This is Sunday morning coffee. We walked down to the coffee shop a couple of blocks from our house.
This is the little spot that Eddie Vedder is rumored to show up now and again. It's pretty good coffee, but the chocolate croissant was the real show-stopper. Oh, and speaking of Eddie Vedder, we drove by his house last night. He lives less than a mile from us.
I missed my blog update last weekend because our furniture was delivered on Saturday. I spent the weekend unpacking, organizing, unpacking some more. By Sunday night I was exhausted. I never knew you could get so tired from something that didn't involve running long distances and weight training. I did not straighten out until probably Wednesday or Thursday.
Lorelei started school last week too. She has already been invited to a Halloween party next weekend, and she loves her new school. This is it:
I think the kids can see the Puget Sound from their playground - it's not too far off from Lowman Beach. 1 1/2 blocks from our house, too. I like that. She has already had one field trip to the Locks to learn about the salmon and the Locks themselves. I can tell she's going to love going to school in Seattle. She caught the flu on Friday. Threw up 6 times (which she now wears as a badge of honor), but by the afternoon was mad that she couldn't go to school. I'd say she rallied pretty well.
Shawn is also settling into his routine of school and household things, and this week will start the dreaded job hunt. It's been a whirlwind for him - he's vacillating between enjoying his life here and completely freaking out about having moved to Seattle. I admit, every once in awhile I have a moment of strangeness, wondering at the fact that we actually pulled it off.
As for actually living in Seattle, it's been really great so far. It's pretty much what I hoped it would be, with a couple of minor issues, and they both involve driving. The hills are killing me. Driving a stick shift in Seattle is nothing less than terrifying. I'm hoping I'll get used to it at some point, but right now I still completely panic when I'm stuck on a hill at a red light. And if it's raining, there's a chance I'm not going anywhere but backward. My blood pressure is rising just writing about it. Whew. The other driving issue is the Seattle drivers themselves. They drive way too slow. 5 miles under the speed limit is appropriate, and they allow anyone to merge at any time, which has resulted in very slow drivers constantly cutting people off. They wouldn't last 5 minutes in C-bus, and as Ed said, LA would reduce them to tears.
Otherwise, things are good. The weather is actually pretty nice. It's overcast a lot, and there has been some rain, but some pretty days mixed in there too. It doesn't get too cold, at least not yet. Maybe 50s at night and 60s during the day. Just about perfect, really. When the wind comes in off the Sound, the leaves swirl and blow, and you can smell the salt air. I love it.
The animals are adjusting nicely to their cohabitation. There are no dog-free zones in our house, so the cats have had to get used to Gretel being in their space. All things considered, they're all good. This is Gretel at the dog park. Lorelei and I took her there this morning. She made lots of friends and walked the trail with us. She is amazingly better behaved off-leash. She would tear off running at full speed, and the minute I called or whistled, there she was, right by my side. She probably ran for 45 minutes straight, after which she made it clear to me was done playing and wanted to go home. Poor girl, she might be a smidge out of shape. She's sleeping right now.
On the subject of running, that's what I'm going to do now. It's a good day to run by the water, and this is the first day I've woken up without some crazy agenda of 9 million things that need doing. I'll update next weekend, hopefully basking in a Buckeye defeat of those Badgers.
It's been a big weekend for the Shraders! Friday I moved my stuff into the new house, and yesterday Lorelei arrived with Shawn's mom. Today, Shawn should be here by the time I get off work. I can hardly wait to have the family together again. It feels like it's been far longer than just 3 weeks.
That picture above is Lorelei and Amy with a new friend at Lowman Beach. This beach is about half a mile or so from our house, down a very steep hill (walking home is challenging). It's gorgeous though. You can see the ferries heading over from West Seattle to Vashon Island and beyond, and of course it's a fantastic view of the Sound. When the weather is especially good, the Olympics are in full view as well.
It's peaceful. We walked down to Lowman yesterday and were able to walk right by Lorelei's new school on the way. It's about a block and a half from the house. When we got to Lowman, Lorelei found another little girl her age and they played and had some fun. It was all in all, a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Shawn's day was less peaceful.
This was his drive through the first part of Wyoming. I'm glad we didn't wait any longer to have him come out - we are getting into the tricky time of year coming through the Rockies and Medicine Bow. He made it through, though, and by the time he hit Idaho, he had this:
Much better! He stayed in Boise last night and should have a shorter day today getting here - just 8-9 hours. The dog and cats will be grateful, I'm sure. He has a chance for snow in the Snoqualmie Pass, but otherwise he should have a good drive. By the time he hits Snoqualmie, he's almost here.
Otherwise, things are good. I walked around downtown Friday on my lunch and realized how much I love working downtown. I've missed that the last few years. I work very close to the shopping district, so there are all the department stores (Macy's, Nordstrom's, Barney's of NY), and all the usual suspects. Intermingled are all these local specialty shops as well. Those are the places I like to look in. Of course there are fabulous-looking restaurants and bars on every block, too, but what I like most is seeing all the people out and about, creating the hustle and bustle. There was a big protest all last week, protesting Wall Street. Not sure what the actual reason for the protest was, but the people-watching was out-of-this-world. I can't walk around without Petula Clark running through my head.
My job has given me culture shock, I think. It's a very different atmosphere than MDK, and I think it's just going to take some getting used to. I think I'll feel less alienated by the transition having my family here. We'll see. It's too soon to really tell how things are going to be.
In the meantime, I'll look forward to settling in with the family and having a nice week with Brenda. With a little luck, all goes well for Shawn today and our furniture will arrive soon!
I may have mentioned before that Seattle is fragrant. I decided to go for a run this morning because it's been 5 weeks or so and I'm out of excuses. On my run I smelled the rose bushes that seem to randomly grow in various spots, the wild rosemary that grows everywhere, and of course, the salt air. It's amazing how the plant life just takes over here. Even more interesting - it's fall, yet I still smell flowers and plants. I'm sure that will change shortly, but it's a different environment altogether when I can watch the leaves falling from the trees while I can smell the roses and other plants.
Also, today was the West Seattle Food Truck Fair. The picture above is from our excursion checking out the truck food. I tried a kobe beef slider from one of the trucks, some pizza, and of course, a soft pretzel. They had trucks with tacos, creole food (the longest line ever or I would have gotten a biegnet), gourmet hot dogs, ice cream, and loads of other items. I would have tried more things but the lines were crazy long. Everyone from West Seattle was there, I think. There is always something going on around this town, which is nice. The West Seattle Farmer's Market is open year-round. That makes me happy.
That's Stella and her pink ball. She loves her pink ball and she knows the difference between it and her other balls. It has to be the pink one. Stella and Foster are my constant companions. They are great dogs because they help fill the void while I'm waiting on my family to get here. They also hang out with me while I'm getting ready for work. They give me little pep talks before I head out to the office.
The first week of work went fine, I think. I'm still trying to figure out the dynamic at the firm and what the culture is. I suspect they have quite lofty expectations regarding my work there, and we'll just have to see if I can live up to them. Overall though, I think I'm going to like the work itself - the litigation. I'm anxious to get into my cases and get settled with the workload. For now, one day at a time.
This is the view from the balcony at our new place. There are clouds in the distance so you can't see the Olympics out past the islands, but they are there and we'll be able to see them from time to time. I think the rain is starting to arrive, though, so it might be awhile before I see them again. I'm ready to move into our place and establish ourselves as a family unit. I stopped by tonight to move a few things in and I just looked around. I like this place. It's warm and inviting, and it will be a good place for us to create our new reality.
Amy and Ed have been amazing and have really made this transition so much easier. As just a small token of my appreciation, I picked up baby Jupiter his/her first item of clothing: a Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt.
And speaking of babies, my baby girl arrives one week from today with her Grandma B! The countdown can truly begin!! I have missed her immensely. Shawn should arrive a week from tomorrow if he has smooth sailing on his drive out, or he'll arrive Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
Godspeed Shawn and Lorelei!
This is what it looks like when you are getting on the West Seattle Bridge. It's hard to see, but that's the skyline off in the distance. When you get a little further down the road, you have a nice view of the Sound and the mountains.
It's about a 7 mile commute from West Seattle to downtown, but it can take a long time because of traffic congestion. Also, according to some guy at work, driving from West Seattle to downtown is really, really dangerous. To be fair, however, when things are screwed up traffic-wise in Seattle, they are a smidge worse because you already have the Puget Sound and a couple of big lakes to contend with. And hey, look, my first day of work I took the bus. The bus got into an accident on the West Seattle Bridge (some guy hit the bus - yeah, he HIT the BUS), and this morning there were two accidents: one was with a motorcyclist in critical condition (having a way worse day than any of us sitting in gridlock) and a separate incident involving a woman who went into labor (seriously).
Overall, though, driving isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The hills are scary and I still want nothing to do with them, but I've been able to navigate around them for the most part. Otherwise, the drivers on the road are courteous, even if it is to a fault.
But enough about the commute.
This is the view from my office downtown. It poured down rain yesterday so the picture isn't fabulous, but you get the idea. For all of my MDK folks, the walls go all the way to the ceiling and I can shut the door. I forgot about walls and how nice they can be!! The job is going well, I think, but it's crazy busy. I have been given supervising responsibility over a couple of attorneys and also a caseload. Somewhere between figuring out the phone system, navigating the parking garage (which is absurdly laid out) and finding the bathroom, I need to learn Washington's state and local rules and the law. Whew. I've been mentally exhausted these last two days. I think I'm supposed to help these attorneys find their way as well. At the very least it should be interesting. What is it I always say? On a new job it takes 6 weeks to get acclimated and 6 months to own it. Okay. Let the countdown begin.
Probably the oddest thing that happened so far this week is that I couldn't get out of the garage tonight. I don't have a key card yet, and I was leaving after it closed, so I had to call security to let me out. The guy from security took one look at my car and said, "You're from Ohio?" As it turns out, he's not only from C-bus, he's from Galloway. That's spittin' distance from our house! He gave me a hearty "Go Bucks!" when he let me out of the garage. What are the odds??
This picture is the kitchen in our new house. Yep, I found us a place out here in West Seattle (where the commuting is very, very dangerous). It's a townhouse and we can see the Sound from the balcony. I'll have more pictures of that later. I probably can't really move in until Shawn and Lorelei get here, but I take possession on Thursday. It can literally be never-ending looking for a place to live in West Seattle because all of the houses are different and the rental market is wide open. I looked at other townhouses, but they were too narrow. I looked at free-standing houses, but most of those were really dated. I don't mind a fixer-upper, but I'd prefer not to rent one. This place should do just fine.
I'm afraid Shawn is going to get here and say, "what were you thinking??" I basically decided this was the right place because of the kitchen. It has plenty of cabinet space, a dishwasher, and most importantly, a gas range. I might be a little obsessed with the kitchen.
Now I just need to finalize the paperwork on the townhouse and wait for Shawn and Lorelei. We'll give West Seattle a whirl and see what happens. As for that dangerous commute, well, I guess I need a challenge.
The last few days since arriving in Seattle have been a flurry of activity: showing Debbie the sights and what drew me to this place, helping her enjoy her vacation and mine, and starting the all-encompassing search for a place to live. I'll say, it's pretty overwhelming and might make me feel a little small like that Wyoming prairie dog (who became, incidentally, Debbie's buddy in the Wyoming desert). I was, however, able to show Debbie some of the Seattle highlights and we met a few interesting folks along the way. Seattle never wants for interesting people; that's for sure.
It helps that the weather was beautiful today, and is supposed to be tomorrow. I think fall will really hit here next week and then we go into the seriously rainy months. Hopefully I can sort out the living arrangements before we get too far into fall. The sooner I line that up, the sooner Shawn and Lorelei can be here. Interestingly, Seattle has a wide open renter's market. There are tons of places to choose from and they are constantly coming on the market, going off, etc. I've looked at several already and have a couple more on Sunday. Fingers crossed one of them works out.... In the meantime, it looks like I'll get to watch the Buckeyes tomorrow (it's being televised out here on one of the ESPNs, I believe), and I'll continue my preparations for my first day at work.
Having never done a move like this before, I don't have much of a frame of reference. I find the experience somewhat disorienting. I miss Shawn and Lorelei and feel incomplete without them. On the other hand, it might be a little easier for them if I've already gone through my shell-shock phase before they get out here and go through theirs. Even though it's disorienting and leaves me vulnerable, however, I really feel like this is right. I love this city and as I get comfortable in my own skin again, it's going to be wonderful exploring it. Ed and Amy are helping keep me grounded, which is the most valuable resource a girl could have in this situation.
Hopefully by the next update I'll have news and more pictures to share! I believe they may reflect a wetter version of Seattle, though.
Day 4's travels were, again, amazing. The part of Idaho that we drove through, however, was sort of nothing special by comparison to Utah, Oregon and Washington. In a way, that's good. We needed a break from the fabulous landscape in order to not lose appreciation for it. Ed and Amy said a friend of theirs came up with a term for it: scenery fatigue. In fact, all of my pictures from Day 4 are from Oregon because by the time we hit Washington, my reaction was more like, "oh look, more fabulous beauty, more of the same." I don't want to understate how incredible Day 4 was, though. Oregon is stunning in its landscape, and the idea that we were on the Oregon Trail was pretty enticing. I cannot believe people traveled out here by horse. The picture above is taken from the Blue Mountain summit in Oregon. I'll have more pictures of the view below, but above the lookout there was a little shack with some horses hanging out on the hill. Pretty serene.
These pictures are the view from the summit. We had been traveling through the mountains for several states running and then to have this view of the plains was striking. Oregon has a little bit of everything - mountains, fabulous coasts, plains, farms/vineyards. It is truly some of the most beautiful country I've seen.
These pictures are from a rest stop in Oregon. It really felt like we were on the Oregon Trail and it was easy to imagine the first settlers coming out this way because it remains undeveloped and unspoiled. That has been one of the most memorable parts of the drive out here: after Iowa, there is very little and all you see are wide open stretches of land, animals and sky.
Once we got into Washington we started to see a lot more in the way of civilization and vineyards, and the scenery was, of course, amazing. The eastern part of Washington has desert and farmland, and couldn't be more different from the western part. Upon Amy's suggestion we got off 82 at Yakima and drove up SR 821 (which runs parallel to 82) and drove through the Yakima canyon. It was treacherous driving, as I was so enthralled with the scenery I kept having near misses on the S curves winding through. The road ran right next to what I believe was the Yakima River. The water was crystal blue and we could see the rapids from the car as well.
Before getting to Seattle we had to cross the Cascades via the Snoqualmie Pass and the Wenachee National Forest. It was here that I started to see all the green and smell the trees and plant life, which is what I associate with Seattle. It's all very lush and green and fragrant. Crossing Snoqualmie was a beautiful way to arrive.
Of course, we arrived during rush hour, so the last hour of our drive was navigating Seattle's gridlock. I suppose that was good experience for me, given my job starting on Monday.
I'm so glad to be here and I'm certain this was a great move for us. I now focus on looking for a place to live so Shawn and Lorelei can get out here. I'm ready to move on to phase 2: Family reunited and getting settled.
We started the day in Laramie and drove into this fabulous blue sky with cattle ranches on either side of us (and me still wrestling with a craving for steak with every meal). It was landscape like I'd never seen. We had seen in Nebraska the signs saying, "When lights flashing, exit immediately, road closed" and we had no idea what that was about. Apparently, the snow gets so bad in Nebraska and Wyoming (and Utah and Idaho, now that I think about it) that they just have to shut down the whole interstate. Wow. They also have intense wind rolling through there. The weather forecast for today was for only 25-30 mile/hr winds. Small potatoes for Wyoming - they have railroad-tie fences stacked up facing southwest to cut the wind for their farms.
Wyoming is some of the most amazing country I have ever seen. My feet itched for my boots the entire time, and I remembered every horse I'd ever ridden. For the first time in my life, I didn't like loving the city. Wyoming is where the deer and the antelope play - Debbie and I saw it. I imagine it's normal for people like me to want to stay in Wyoming and work on a ranch. I sure got the bug. I didn't want Wyoming to end.
And then we crossed into Utah. Utah is the most amazing landscape so far. This is Utah:
And this:
These pictures are taken from the car and a rest stop, respectively. Utah is so beautiful that even its rest stops are majestic. There are amazing mountains on either side of the interstate; it's hard to keep eyes on the road. I had to remind myself to breathe in Utah.
What is probably one of most striking things in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho are these great stretches of nothing. I mean, seriously, nothing. There will be an exit from the interstate and it tells you right off that this is to some non-descript ranch, and no, you can't get a diet coke or gas at this exit. You must wait until the exit 40 miles down the road. It's sort of alarming and beautiful at the same time. I admit, I've considered scrapping it all and staying in this part of the world.
Boise is nice. It's pretty civilized compared to where we've been. I caught my first Portland beer here, so I know Seattle is close. I'll be sad, though, to end this trek, as I've loved this experience. I love the American West. And the Plains, and the Prairie, and the Midwest. We have good thing going here in this country of ours.
Tomorrow: Seattle!
