Chito Beach Weekend

This past weekend Cindy and I headed over to Chito Beach on the Olympic Peninsula for a girls weekend. We headed out Friday morning and caught the Edmonds / Kingston Ferry to the peninsula. We stopped for lunch in Port Angeles and then headed to Chito Beach Resort.

Chito Beach Resort is located between Clallam Bay and Neah Bay in the very northwest area of the Olympic Peninsula. You take Hwy 101 west out of Port Angeles to get there. It sits right on the Strait of Juan De Fuca between Washington and Vancouver Island. All 6 cabins have a beautiful view of the water and the cabins were so great. What made the cabins even better were the managers who live on the property, they were so nice and accommodating. They even invited us for smores on Saturday night after our hike.

On Saturday morning we left early and headed down through Forks and to the Hoh Rainforest. We hikes about 15 miles there. It was hot but beautiful. Then we stopped at the SmokeHouse Restaurant for a burger. We headed back to the resort and had a few bottles of wine and enjoyed the sunset.

The next morning we headed back to Port Angeles and drove through Hurricane Ridge. Having just been to the Rocky Mountain National Park last summer, it reminded me of that but was an unbelievable sight. Then one more stop before the ferry we stopped in Port Townsend which is one of Washington's oldest towns. It's a really cute hippy down with lots of seasonal tourism. It was really cute with fun saloons and bars. I'd like to go back.

What a great weekend, I cant wait to come back with Rob. How in the world did it take me 4 years to finally get out there to sight see? Pictures below. I have more on Flickr.

Seafair Triathlon

On Sunday Rob and I took part in the Seafair Triathlon in Seward Park. On Saturday morning we registered for the relay. We decided that I would swim and run and he would bike. This was going to be a tough swim for me because it would be the first tri that I swam the full .5 miles. I did it and it was easy. My time was slow, but at least I finished. Rob did an amazing job on the bike.

This was a co-ed event that was very very busy. My friend Wendy had some bad luck as she was starting out of the swim. We were in the same wave as the 40-45 guys and apparently some guys swam over her and kept her under water for a while. Regardless, it was worth it to try to get that practice in. Now I am ready for Portland next weekend! Pictures below taken by my friend Sarah who's husband also did the Tri with us.

Busy weekend ahead. Rob is currently out of town for a guys weekend in Northern Michigan and I am headed to Sequim to stay at a cabin on the coast with one of my friends. Should be a beautiful weekend for it.

We rode the Light Rail today!

This weekend has been great already. Yesterday was a beautiful day and the temp was well into the 80s. I met my friends, Becky and Wendy, down at Seward Park for some swimming. We swam about a half of a mile and then got back in without our wetsuits since it was so hot. It was beautiful out there. The night ended on a sad note when a really bad bike vs. car accident happened on Lake Washington Blvd.
Today was a pretty exciting day in Seattle. The light rail connecting Westlake Center to Sea-Tac opened today. Although the Tukwila to Sea-Tac leg doesn't start till Dec. 2009, the rest of it was open and ready to go and you can still get to Sea-Tac with a shuttle for now.

Rob and I started the day by registering for the Seafair Triathlon tomorrow. We signed up for the relay. I'll swim, he'll bike, and then I will run. Should be fun! Then we went down to our friend's place who live in Rainer Valley and walked over to a nice Pancake Breakfast at the Rainer Senior Center in celebration of the Light Rail opening. After breakfast, Akiko and I rode the light rail downtown to do some shopping and people watching. After coming home and getting locked out of the house for 2 hours... Rob and I took the light rail again for some dinner at Thai Recipe, just off the Mt. Baker stop.

A busy, fun, and historic day in Seattle!

Saturday

Things have been a little busy around here lately so there hasn't been a lot of activity on the blog. We had a great day on Saturday. I started with a 1/2 mile swim down at Madison Beach with my friend Tamara. Rob came too but just to watch. This beach is perfect for swimming practice because you can go from one marker to the other and it's still only chest deep. The beach is full of other swimmers and young families and just a really pretty place to hang out. The we had breakfast at The Attic. It's a bar right on the strip in Madison with outside seat ting. It was great. My favorite breakfast is eggs Benedict, but I rarely order if because it's always too big! This place had a half order - score. When we got home, we took our bikes on the Alki Beach trail and down to Lincoln Park for about a 14 mile ride. Great ride.

Later that night, we decided to go down to Vino Bello in Burien. It was their 3d anniversary as a wine shop/bar and they were celebrating with live jazz/blues music. They were tasting Wine River winery from the Columbia Gorge and it was great. We bought a bottle of the Lemberger.

I'll let Rob update the blog next and share why he is the best husband ever. I have a busy week ahead.

Monday: Bike 19 miles
Tuesday: Yoga and run 3 miles
Wednesday: Yoga and swim 1/2 mile
Thursday: Running in Discovery Park

Happy 6 Years to Us!

Sunday was our 6 year anniversary... Wow! We can't believe it's been this long. It really seems like just yesterday we moved to Connecticut and started our lives together. My theory still holds true that being married is like having a sleep over with your best friend every night. Rob and I have so much fun together and have really enjoy and laugh every day because of him. When we disagree I won't go to bed until it's resolved. You just don't know what might happen tomorrow! I think it has saved us from potentially a few issues! :) Regardless... When we first got married, we had these great ideas of celebrating our anniversary each year and now they just are not as exciting as they were - see below...

Year 1: Celebrated with a weekend away in Nantucket and had a lovely stay at the Veranda House. I so recommend staying there!
Year 2: Dinner at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse and a Michael Buble concert. During dinner we discussed the pros/cons of moving to Seattle and decided to take the plunge.
Year 3: Orca whale watching and Kayaking trip to Canada. So fun!
Year 4: Wine tasting and a weekend away in Willamette Valley
Year 5: Corson Building Dinner - Can't wait to get back there.
Year 6: Breakfast at Table 219 and dinner at I *heart* Sushi

Every day just gets better and if the next 6 years are anything like the first 6 - we'll watch it quickly fly by!

Camping in LaPush

We just got back from two nights of camping in LaPush, Washington. La Push is right on the edge of the Olympic Peninsula and if you are a Twilight reader it's the home of Jacob Black and his pack. Unfortunately for me, I was the only Twilight fan of our camping group so nobody really cared about that. This group was just 4 of us. Rob and myself and our friends, Matt and Akiko. We left right after work on Thursday night and got out there around 10:30. Since we were camping at Second Beach we had to hike about a mile downhill and hike over huge driftwood - in the dark. Then another .25 mile on the beach to get to a spot. This is a backpacking type of site and the cooler that we brought was probably overkill. It's amazing that we made it in to the site in the dark but once we did it was so worth it. It's a beautiful beach where you camping right on the sand. The firewood you use is all driftwood and you hear the ocean all night.

The bad news is that I forgot to wear sunblock on my face and I have a horrible sun burn on my face. The good news is that Matt and Akiko were in charge of the food and we ate like kings all weekend.


Here are some photos from the weekend, but I'll post the rest up on Flickr soon.