Okay, I'm no expert when it comes to Bed & Breakfasts, but I know enough to know the one we stayed at this past weekend, owned by Olaf and Charlotte, was way above average.
The Red Caboose Getaway in Sequim is fantastic! You get to choose from several luxurious cabooses to stay in overnight. We opted for the Grape Escape:
In addition to the fabulous theming (with great attention to detail), the breakfasts in the mornings were delicious! Served in a dining car, Charlotte created four-course gourmet meals despite my wide array of food allergies. My favorites included:
Orange Pull-Apart Mini Loaf
Strawberry Dutch Baby
I also really liked that they offered a lot of suggestions for things to do in the area and places to try for lunch and dinner, but also gave you a lot of space to do your own thing. If you ever make it up to Sequim, you should definitely give the Red Caboose Getaway a try.
This month has been busy. Really, really fun, but busy.
Weekend 1
It started out with the regular busyness: working 40-50 hours/week, rowing, church, small group...add a Sunday School teacher meeting, Matt coaching youth baseball, and me anticipating the busy month ahead and trying to work ahead a little bit...and it was busy.
Weekend 2
I knew I was taking a half day on Friday the week leading up to this weekend, so I tried to work ahead a little bit this week as well. Of course, I still managed to work about 50 hours in addition to attending our weekly small group, having dinner with a family new to the church (a fun couple with two really great kids) and trying to make it to crew practice.
So why was I taking off early on Friday? Well, one of my best friends is getting married in August, and her Bachelorette Party was this weekend...PLUS another best friend was flying up from California to attend! I got off early on Friday so I could pick up her up from the airport, get a few last minute things for the party, eat dinner with another local friend, and make cookies for everyone (also for the party). Of course, the actual party was a LOT of fun, too. I love the bride (she was a roommate for 3 years in college), and I like her friends - those from college that I'm friends with, and those from high school that I've only seen a few times. We had a lot of fun hanging out in Seattle - from dinner and a show to karaoke. Plus we all stayed in a hotel together and got brunch the next morning. All in all, a really fun weekend!
Everyone at the Bachelorette Party
Weekend 3
I knew I was taking half days on the Thursday and Friday during the week leading up to weekend 3 (more about that later), but this also happened to be the week Common Ground was in town! Last year was the first time in 15 years I didn't get to see their show, so I had to make it to one of their Washington concerts. Plus my brother is one of the sponsors - I wanted to see him, too! The night we ended up going, they were staying in host homes anyway, so Matt and I took my bro home with us so we could actually get to see him for a while. We went for pie at Shari's on the way home, and then hung out for a little while before hitting the hay. The next day Common Ground was coming back south through Shelton, so we decided we'd rather drop him off their instead of driving all the way back up to Auburn, so I took a few hours off to grab lunch at Daddy O's before heading out to Shelton. I had SO much fun seeing my brother, and I'm SO glad it worked out for him to stay with us :D
NOTE: I totally spaced and forgot to take a picture with my brother while he was here...so the above is a video he created (along with a few other talented individuals) for the show!
Of course, all of the above meant I still had a lot of work to do before taking off early on Thursday afternoon. Matt's parents happened to win a week a timeshare of their choosing at an auction through their church, so they picked one near Long Beach as it was about equal distance from us and from Matt's sister in Portland. So on Thursday, we packed up all our stuff and headed out to Long Beach to hang out with the in-laws. Of course, I still put in a few hours of work in on Friday (yay for Internet access everywhere and a boss that's really understanding!), but it was still a really fun and relaxing trip!
Matt and our nephew at the beach
On Friday we wandered around Long Beach, played cards and enjoyed [some of] the Ole & Lena jokes Matt's dad was reading from his new Ole & Lena joke books. On Saturday, Matt's sister came up with our adorable 3-year-old nephew! Over the next couple of days, we went to the beach, went swimming in the hotel's pool, and just hung around enjoying each other's company. One activity I really liked was seeing the pictures Matt's parents took on their recent cruise to Alaska. It was fun seeing what it was like - from life on the ship to their excursions of whale watching, flying over glaciers, dog sledding, zip lining and kayaking - and really inspired us to want to go on a cruise (we'll see if that happens within the next few, or 20, years).
Our nephew playing with bubbles
Weekend 4
The week leading up to weekend 4 was actually a bit quieter. I actually had 5 full days to work, and was even able to get a little housework done, too! Yay for clean dishes and clean clothes that are actually put away :) Of course, I've had a lot of work to get done this past week, too...and I also got to go to dinner with a friend from college that was in town visiting her sister.
One perk from this weekend is I actually got to sleep in on Saturday. I usually get up at 6am to row (yes, I'm a crazy crew kid that rows instead of sleeping in every weekend), but practice was cancelled this morning since half the team was already at the regional regatta down in Vancouver (more on this in a minute).
Anyway...after sleeping in on Saturday I got to go to lunch with a couple of good friends from college, which was super fun. I always love seeing good friends! After that they took me over to Shari's and a teammate picked me up so we could head down to Vancouver for the Masters Regionals regatta at Vancouver Lake.
Talk about a big regatta. I don't remember the numbers, but over the course of the weekend there was something like over 1000 races...? There were a lot of crews there from all over the region - even one as far as Los Gatos, CA. Our team's guys were already down there since their race was on Saturday; all of our women's races were Sunday. Saturday night was fun. I always enjoy hanging out with the team, and steak fajitas/tomalito from Chevy's never hurts, either (guess where we ate dinner). Anyway, I was in two races on Sunday, and I felt like both went well. We didn't make it into the final for either race, but I felt like we had a strong showing and we hung with the rest of the pack. We were only a few seconds away from making it into the finals, too, so that's encouraging. Now we have even more motivation to train for next year!
Vancouver Lake
So after we were done racing Sunday afternoon, we packed up the boats, stopped for lunch, drove back up to Tacoma, unloaded the trailer, and got home around 5:45. Just in time to start getting ready for the youth BBQ. As it was our last meeting of the school year and the first week for new 6th graders to come, we fired up the grills at our apartment complex, ate hamburgers and hot dogs, and played on the basketball and tennis courts. It was really fun, despite being worn out from the regatta (leaving the hotel at 5:30am, hanging around in the sun, 2 races plus moving boats around really takes a lot out of you). Again, I always enjoy hanging out with people.
The Rest of June
So it looks like the last few days of June will be a little bit less crazy...last night we went to dinner and Super 8 with a friend, and tonight I finally had a chance to sit down and play online for a while plus talk to a good friend from California for a couple of hours on the phone. I'm looking forward to getting back to our regular amount of busyness as opposed to being just insanely, crazily busy.
A few other random items of note:
The Giants have been doing well, despite all the injuries. That makes me happy (the doing well part, not the injuries part).
We downgraded back to dumb phones (as opposed to smart phones...), and the transition has been amazingly smooth. I miss browsing Facebook from my phone sometimes, but actually prefer calling and texting from a regular phone...and ultimately that's the point, right?
My mom is awesome and sent me a couple of really cool items in the mail...don't want to give away the surprise for when I pull them out, but if I'm ever invited to another white elephant / ugly sweater party I'll be prepared.
The first time I ever saw snow was during a family vacation in Yellowstone. In July. Needless to say, we weren't prepared for snow because everyone told us, "it's gonna be hot." It wasn't. We had a LOT of fun, though. I have very fond memories of playing in the snow with my older brother, both of us dressed in jeans and raincoats. We'd run around throwing snowballs at each other until our hands were numb, at which point we'd go inside to warm them up by the heater before going back outside.
My view of snow hasn't changed. Living in California for most of my life, the few times I've experienced snow since them have been filled with excitement and the strong desire to be outside running around, no matter how I happen to be dressed.
When I went to college in Washington and it snowed, two of my friends that also happened to be from California ran around campus with me - jumping, tossing snow and squealing with delight. When I lived in Norway for a semester, we played in the street around midnight with a couple of other foreign students. Senior year of college we fell into the ground to make snow angels and created my first ever real snowman. The snow hasn't failed to excite me yet.
When it started snowing yesterday, I couldn't contain my excitement! Seeing the snow still falling today brings a wide grin to my face. Although I can't take a snow day from work, I definitely DO plan to make it outside during my lunch break. I'll be the one in polka-dotted rainboots and a giant smile.
Okay, Tombstone is an enjoyable movie. A fun story, good characters, great acting (disclaimer: it is violent)... That’s not why I love it, though. Two years ago my husband and I departed for our honeymoon and, upon arrival, found out the place we were staying had a TV/DVD player! Sadly we didn’t know this before we left, so we didn’t bring any movies with us, and the only movie there was Tombstone. We must have watched it something like 5 times over the next several days. Needless to say, Tombstone is good memories now. I’m actually really excited to watch it tonight as we celebrate our 2nd anniversary!
On that note, I can’t believe we’ve already been married for 2 years! It’s strange because being married and living together is normal life now, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday we were dating, planning a wedding, etc.
We’re also coming up on a year in our current city (well, in another month or so). As we only lived in California for about 8 months after the wedding, and then were in Bremerton for just 6 months, this is the longest we’ve stayed in one place since we got married, too. Fortunately the plan is to stay here for a while. As willing as I am to move when it’s necessary, it really is a hassle...
Anyway, a couple of additional recent highlights include:
Pulling out the Christmas music. I personally think some Christmas music could be listened to year-round. Jesus probably wasn’t born in December anyway, and why not celebrate his birth all year? Regardless, the day after Halloween I created a Pandora station to start listening to Christmas tunes and have been enjoying it immensely.
Rewatching Harry Potter. To prepare for the premiere of The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 we’ve been rewatching the past movies. We’re on track to have all of them rewatched by Wednesday night so we can go to the midnight premiere on Thursday. I’m so excited!
Getting way for a couple of days at a friend’s beach house. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:
On that note, my break is over and I need to get back to work!
This past weekend marked the 1st anniversary of Matt and me getting married, so to celebrate we went to Cleveland for an extended weekend. Here are the lessons I learned in (and on the way to) Cleveland:
Day 1 - Friday
It's possible to beat Matt at Spite & Malice. Just horde all the 7s or Kings.
The Minneapolis Airport plays classical music over all the speakers. It's very calming.
When you're taking the train between terminals at the Minneapolis Airport, it might look like you're going to run into another train. Don't worry, though. You won't.
Not all airport food is a total rip-off. I got a standard-sized Quizno's salad for the same price. PLUS they put in more chicken and bacon than normal stores.
Landing in Minnesota isn't very exciting when it's twice in the same day. Especially when it's because the maintenance crew in Cleveland can't fix whatever needs fixing and you need to turn around mid-flight.
Day 2 - Saturday
When in Cleveland, stay in a cheaper hotel with a free shuttle service to the airport. You can take the train downtown from there for a few dollars.
Tower City in Cleveland is HUGE. It includes three floors of stores, two hotels, a lot of offices (at least 10 floors of them), a train station, a movie theater, a parking garage underneath, and a walkway to the arena and Jacobs Field.
A marching band with just brass and drums is really loud in an enclosed space like a mall.
It's fun to watch movies about prehistoric Sea Monsters, although it is annoying when the voice-over person states a theory like it is a fact (how could they possibly know what the skin of a fish looked like when all they have is bones?).
Star Wars madlibs = fun! You can get them at some Science Museums, like the one right next to Lake Eerie.
Hard Rock Cafe vouchers from Expedia give you priority seating.
Day 3 - Sunday
The east coast gets to go to church and watch football games live.
It's possible to figure out how to get somewhere in an unfamiliar city without GPS or Internet access. It's called a map.
Museums should put their entrances on the maps they have on their hotel flyers. It's very annoying when you walk several blocks out of your way only to find you need to double back for the entrance. Especially when it's cold outside.
The Museum of Natural History in Cleveland has really good food at a decent price, especially for a museum.
Bobcats received their name from their short tails (or "bobs").
Gray foxes are in the dog family and climb trees (not many dogs do that).
Lots of geese = lots of goose poop.
Sunday night isn't the time to plan a shopping trip. Stores close early on Sundays in Ohio, too.
A lot of people in Cleveland wear Browns clothes.
Charley's subs = delicious anniversary dinner.
If you see a LOT of girls, tweens and women in bright sequence and Miley Cyrus shirts, it probably means there is a concert nearby.
Day 4 - Monday
There are Browns fans in Nebraska, too (two of them were staying at our hotel).
ESPN during breakfast = win (at least for Matt).
Matt has a knack for making friends that work at stadiums on his way to a game.
The water in the women's toilet bowls on the 3rd deck might be orange at the beginning of the Browns game. That doesn't mean the person before you didn't flush...it's called "team spirit."
Cleveland is cold in mid-November...but it's worth it to see the Browns play.
Day 5 - Tuesday
If borrowing your husband's Kindle while flying, make sure you don't leave it in the seat pocket when exiting the plane...
...but if you do forget it, remember while you're still at the airport.
