Golden Gardens

Saturday April 28, 2012

To study today we drove down to Golden Gardens in Seattle on the Puget Sound. First we grabbed Cuban sandwiches from Paseo in Ballard for lunch on the beach.

Beaching Northwest style in pants and jackets.

Shockingly Chance laid down in the sand.

The Pacific Northwest beach.

Perfect way/locale to read and study.

SLR Chance test shot

April 11, 2012
 
The only way to get a good picture of Chance is to bribe her with treats.

SLR camera test

March 30, 2012
 
Here are a few practice shots on Chance with our new DSLR camera.

Wolfpack Sweet Sixteen Basketball Game

March 23, 2012

Let’s GO WOLFPACK!

Even though we didn’t beat Kansas, I’m still so proud of this Wolfpack basketball season! Wearing and bleeding RED to the core!

Thompson, Manitoba, Canada

March 18-28, 2012

Damn Canadians and their hockey. Joe had to buy a guy a beer to get him to switch to the Wolfpack basketball game. It’s so worth it! Sweet sixteen bound baby!

Pisew Fall outside of Thompson.

You know the picture about “two sets of footprints in the sand”? Why isn’t there one about footprints in the SNOW?

This is “fa-ra-ra-ra-ra” weather. 5 deg F.

Joe's now 1/128^th Canadian. Not every day you see an Asian curling in Canada.

Birthday presents

March 20, 2012

Joe got me a bouquet of yellow tulips and a DSLR (digital single-lens reflux which uses a mirror positioned behind the camera lens to direct light toward the viewfinder when you’re composing a photo) for my birthday!  

Beth’s Café

March 17, 2012

Big breakfast at Beth’s Café before Joe head off to the frozen Canada. It is famous for the 12 egg omelet, which was the winner on Man vs Food.

Public Market

March 16, 2012

Finally some sunshine complete with a dancing Wolfpack win & Beecher’s world famous mac n cheese.

Wine Tasting

March 10, 2012

For my birthday we went wine tasting in Woodinville, which is basically the Sonoma/Napa Valley of Washington. It was a great afternoon with Joe and my good friend Robert from work. We started out at one of the large wineries and the oldest winery in Washington, Chateau Ste Michelle. It was raining so we didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful grounds at the Chateau. They have a complimentary 35 min tour which concludes with a tasting of 3 wines. I actually felt like we learned a lot on the tour. It was really informative. It was interesting to hear about all the different kinds of grapes and which vineyards in the Washington Columbia valley they are grown. Our tour guide finally explained tannins to us in a way that made sense. We’re slowly beginning to know more and more about what wines we like and why. We enjoyed ourselves so much we tasted 4 more wines a piece for $10 at Chateau Ste Michelle. Joe tried 4 whites and I had 4 reds, giving ourselves a sip of all they had to offer. Many of your may recognize this winery’s name. They are well stocked at Costco. (Costco is from Kirkland, WA, a few miles from us, hence the Kirkland Costco brand name). We had wines from Ethos, Indian Wells, Canoe Ridge, Horse Heaven and Columbia Valley collections. Joe still calls the Eroica Riesling, Erotica. We bought a 2010 dry Riesling from Columbia Valley for a good price and  some 2005 sparkling wine, Luxe, to hopefully celebrate.  We’re not big champagne fans, but we enjoyed this one. I hope that one day soon we can crack that open when I pass my structures exam. I don’t want to wait until next New Years to open that bottle.

Janiuk/Novelty Hill Winery was our next visit. They are in a modern building with exposed concrete walls and wood timber rafters. We had a bacon wine which didn’t really have any hint of bacon in it. We had a pizza with prosciutto and capers to tide our tummies for more wine.  It was a cool bar space but rather loud with many people and busy sommeliers without much knowledge about the wine they are serving us.

Next we went over to the old Hollywood Schoolhouse parking lot which is lined with tasting rooms of many different wineries. We ended up at Pepper Bridge, which is a family-owned estate winery with a strong sustainable presence in the Walla Walla Valley of eastern Washington. Before we knew it we were in for 3 more red wines for tasting. They are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The small shop cleared out of some large groups so we could talk to the sommelier some more to

Even though Carolyn had UW studio finals, she still made it to our next and final stop, dinner at Redhook Ale Brewery! As if we didn’t have enough to drink already that day. J The burgers and pub grub sure hit the spot though. Overall it was a great way to spend my birthday! Sorry I forgot to bring the camera.

Study Backyard

Sunday April 22, 2012

No amount of studying can keep me indoors on this beautifully warm sunlit day. Chance laid with my on a blanket in the backyard.

Wallace Falls State Park

Saturday April 21, 2012

Today we drove east down Hwy 2 to Gold Bar at the beginning of the Cascades, to hike Wallace Falls.

Mountain range near Gold Bar.

Small falls.

Hiking along Wallace River.

Hiking.

Beautifully lit trees.

River crossing.

Gaining in elevation.

Middle falls.

Moss & lichen on old tree stump.

Cool tree.

Tall, tall trees under a sunny blue sky.

Tree trunk pattern.

Middle falls.

Upper falls.

Seriously, must you practice using the SLR camera while I eat my sandwich?

Chance crossing bridge.

Small falls for a drink of water.