Saturday, the weather was absolutely fabulous - and almost 90 degrees. So I headed to the beach. Specifically, to Whidbey Island, an island I had not been to yet in the Puget Sound. The best part of this island is, on the north west part of the island, you get a front row seat to the Olympic Mountains. The sky was so crystal clear, you could even see Mt. Rainier from the beach, which is about 100 miles away.

On Friday, after a personal training session, I went for a two hour hike up to the top of what is called "Rattlesnake Ridge." I found this hike in my hiking guidebook. It is only 40 mins away from the city. The weather was absolutely fabulous, so I was jonesing for a great view as the evening light got interesting. You know you have a great view when you reach the top and there is a photo shoot going on for a fitness magazine (see bottom pic).

The weather has finally turned for the better here. The sun is now out almost all day. This makes me very happy. Last month, I bought a couple of hiking guidebooks for the Seattle area and have decided to methodically cross each one off. Yesterday I did hike #4. Which was really just a "walk" through one of Seattle's many urban parks. There was a charming Japanese Garden as well as a waterfront trail along the lake. Here are the best shots from hike #4:

This weekend was the Summer Solstice. In Seattle, one particular area takes this event particularly seriously - celebrating the longest day of they year with a parade and crafts fair. One of the main attractions was the "art car exhibit":






The parade is also a main event. The rules for being in the parade are pretty simple.. if you have a float, it cannot be motorized in any way. Here is a picture of one of the biggest floats - it is a bunch of graduates being pulled along by some dunces:



I volunteered at the fair as a "gate greeter" which is loosely translated as, "donations getter." My station was right next to a bank of portopotties. In addition to watching a lot of people walk in each other, I also saw this poor dog wait while his owner did her business. Talk about the shoe being on the other foot...



The other thing that the Fremont Fair is famous for is the naked bike ride that precedes the parade. Yes, I said naked. Hundreds of people paint themselves (or not) and ride the parade route on their bikes. I'm not too sure what riding naked has to do with summer, but I guess removing clothing is natural when the weather gets warmer?? What I found most amusing was the number of cyclists who had helmets on.. i guess safety first?

To close, I'm posting a canal sunset shot from the Fremont Bridge:

Last night was my second sailing race. This time my responsibilities were expanded to:

1. Removing and replacing the bumpers.
2. Attaching and removing the stereo speakers.
3. Cheese and Cracker Chick
4. Beer wench
5. Taking photographs
6. Folding and covering up the main sail (after we were done sailing of course)

We actually got to sail a little this week, opposed to just motoring. We have discovered a sure fire way of making the wind kick up. Just pour everyone a stem glass of red wine. Needless to say there was a spectacular wine incident that will take a serious power washer to fix. There is a pair of denim jeans that will never be the same. I, I am happy to say, had NOTHING to do with this accident.

In the photo below of the crew, please note Mt. Rainier in the back.

In honor of the slightly better weather we've been having lately, I'm posting some new pics.

Here is what sunset from Safeco Field looks like:




And this is what sunset looked like for us on Sunday. At like 9:45pm. Don't blow it up to a larger view- it is pretty fuzzy because i didn't have my tripod. But you get the idea. It was the first time "the mountain" (as we like to say in Seattle) was out in weeks.

One of the things Seattle makes you want to have is a sailboat. Since I got here last year, I planned on taking sailing lessons this summer. Not because I plan on buying a boat - but because want to know enough not to embarass myself while I'm on somebody else's.

Last week, in a major 'coup,' I managed to secure myself a spot on a crew for a boat that races every Thursday night.

Me: You realize that I've never sailed before.
Skipper: That's fine. We have two rules on my boat: don't spill your drink and don't get hit in the head by the boom. You get extra points if you bring good booze and food.

Thursday was our first race. I brought chocolate chocolate cupcakes that I made myself. Not from a mix. They went well with some homebrew a crewmember brought. Which I actually drank. (Turns out I like blonde beer. Who knew?)

In an effort to continue the good first impression, I asked about the rules of the race itself, to which the skipper said, "The rules are simple. Don't hit other boats and have fun."

We shoved off and motored to the start - which was quite a picture - I will bring my camera the next time. About 40 sailboats hovering around each other, with the Olympics in the background. The race started with a blow of a foghorn. One would think that this would herald a flurry of activity, but no. There was no wind, so we just sat there. (This reminded me of that Monty Python skit where the Greek and German philosophers were playing a soccer match and when the whistle was blown to start play, they just meandered around philosophizing completely ignoring the ball in the center of the field.) Apparently, these races run regardless of the wind and weather conditions. If there is no wind, you wait at the start for some wind to hopefully come your way. If it doesn't, in about 45 mins, everybody just motors their boats through the course. Then there is free bbq and beer for all crews at the yacht club. All in all a great way to spend a beautiful evening!

Since I moved here, I have done very little, if any, complaining about the weather here. This is because, quite honestly, I've had very little to complain about. The snow was great over the winter - it was only where I needed it to be, and there was plenty of it. It never gets particularly cold.. or hot either. Sure it can get cloudy, but usually the sun comes out at the end of the day.

For the past month, however, it has been simply miserable. There I said it. It didn't really rain, it was just super cold (40s) and cloudy. I'd be sitting at my desk with the heat on and wrapped in a blanket it was that chilly. I did this last week. The second week in June. A time of year that quite honestly, I think should be warm already. Yesterday I rode my bike in the morning and happily cut my ride short because I was so cold. The second I finished riding, the sun came out.

This was a big weekend of "firsts" for me. I did a lot of stuff for the very first time ever, as well as in Seattle:

1. First time volunteering for "green projects." Hey, when in Rome, right? I joined hundreds of Seattlites in an effort to beautify the city and its many parks. My job? To pull up blackberry bushes and lay down mulch. This task itself was a new one for me. I got to use large clippers to cut back the bushes (not as easy as it looks) and a shovel to dig up deep roots (definitely not as satisfying as you might imagine). As we were digging, an 11 piece band, complete with tuba and cymbal players stood at top the mulch pile and serenaded us. I don't have a picture of this because I was too busy fighting the bushes.

2. First time consignment clothing shopping. Seattle loves to recycle... everything. Second hand clothing stores are very abundant and extremely popular. You can find just about everything - including lingerie, which truthfully, I think is a *little* strange. I dunno about you, but recycling your underwear seems somewhat zealous to me.

3. First time eating chicken legs with chopsticks. This was excellent practice for my pending Vietnam/Cambodia trip. Needless to say, I'll be eating a lot less when I'm there.

On Friday, a neighborhood of Seattle hosted a "briefcase 5K relay." The rules for this are simple:

1. You need a team of 5 runners.

2. Instead of passing a baton between legs, you pass a briefcase (no shoulder strap) holding one Seattle phonebook in it.

3. You can wear sneakers, but you must be wearing something you would if you were going to work.

After watching this event, I plan on participating next year. It is a total hoot, as you can see:

Recently, I tried yoga for the very first time in my life. In Seattle, in addition to a lot of other "alternative" and homeopathic medical practices, yoga is extremely popular. There are almost as many yoga studios as there are coffee shops. A friend of mine goes regularly and invited me to join her. Considering that I see MOP twice a week and I work out aerobically at least 45 mins every day, I figured yoga would be cake. Not so much. As cool as it was to try something totally new at my age, it was extrodinarily humbling.

I placed myself in the front of the class so that I could see what the instructor was doing, at least that was the plan, until the studio got so full, I realized that he wasn't going to have room for a mat himself. I was going to have to rely mostly on watching those around me as well as my hearing - two strikes already against the rookie right off the bat.

The instructor started us off with a very loud "ooooommmmm." It should come as no surprise that I nearly lose my composure at this point - and only minutes into the class. I was very impressed with my ability to keep the laughter in - considering I couldn't even get the hang of the breathing part of yoga. During the entire class (all 2 hours) I could have sworn Darth Vadar had joined us in the back.

For the uninitiated, yoga (at least ashtonga yoga) class consists of attempting to do and hold a variety of poses. The instructor announces a pose and students just assume it. The instructor knew that I was a rank beginner, so initially, he stood in front of me to demonstrate what I was aiming for. I was actually feeling pretty good about myself until he started moving around and I had a chance to see what everybody else in the room was doing. The woman next to me could literally fold herself into a pretzel that could easily fit into an oven. There were people doing headstands right in the middle of the floor. I felt like I was in a Cirque de Soleil training camp.

Afterwards, I find out that this was an "advanced" yoga class. "DUH."

I have so rarely used this blog as a platform for discussing things that are not specifically "PNW" so please forgive me as I go off on a small tangent here. I just can't help myself. I feel compelled to save others from certain disappointment.

For a very long time, I've been waiting for the next installment of the Indiana Jones series. I love Indy. He's super smart, cool and funny. As the years went by, I just figured he would be too old to do another movie. So when I saw a teaser trailer announcing that there WAS going to be another one, I literally jumped out of my seat clapping.

Last night I saw the latest Indy movie, and to say the least, it stunk. If you love the franchise, DON'T see this film. The writing sucked, the acting was cheesey and the story itself is pure blasphemy to the formula. I nearly walked out of the film, and I've NEVER done that in my life.

There, I'm off my tangent soapbox. Tomorrow, back to the PNW.