Bainbridge Island, etc

Well, contrary to popular belief, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the past couple weeks (of course it started as soon as I had to start work). We have definately been taking advantage of it though. This past Friday we took Bruno to a dog park on Lake Washington.

He even took a dip in the lake. It was a beautiful 85 degree sunny day! We took a walk down the lake shore, but didn't go exploring too far because we weren't sure how far it went and had to get home. We got a few pictures with Mt. Rainier in the background though. All of the mountains were so clear, it was a pretty cool sight to see.

Saturday we woke up to the same perfect day we had on Friday, so Katie and I packed some lunch and headed downtown to catch a ferry across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. It is about a half hour ride, and has some spectacular views along the way!

It got pretty windy out on the water once we got moving. I don't think Katie will wear a dress next time :)

We obviously weren't the only ones with the idea of getting out on the water; the Sound was filled with all sorts of boats.

We had a great view of the Olympic range the whole way over

Although the Olympics were great, Rainier really seemed to catch our attention...it was so clear, and looked like it was floating up over the land. Incredible. My parents lived in Seattle for 10 years and they said they were always awe-struck when they saw it. Pictures really don't do it justice.

We arrived at Bainbridge Island around noon and walked through the town and down to the water where we had our lunch. We saw a few people kayaking and there were some places to camp, so we think Bainbridge might be a great place to stay for a weekend and have some fun.

After lunch we found an ice cream shop. I'm pretty sure it was the best $5.95 I've ever spent...wow.

We are having a lot of fun exploring all the different areas around Seattle. Everything is so close and easy to get to, the weekends just aren't long enough!

Cougar Mountain Hike

Last week, Kent and Becky (Brian's cousins) took us hiking at Cougar Mountain Park, just a bit east of Lake Washington.

Kent and Becky's dogs, Radar and Carlie, came along and so did Bruno. Katie enjoyed having Bruno along for the uphill stretches!

The trail was 6 miles long, and very wooded, as you can see, with ferns everywhere. Unfotunately the sun didn't come out until after we were done, so the "view points" along the trail weren't the best, but we had a great time anyway!

Becky was our navigator with the map but Carlie (a coon hound) led most of the way with her nose going crazy!

We stopped half way to have some lunch and rest. Can you tell which of the three dogs is out of shape?

Bruno really doesn't like bridges and usually gets across them as fast as possible, so this pictures was actually a lot harder to get than it looks. It was a nice hike, and we can't wait to check out more of the trails around the area.

Two Days of Sun!

Over Father's Day weekend, Edmonds holds an art festival. It was a very nice day, so we thought we'd check it out. We spent the afternoon walking around and looking at all the art and enjoying the sun.

On Monday we woke up to another day of clear blue skys, so we thought we'd take advantage of it and head downtown to the Space Needle. We had a pretty spectacular view the whole way down!

It made the traffic seem not so bad

We thought the view from up there would be pretty good on a day like it was...and it had better be for $16 a person!!

Yeah it was worth it...

If you look closely, you can see Mt. Rainier just to the right of the skyscrapers

This is a view of the Olympic mountains out over the Puget Sound

It was a great couple of days!

The Big Move

WELCOME TO SEATTLE

Well we're all settled in the house here in Washington! As it turns out the rumors of rain are true; we didn't see the sun for the first 4 or 5 days we were here.

That didn't matter though, we were inside most of the time unpacking. Merrilee was here to help us all week, which was a huge help. All of the boxes are unpacked and put away, it already feels like home! Amazingly, all of our stuff matches very well with everything.

I think our Family room can double as a third bed...so everyone come visit!

Of course we didn't ONLY unpack. We made time for some fun too, going downtown to the market, going for dinner and just walking around.

We took Bruno to the dog park yesterday, and he loves it! This particular park is right on the Puget Sound, and the sun even made an appearance.

We are having a great time so far, and are beginning to explore the area, so expect more posts soon!