Much to Be Enjoyed

June 27, 2020

***** Elliott Bay on W Seattle

Prioritize your joy. Be intentional about giving yourself something to look forward to.

A good way to spend the day is to be near water in my opinion. This picture was taken in late June and look at that sky. Can you believe it? How wonderful. 

After eating at Moctezuma for lunch we drove to Elliott Bay in W Seattle. 

It was just nice spending time by the Puget Sound especially during the pandemic. One didn't have to endure the stares from people for not having a mask on. Although, seeing people wearing masks when they're out in nature makes them look quite questionable. Makes no sense.

Jacob expressing his love for me. What a sweet guy.

We walked along Alki trail for a bit. This trail is quite long but it was very enjoyable just looking out at the water, ferry, and people enjoying their day.

Such a cute face.

***** Snoqualmie 

We skipped visiting Snoqualmie Falls this time, but we did stop at the outlets and got ourselves caramel apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I am a big fan. They are so delicious! That's the best way to eat an apple if you want to know the truth. 

I love seeing the low clouds over the mountains. 

Yum!

Tunnels make me uncomfortable. The SR 99 tunnel in Seattle is two miles long and that's just too long for me. I would ask Jacob to take a different route whenever we were in Seattle but this time he drove through it. I hated it.

We took a bit of the scenic route getting to where we needed to go. Seattle is that pretty (well, on the surface and in the nicest parts that is). This is the floating bridge.

Then we drove through the middle of downtown.

Finally, we stopped at Gas Works Park.

This urban park features and industrial plant-turned children's play area as well as a beautiful picnic area. It overlooks lake Washington and downtown Seattle.

I remember standing up on this hill with the wind on my face looking at the scene in front of me with favor. As far as being out and about and going on adventures, Washington is a pretty cool state to live in.

There are endless things to do without spending any or much money. Every weekend can be filled with fun outings, from hitting the touristy parts to a secluded park or stretch along the Puget Sound. For us, no matter what we did, we usually spent a portion of our day or ended our day with views of the Puget Sound or at one of the lakes. We definitely like to immerse ourselves out in nature.

When you discover something that nourishes your soul and

brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. 

Exploring and Enjoying Washington State

 June 14, 2020

On this Sunday we walked across the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge that crosses Lake Washington from Seattle's Montlake neighborhood to Evergreen Point in the East side community of Medina (or to be specific this bridge connects Seattle to Bellevue). It was built in April 2016. At 7,708.6 feet long, end to end, this structure is the world's longest floating (the middle part of the bridge is on pontoons) bridge. 

It was somewhat of a warm partially cloudy day.

This is such a nice area. 

It must be so nice having this view from your backyard.

There were some people walking and a few cycling but not overly crowded which was nice. 

 

I got these next two pictures off the internet. 

As we walked across the bridge there was a sign that identified all the sea life in Lake Washington. One of the creatures is the Pacific Sea lamprey which is an anadromous parasitic lamprey. They are very gross looking and are carnivorous. 

Well, the reason I bring it up is because at the time Riley and I watched a Sea Monsters episode where the host Jeremy Wade went in search for this very gross fish and when we were reading the sign of all the living sea life in Lake WA, we noticed the lamprey and I was horrified. These things attach themselves to their prey and begins to feed with its sucker like disc and three cuspid teeth used to cling to other animals. It's just very disgusting to me. Can't help but get chills.

Another fact I learned back in 2020 was that the Pacific lamprey provided an important source of food for the tribes of the Columbia River Basin, who prized them for their rich, fatty meat. The tribes also use(d) lampreys for medicine and ceremonies. 

Pretty gross right!

I loved it when dark grey clouds came rolling in. The water makes it seem like it was sprinkling right? It wasn't. It was the wind causing these pinprick ripples. 

We didn't walk all the way to the other end of the bridge. It was much too long, so we decided to turn back at this point. Once back in the car Jacob calculated that we walked close to three miles.

After our long walk we were all so hungry, so we grabbed some Pagliacci pizza. It was delicious!

June 19, 2020, Friday

Friday's are always fun days. Time to take it easy and enjoy the evening. On this Friday we ate out. We had very delicious carne asada tacos. This taco shop knows how to season their meat well. Afterwards we stopped by the Metropolitan Market in Tacoma to pick up dessert then we hung out on Ruston Way.

The weather felt so nice, 83 degrees and cloudy. Walks along the water are simply wonderful. I always looked forward to them. Walking by a body of water and pretty scenery makes me happy.

Here I am with my husband.

Riley constantly making his dad nervous by standing on the railing. I'm pretty sure Jacob was holding his arm while I took this picture, lol. 

This is a very poor quality picture but I wanted to zoom in to show you the dog. Looks like he's a pro. Totally loving being out on the water.       

June 20, 2020

One of our favorite restaurants to eat breakfast at is The Original Pancake House. There's one in Maple Valley and that was the one we would frequent. Their coffee is so good. We both like it a lot. 

After breakfast we headed over to Snoqualmie. I love when I see low clouds amongst the pine trees. This type of weather is my favorite.

If I remember correctly these were elk (Roosevelt Elk to be exact). There were so many of them.

I love nature. Thank You God for creating it!

Snoqualmie Falls is always a cool place to visit. 

Riley was so small here. Now, he's slightly taller than me and comes up to Jacob's nose. I like the way he's looking up at his dad. His dad is his hero.

If you can, have fun and enjoy your life constantly. 

Having fun loosens the mind. A flexible mind

works differently from a rigid mind.

- Patricia Ryan Madson

Father, thank You for the blessings You have poured out on my family. Remind me to continue to be ever grateful for so many gifts. Thank You for Your provision in our lives. Help me to always have a thankful heart.

Back Out in Nature

 April 24, 2020

It had rained quite a bit this morning. Of course, living in the PNW that's nothing new however it doesn't always pour, it's usually light steady rain for hours and sometimes for the entire day. It does make one want to stay home and there are times, with cozy weather like this we did but, it's also fun to go out and enjoy the day God so graciously had blessed us with. 

We visited the Seattle Arboretum. The PNW is truly a playground for people who love the outdoors. There are no shortage of trails from the Arboretum, Botanical Gardens to neighborhood parks. There are trails in abundance here and a lot of them are shaded by all the evergreens which makes hiking even in the Summer not only doable but enjoyable.

It's nice seeing all the new growth in Spring. 

I also love seeing squirrels and listen to the different variety of birds.

I love nature but besides cloudy/stormy weather I love gray clouds and trees, with or without leaves. As you're aware, there are so many different varieties of trees. Some definitely more interesting than others. 

This one tree here had what looked like rings from the trunk all the way to it's limbs. 

I also like how moss grows on trees and ferns that grow around them too. 

After walking for a bit we developed an appetite, so we grabbed pizza at our favorite pizza place. 

The water was very choppy as we drove back across the floating bridge. 

The following day started out slow. Because of the pandemic even our church closed. Although they had online service it just wasn't the same. God wanted believers to be among other believers as we worshipped Him. 

It was irritating that one couldn't live life as usual. A lot of businesses were closed which didn't give one many options to have fun. Although we usually prefer being out in nature, sometimes it's fun to do indoor activities. This was especially frustrating during the week.

After we watched a movie we longed for fresh air and a change of pace. 

I just love these different shades of gray sky. It sure beats a sky that's entirely blue. 

Snoqualmie Falls is so neat to see after it has rained and very relaxing when the area is devoid of tourists. 

Words describing Snoqualmie Falls embedded in the ground. I only took a picture of this one since it's what we like to do on the weekends, meader.

A lot of public places, even parks were closed off. Abuse of power is such an ugly thing.

Freedom is not free - we must fight for it. We live in the land of

the free and home of the brave, but we cannot be free if we're not brave.

And being brave is something we ALL can do to help save America's future!

-Ben Carson