went down the night before we did not get to see how pretty this part of Montana was. With all the new snow the drive through the mountains was beautiful. We had gotten a lot of snow in the mountains of Colorado, but it does not compare with the amount of snow they gave gotten in Northern Montana and Idaho.
We cut across the panhandle of Idaho and went through Coeur de Laine. The views of the lake here are breath taking. I think this might be an area we venture back into in the summer. We entered Washington through Spokane. It had been all over the news about the amount of snow Washington has been getting...but we were thinking they were talking by Washington standards. By any standards Washington has an assload of snow.
(Snoqualmie Pass) We arrived in Kent around 3:30 PM. It is weird to say...but it is nice to be home. I can't wait to get out and explore the area. But first things first...tomorrow Boyfriend promised he would take me to Ikea.
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The alarm went off at 4:08 am and the song Crazy by Gnarls Barkley was playing...I found that rather appropriate. After getting the last few things in the truck, taking some pictures and a tearful goodbye to my mom we were on the road by 5:20 am...only 20 minutes behind schedule but less than the hour we are usually behind on these road trips. We made it in to Cheyenne by 7:00am we were making good time and things were going well. The plan was to make it to Missoula, MT 7:00 PM going roughly 950 miles, or about 13 hours including drive time and stops.
There are some beautiful sights in Wyoming...Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons to name a few...but we would not be seeing any of that. If you have ever had the pleasure of taking I25 across Wyoming you know it is boring as hell (not Nebraska or Kansas boring but boring nonetheless) and it is windy. It does not seem to matter where we go...if we are on a road trip there is going to be wind and lots of it. Once out of Cheyenne those winds started up. It would not have been so bad had it been a tail wind...but instead we were faced with 65 mph cross winds. I had the wheel cranked so hard against it that if the wind would have suddenly stopped we would have gone careening into off the road and into a ditch.
We stopped for lunch in Sheridan, about 20 miles from the Montana border, at noon. I can't remember the name of the place were we had lunch...but I do remember the name of the loud little kid at the table next to us...it was Tyler. Dear Tyler's parents, telling Tyler to shush 50 million times is obviously not working maybe you should try something else, or take him to a McDonalds playplace next time. After lunch we crossed over into Big Sky Country...and I have to tell you that the sky does seem bigger in Montana.  Driving through this part of Montana was a lot like Wyoming with the exception of more hills and snow. We were a bit ahead of schedule so we decided to be a little touristy and stopped to do the tour at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It was getting colder and windier so we tried to be quick about it. Boyfriend had been there before and was able to give a very informative your yet abbreviated tour. I got the gist that maybe Custer was not all that hot of a General and had he kept his troops together that the out come would have been very different. I was also sad to learn that all but a horse named Comanche died in the battle.
In checking the weather before leaving that morning we knew that there was a 30% chance of snow...and we ran into that snow just outside of Billings. We went from cloudy skies and clear roads to whiteout conditions and icy roads in a matter of minutes. We drove in and out of snow for the next 6 hours. Every once in a while we would get lucky and get about 20 miles of dry roads but it did not help to make up time. Once in Butte the skies cleared and the roads appeared to dry up. it was 9:00 PM we were about 120 miles outside of Missoula, hours behind schedule and tired. My foot became very heavy and I drove those winding mountain roads as fast as I could...regardless of the protests coming from the passenger seat. We pulled into Missoula at about 10:15 PM...3 hours behind schedule. Here's to hoping that the last 400 miles are a little easier. |
New Years Resolution This year instead of writing up a long list of the things I want to do and will never get around to doing, I decided to focus on just 2 things 1) Losing stress weight. I have gained 15 lbs since finding out about this move. I am not one of those lucky people who lose weight when stressed...oh no quite the opposite. I see myself spending a lot of time at the 24 Hour Fitness. My goal is to lose the initial 15 lbs and then an additional 10...just for good measure. 2) Find something I am passionate about and find a way to make money doing it. I am giving myself the full year on this one. Oprah seems to have the inside scoop on how to do this. I am thinking I may have to get in touch with her... |
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