Reason 17: Walking Trail for lazy afternoons: Cedar River Trail@Renton

I took the 3 kids to Cedar River Park for exploring the Offleash park, and discovered this walking trail.


Immediately I fell in love with this pleasant, peaceful and easy walking trail.  It reminds me of Anniversary Trail back in Melbourne where is very close to our home.

Unlike Issaquah Offleash Park,  Cedar River Offleash Park is flat and even, there are a few young trees which will grow tall and big one day to provide some shade.


Jasper loves this park, he had a ball!

We love the trail, it's sooo perfect for a lazy afternoon stroll, here we can have chats and conversations, without worrying the background noise.  Trees on both sides provide shade, so even in the warm afternoon, it's still cool and pleasant.



 


(Anniversary Trail in Melbourne Australia)

Reason 16: WA-17N --> Park Lake Rd NE in Coulee, a distant cousin of Great Ocean Road

This is not really in Seattle Metro Area, but within 3hrs' reach.

If you haven't been to Coulee WA, please do organize a day trip there.  If you love to feast your eyes on rolling mountains and massive greens, you would love the special treat of Rocks and Lakes in Coulee......

The road trip to Coulee / Dry Falls from Seattle via I-90 is scenery, the last section of the road reminds me of Great Ocean Road back home (Victoria Australia).  I shall re-visit this place over and over again.....



 
(WA-17N --> Park Lake Rd NE in Coulee)

vs

 
(Great Ocean Road)



 
(Dry Falls)


(Overlooking Columbia River)

Reason 15: Free Toys in Offleash Park

Peek-a-Boo, I see you!  I see free balls and Frisbee in the offleash park.  These are provided by either council or the local community.  They are quite camouflaged in the grass, can you spot them?

Reason 14, Mt Rainier, you are sooooooo magnificent!

I admit that my geography knowledge which most people think "common sense" isn't common sense to me.

I made extra effort to map Mt Rainier out and gained acquaintance with her.

So, here is the Mt. Rainier, the mountain that I see in the distance everyday on the way to work and home.  I admire her beauty every time when I see her.

When other bus commuters are busy with their books and phones, I look outside of the windows, for the lakes, the green in the distance, and her, Mt Rainier, make the bus journey scenery.

On one bus commute, my next-seat neighbor, she turned her phone on, and captured a picture of Mt Rainier.  I was so glad when she did it, for there was someone else think it was a special moment.

Reason 13: Ski day-trips, I'm looking forward to it!

Winter is supposed to be cold and white, in my little ideal world.

Back in Melbourne, we had an annual weekly-trip to Mt Hotham a snow mountain every winter, it's a 8-hour drive one way.

Here in Seattle, I'm constantly told that how close the ski trails are and how convenient the ski trips are.  And I'm very excited and looking forward to my first ski season this coming winter, even though I still must wait for another 6 months.

So, if you see me in my knee brace and on skis, don't be alarmed, I may not be as mobile as everyone else on the snow, I may be clumsier than most of people, but I'm still functional, and I'm still able to ski and enjoy the snow...............  (Yes, I get those kind questions every day every ski season: Vera, what happened to you leg?  Vera, are you OK?)

Reason 12: No FLIES in summer

No doesn't mean absolute ZERO.  If you compare 1 fly against 100 flies, it's NO enough for me.

One of a few very very very annoying things in Australia is big juicy buzzing flies, they just won't leave you alone doesn't matter how you shoo them shoo...............  You may safely assume spring is around the corner once you spot those flies buzzing around you.....

I became such an expert catching flies with a plastic bag because of such daily practice in spring and summer.

You now may understand how delightful I am when I'm in a relatively fly-free zone here in Seattle.

Reason 11: Rocky Beach and Beach Umbrellas, how do these 2 fit??????

I had never ever imagined that I could possibly relax and enjoy myself under a beach umbrella on a rocky beach for 2 hours, until a few weeks ago........

Caught by surprise or rather poorly prepared, our weekend day trip landed on this rocky beach.  Surrounded by glum faces, I felt discouraging and bearing all the silent blame for taking the family to this beach.....

Well, let's try something, something that we've never done before..............

And Voila, here we go, it turns out not bad at all, lying on the rocks......

Reason 10: Bike Rack on Buses

If Norway is a paradise for cyclists, Seattle Buses provide a solution to HYBRID BUS&Bike riders.....

The bike rack is fitted on all public buses and so easy and quick to use.  I reckon even I would be able to strap my bike to the rack without any additional assistance.

I wonder whose idea it was? and who designed and engineered the very fist bike rack to the buses?

Reason 9: Hiking Trails are just next door

5pm on a pleasant late spring Sunday, I was doing my jigsaw puzzle in the backyard, the kids came and wanted to go for a walk.......

"How about the trail on the other side of I-90 freeway?"  I suggested, I had always wanted to explore that trail.

Packed the water bottles, changed to hiking boots, Triple checked the mobile phones, we jumped into the car.....

Literally 7 mins later, we were at the trailhead.  And we completed the trail before it got dark.

All 3 kids and I enjoyed this particular trail immensely.

It's "Adventure Trail", if you're interested in.  It's not busy, so we get to feel like we are in the proper woods, full of invisible fairies.  Because it's away from I-90 freeway, it's quiet, peaceful...............

Reason 8: Toilet Seat Covers, what a PLUS!

It is inevitable to use a public toilet.

Thought we don't often talk about it, I discovered the delight immediately during my very first toilet visit at the Seattle airport the day we just landed......  TOILET SEAT COVER!

Later on, I've made a conclusion that it IS common here to provide toilet seat covers in public toilets, or in restaurants/cafes etc.

Hey, Australia & Hong Kong, when will you adopt this good practice?

Reason 7: Jasper is welcome at work

As I often say, whoever is nice and kind to Jasper (and Jessica) is my forever friend.....

I always wanted to be able to have my babies by my side when I was working, for that very reason, I once wanted to have my own store.

Jessica didn't get the opportunity to come to work with me, but Jasper, he's a lucky one......

During the toilet break, Jasper and I met a few other dogs and their owners, they were having office-hour toilet break too.  Apparently Jasper isn't the only lucky one..... :-)

He explored every room and every corner of the work space, except  the server room which I made sure the door was shut and he wouldn't go in.  Even when I was having a meeting in the meeting room, he was on my laps.....

(Microsoft and Amazon aren't the only employers that you can take dogs to work).

Reason 6: Shopping Shopping and Shopping

There is something I simply cannot ignore, and that is SHOPPING, doesn't matter how little I like shopping in general.

Amazon is fabulous, it is dangerous too.  It changes the way people shop, and if I'm not careful with my shopping on Amazon, I could easily spend A LOT of money on Amazon un-noticed.

Like, I was on the bus, heading home, and realized I "needed" to buy an extra metronome, then next second, I clicked "BUY NOW" on Amazon on my mobile..... and since I was on Amazon, I bought another 2 items as well, because I "meant" to buy them "long ago".....

Reason 5: Jasper was welcomed to dine inside a restaurant

Well,  this is a rather embarrassing and special moment.............

It was cold, windy and raining and we were huddling at an outdoor dining table under a tiny roof outside a restaurant/inn, because everyone was hungry and this was the ONLY restaurant we could find in Seattle city that allows dogs to stay.  (I'm sure there are other restaurants that allow dogs to dine outside, but I just wasn't able to locate any that day).

The owner came out, he had a cavalier at home, and he loved Jasper.  He invited us go inside so that we could all sit comfortably in the dry and warmth.

We had a VERY GOOD lunch in the end.

Jessica my forever sweetest baby girl had a favourite indoor restaurant (and the only one) when we lived in Hong Kong.  But we stayed outdoor every time when we had meal at a cafe/restaurant in Australia.  Jasper didn't have such luxury in Melbourne either.

Here, it happened, although it happened JUST ONCE, and although there are quite some outdoor dining areas that don't welcome dogs, my heart has a special spot for that particular kind restaurant........

I wish I could reveal the name of the restaurant, but it may not be a good idea............

Reason 4: Doggy Bags.... so Handy.....

Doggy Bags are available on nearly every street where I live................ There are 3 Doggy Bag stations along the route I take Jasper for a walk, and so far I haven't seen any of the station run out of supply;  that's how handy it is....

It doesn't mean there is no dog poo on the streets unfortunately,  what it means to me is I don't need to worry about the plastic bags for Jasper.  I haven't had the need to buy poo bags from supermarket since Jasper arrived Seattle.

Nice, enh?

Reason 3: easiest settling in at work

It is true.  After university, I worked for 4 companies (1 small, 1 medium and 2 big organizations) in Hong Kong, 3 companies (2 medium 1 big organizations) in Melbourne, and here I am, with a small organization in Seattle.

This is the easiest settling in since I started my full time work-life 17 years ago.  Maybe it's because there is no "internal client", so everyone is relaxed with the language, tone and behaviour.  Maybe it's because after that many years of work life, I have a knack of settling in.......

But, I know, down deep in my reasoning, my peers here are so sweet and cute and funny.

At work, we use Slack, a messaging software like Skype, for instant messaging.  My peers had a Haiku feverish one day, everyone of them transformed into a poet and the Slack conversations were all Haiku, ended with programming pseudocode generating Haiku poems......

I had to save the entire conversation history to show my kids. That's how cute they are!

One afternoon, I had a causal chat with Ryan, a workmate, about his hobbies.  He homemakes from icecream to soap to wood work...... I told him how I attempted to homemake lipsticks but failed, and how I would love to experiment soap and candle making.

Monday morning, when I arrived at my desk, I saw these on it: homemade soap bars and homemade Apple Butter!!!!!  How Sweeeeet!  

  

When Ryan came into work, passing my desk, I stopped him :"Ryan!  Come give me a hug!!".............. :)

Reason 2 - Yellow Magic School Bus(es)!!!!!

In Australia, kookaburra's laughs make me chuckle every time without fail;

Here, in Seattle, seeing a Yellow Magic School Bus puts a big smile on my face!
and NOT JUST ONE!  MANY magic school buses...... picking up the students to and from schools......

I love the school bus system here, it makes my life as a parent so much easier.  And the bus stop is literally 20 walking steps from home front door, if not 25 steps.

And what's more? It's FREE of CHARGE!  Well, kind of blend in the tax and other local government charges.

Begining of the Love Journey - My Love to Seattle - Reason 1: Greenness

To be 100% blunt truthful, Seattle to me isn't love at first sight.  The bond between us is more like a blind date.  Moving to Seattle was purely at random and the longing to explore. we might've gone to any other city in the world.....

Spring is the love season, so grows my love to her.......

 Reason 1 - the landscape, the mountains and the GREEN!

I would be so miserable if I couldn't see green or ocean, that's why I wasn't feeling like to do much when I was in Florence (Sorry, I know and totally agree that Florence is the paradise for art lovers).

And this is the ONE of the 3 conditions for me to decide where in Seattle to live.

This is what I see in the early mornings (6.10am) on the way walk to bus stop.  It's a 30mins pleasant walk, isn't it much better than workout on a treadmill in a gym?  Now I hope this reason stays throughout the year even in the wet rainy days..............