Happy New Year! Many good wishes to all for this fabulous 2012!
The new year in Washington so far is nice. You see in the picture above the welcoming mural on the side of a building in Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is a Bavarian-style town nestled in the Cascades. It's really kitschy, lots of touristy shops and German food. We decided to go to Leavenworth last weekend, just for a day trip, something to get out of town and explore a little bit. The nicest part was Shawn's mom, Brenda, arrived in Seattle Saturday morning, so we picked her up and took off for the mountains.
Leavenworth was really cute. For the German in us, it was fantastic. They still had their Christmas decorations up and it was truly adorable.
It's truly nestled right there in the mountains. It had an amazing view on all sides and it's settled right in the middle of ski country. I liked Leavenworth. It was really neat, and I'll be happy to go back in the Spring and probably the fall for Oktoberfest - it's got to be just crazy fun during Oktoberfest.
The best part, though, was the drive to Leavenworth from Seattle. You go through the mountains and through Stevens Pass, which is the easiest way to get there, being one of the lower altitude passes. We had to watch the weather reports for several days to make sure we could get through the Pass. Leavenworth is only about 2 hours away, but the weather in the Pass can make it difficult. Down here in the lowlands we don't see snow very much, but just a couple of thousand feet makes a big difference. The Washington Department of Transportation is pretty good with up to the minute weather and you can access their webcams for current conditions in the Passes. They are also conservative about closing the Passes or requiring chains/cables for your tires. So if the Pass is open without restrictions, we are good to go.
I go into this detail because I am a midwestern girl and really had no idea about all this. But this is what it looks like in the beginning of the mountains:
No snow, right? Here's what it looked like 3000 feet later, or about 20 minutes:
And this:
And this:
I love the mountains. I mean, I really love the mountains. I expected to reignite my love affair with the ocean by moving here, but surprisingly, I am drawn more to mountains. I loved that drive to Leavenworth. I also have itchy feet because I really want to learn to ski. I think Lorelei would be awesome on skis, too. Her legs are getting so long, and her coordination seems pretty decent. I think our goals for next winter include buying an all-wheel drive car and learning to ski.
Other than Leavenworth, Shawn, Lorelei and Brenda had a great week. They visited the Locks and the Nordic Museum, shopped downtown and went to Pike Market, and also did lots of local exploring. Lorelei loved having her Grandma Shrader around, as did we all.
Speaking of snow, it's in the forecast for this week here in the lowlands. If you think that people freak out in C-bus over a few inches of snow, you haven't seen anything. The excitement and frenzy over the possibility of a small amount of snow is akin to that of the Beatles landing at JFK. It's like I'm living in town full of Jym Ganahls. A town full of Jym Ganahls who can't drive when it's perfectly dry and sunny outside...and will surely lose their minds if they get behind the wheel in an inch of snow. To be fair, the hills here are terrifying on the best of days. I don't look forward to navigating them in snow. On the other hand, I'm not sure this forecast merits a run on milk and bread. Oh, and I'd just like to remind the Seattleites in my neighborhood: you are walking distance from 4 grocery stores. No need to rush out to stock up. You live in the city. You can walk in one inch of snow.
New Year's was nice. Ed and Amy came over and helped us ring it in, and that was perfect.
This is Amy and the baby sharing a NYE toast. Lorelei has named the baby Unicornia Rosabelle. Is there a better name out there? I dare someone to come up with one.
This is Ed with his three drinks. We had fun. We are now looking forward to the great arrival of Unicornia! Amy is due March 7. I will say this: I might have a little baby fever. I'm very much looking forward to holding a baby again!
For our biggest news, Shawn got a job at allrecipes.com in the customer service retention department! He starts next week. It's part-time, but will work well around his school schedule and it might also allow him to be around the web developers a bit. It's a good opportunity and will certainly help us as we carry two households financially. More importantly, this is Shawn's first step in the industry he'll work in. The opportunities out here are so much better than in Ohio; it's one of the reasons we wanted to relocate.
Lorelei continues to do well in school. She's learning to tell time from a clock (not a digital readout like most alarm clocks) and how to count money. She's reading more and more all the time, also. Gretel started school today also; she and I enrolled in training. We'll see how it goes, but I think Gretel will be happier being in school pretty regularly.
As for me, well, I remain homesick for my friends and family and am looking forward to trying to get back to Ohio in a couple months or so. I love it here - and I don't regret moving. I just wish I could transplant all of my people to this part of the world. Work has been ramping up and getting quite busy lately, but it's good work and I enjoy it. Even when it exhausts me....
I think the most important thing to remember is to take time to smell the roses. Or in Seattle in the winter, smell the coffee and sit by a giant stuffed bear. (That picture was actually taken in Leavenworth, but you get the idea.)
We continue our new experiences and becoming acclimated to this new and amazing place. Much love to all, and please come visit - let me know if you want to and I'll watch flight prices for you!
Beck
No comments:
Post a Comment