Blogs from Washington, United States, North America - page 225

Hello all, I have been up 20 hours but I have made it to my first destination- My cousin Joes in Seattle. After all the security panic I was aloud to take normal hand luggage on the plane but no liquids. This wasn’t really a problem for me but I had fun being nosey in Amsterdam Airport watching everyone have their bag searched and panic as their mascara and other liquids were through away. One elderly American couple had no idea about what was going on and started to blame the Dutch and even said that they should bomb Holland - a little harsh I thought!! Anyway off to the Islands (just off west coast of US and Canada) in Joe’s boat tomorrow so will update you when I get back - the beginning of next ... read more

Heliotrope Glissading This is my first blog- Over the weekend my dad (Mike) and I headed out to Heliotrope Ridge. The hike is Located next to Mt. Baker, home to the World Record Snowfall and some pretty frickin sweet skiing. But the weekend instead included some flippin' sweet backpackin (I promise no more references to Mr Dynamite). The hike itself is relatively short- 3 miles, 1600 vert feet, with some fun (according to me) river crossings. This trip was chalk full of controversy, plot points, and bloggable tidbits. Unfortunately, I'm an introvert, and a private person, so those controversies will remain secret. I will say however, I have conclusive proof that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have a baby. A few things hold true in both worlds (W's and Everyone else's), Jack Daniels straight no ... read more

When you plan a day for 16 months it is hard to know if it could meet your expectations. So many hours of plan changing, fretting over every detail, and finally realizing your instincts were right all along. We could not have dreamed that our wedding would work out so well. And fortunately most of the directional signs stayed up long enough for our guests to find their way. Our wedding took place on 8/13/06 at Scenic Beach State Park in Seabeck, WA. The wedding began with a procession to Pachabel's Canon played by Chris' Aunt Patricia (on piano) and Cousin Valerie (on violin). Corey had succeeded in avoiding me the morning of the wedding, so the first time I saw her on our wedding day was when her mother, Bonny, escorted her down the aisle. ... read more

After almost 2 years since I first started lindy hop, I have finally gone to an exchange. For those who don't know what I'm talking about... cities with swing dance scenes will hold lindy hop exchanges where dancers from around the country will attend and dance over 15 hours in a single weekend. Anyhow, I went this year with a similar crew as last year's backpacking trip to Sykes. I arrived on Friday to meet Hugo, Steve, and Preeti who were already eating in Seattle. After filling up, we headed to the night's dance where I got my first tatoo ever(fake ones included). Anyhow, the energy was pretty huge and had a lot of fun dancing with new people. Overall, the dancing throughout the weekend was fun. The music was a little too fast for my ... read more

Waking up by jumping into the cold water from the boat has to be to date the most 'different' shower for this trip. And definitely a literal eye opener to two people who had had about 4 hours sleep. We did lots of activities today to keep us awake and get to see Seattle from terra firma. First stop a 3 hour baseball game with a nail biting finale (though the Seattle Mariners lost to the Oakland Athletic's we were entertained). Then we found ourselves at Pike's market - a very large Covent, Borough and Camden market all rolled into one. Here we located, or more correctly we could not get past for all the Asian tourists taking pictures of themselves outside, the original Starbucks. To carry ticking off items from Ed's skyscraper 'climbed' list, ... read more