For My Dad

Every time I come home my dad tells me about the signs on the doors at Target and how they don't make sense. In fact the last time I was home, my dad was so bothered by this blunder that he actually had me bring a camera into Target and take a picture. These signs are found inside the first set of doors looking out into the parking lot. And truly, any way you look at it, it is written improperly. "Do Not Enter" must mean do not enter these doors to go into the parking lot. If it was meant for the customers entering the store, the "Do Not Enter" sign would have to be on the opposite side of the door. This "Do Not Enter" sign is then contradicted by the "Enter Only" sign beneath it in the first picture. If the "Enter Only" part is to warn customers that people on the other side of the door will be using this door as an entrance then that should be specified since the term "enter" is being used in the above sign to refer to customers who are entering the door to EXIT the store. The next sign, which was on the neighboring door, first tells customers "Do Not Enter" (this door to exit the store) but then on the sign below it says "Not an exit" now here they are using the terms ENTER and EXIT to refer to going through the door in the same direction - moving from the entry way to the parking lot. Target should be consistent in the terminology that they use in order to keep the confusion down and to maintain the safety of the customers... Especially for easily confused people like my dad.

Deception Pass State Park

This past weekend Mike and I and Katie and Jim Headed up to Deception Pass State Park for another exciting camping trip. The park is located on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound which is most easily accessible by ferry (which we took). Like usual it was cold and raining but we did luck out because as we pulled into the campground it stopped raining and only rained a little more the next morning. We brought a new friend with us Rufus - Katie and Jim's puppy who was a trooper. He managed to keep up with us on the 1 mile hike up to the Deception Pass bridge and back although he was pretty worn out at the end. Once again we ate like King's (and Queen's). We had toasted cheese as an appetizer and then Mike grilled the best hamburger's we had ever eaten. Baked beans and pasta salad were the sides and Smore's for desert. For breakfast we ate eggs, hashbrowns and Smore's again! This time we decided to bring our own entertainment - beer and a box of Trivial Pursuit 90's edition. If you have never played this edition, it's awesome because we actually knew some of the answers! We were only able to spend one night, but it was well worth it!
*Pictures*
*Map* (as always, zoom out to see detail)

Kate and Anne Graduated

Friday evening I headed to St. Louis for Kate and Anne's graduations. I arrived in St. Louis late Friday at 11:00pm. Saturday morning we dressed up and headed to the Savis Center for Kate's graduation from SLU. She graduated with her bachelors in Spanish, Sociology, and a minor in French and a certificate in journalism. That evening my family (including grandma) met Laura (who is 4 months pregnant and really cute) at Chimichanga's on South Grand. Kate was sad because she had to move out of her apartment and say good bye to her 3 roommates prior to arriving at the restaurant. Then afterwards we had to stop by Ted Drews. The next day was Anne’s' bachgloriette mass at St. Ann's Parish at 2:00pm. The mass was beautiful and so was Anne. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up stuff to make a tomato, Parmesan and arugala pasta. Before dinner Kate and I ran by Maureen and Andy's house and saw the new baby Claire (and Caroline who is almost 3). Then Kate and I ran by youth group to say hi to Gerry Orbin. After dinner we met Katie and Emily in Norton's in Soulard for a drink and to catch up. We had so much fun that the next morning we all met at the Coffee shop and the other Orbins - Joey, Mary, Frannie and Jimmy were all their too! Kate and I and my dad spent the rest of the day shopping at REI to get Kate ready for her 500 mile Camino in Spain which she is leaving for in a week. She is planning on backpacking 500 miles in 30 days - averaging 17 miles per day and staying in hostels (pretty exciting). Anne was at graduation practice and my mom had Jury Duty! Finally on Monday night was Anne's high school graduation held at the theater at UMSL. Next year Anne will be a freshman at Rockhurst in Kansas City studying Communication disorders. After graduation we all went (including grandma) to Malones where we were able to give Anne her Ipod Nano which she loved! Tuesday morning was a sad day because the fun was over and it was time to go home but I did miss the husband and he picked me up at the airport and we grilled some burgers and watched the American Idol finale!
*Pictures*

Mount Si

With Marcie in St Louis I was forced to entertain myself for the weekend. Yesterday's adventure took me to Mount Si for a hike with Jim and Katie. Mount Si is a located in the Snoqualmie Valley of the lower Cascade Mountains and has a summit of 4,167 ft. The trail runs from the base (670 ft) to the top in 4.3 miles, rewarding the tired travelers with a breathtaking view of lower Washington State. At the top of the mountain is a small outcropping of rock, affectionately known as the haystack, which represents the final 200 ft ascent to the summit. Look closely at the picture and you'll see the haystack, just left of what seems like the top of the mountain.
Every hiker in Seattle (and there is quite a lot out here) has summited this popular destination. In fact, Mount Si is said to be the most climbed peak in the United States! It's commonly used to train for Mount Rainier and it is under an hour from the center of the city. Despite rain in the forecast, we were just three of about 50 people that could be seen on the trail during the 5 hours we spent there. With 800 feet of elevation gain per mile, the going was pretty rough on the way up with many breaks in between (we're out of shape). Once on the top we rested for a while and ate lunch before I decided to ascend the final 200 foot haystack. The path to the top is considered a "scramble" which falls somewhere between a hike and a roped climb. With no climbing experience I was a little shaky, but once on top it was all worth it. The 360 degree panoramic view, of what seemed like half the state, is something I will never forget!
*Click here for pictures*
*Map - you'll have to zoom out*

Olympic National Park - Ozette

This weekend Mike and I attempted our first hike-in camp trip by ourselves. We carefully packed only the necessities on Friday night and headed out Saturday morning. We drove 4 hours to Ozette which is in the national park on the Pacific Coast. We hiked 3.3 miles to the ocean then hiked about 3/4 mile along the beach until we scouted out a campsite. This area of the country is beautiful- the beach is rocky with many small islands and rock formations in the water near the shore and a forest right behind the beach. We saw bald eagles, hawks, deer and heard seals off the coast. Sadly, we did see a dead baby killer whale that looked as if it had been attacked and had washed up on the shore :(
Since my favorite thing to do on a camp trip is eat, I made sure to bring along good food. For dinner we had Lipton noodles (with boiled river water), spinach salad, hot tea and of course S'mores for dessert. Good thing I had Mike with me to pitch the tent, use the propane stove, saw the firewood and make the fire! You are only able to make campfires out of drift wood so 3 firestarters later Mike finally had a fire going (which was a good thing since it dropped from about 65 as the high, to 40 degrees as the low). Fortunately, I bought a new down sleeping bag from REI this week that is rated for down to 15 degrees and some feet warmers (just in case) and I was very toasty, but mike's bag was synthetic material and only rated to 20 degrees and he was cold all night. In the morning we made french vanilla coffee and bagels with peaunt butter before exploring some tidepools and then hiking back out.
*Click here for more pics*
*Click here for a map (you may have to zoom out)*

Larrabee State Park

This weekend we went camping in Larrabee State Park with our new friends Jim & Katie (who both happen to be from St. Louis and graduated from SLU). Katie moved to Seattle about a year ago to work for Boeing and Jim moved up 6 months ago. Jim is a computer programmer. The two are getting married in the STL October 14th. Like usual, our camping trip was cold and rainy. My feet were cold the entire trip (especially at night) Saturday afternoon it stopped raining long enough for us to go on a 10 mile bike ride. The trip was unfortunately not without incident, when all of a sudden our wide gravel trail turned into a single track, rocky, root-ridden trail. We were getting ready to turn around when Jim's bike took a turn for the worst and tumbled down a muddy slope and the bike (and him) landed in a pond of muddy, stinky, stagnant water (not to mention cold). Jim took it well though (which was good since we were all laughing and Mike took a picture) and was able to make it back to the camp but unfortunately his shower (which cost 50 cents) was ice cold, this I think was more painful than the fall! We ate like kings though - eggs for breakfast, hot dogs for dinner Saturday, foil packs with steak, chicken, potatoes and Vegas on Friday and of course lots of S'mores!! Our new friends are great campers and we can't wait for many more adventures with them!!!
-Click here for more pics
-See a map (you may have to zoom out)

For Fam and Friends

We've been out here for a month and seem to do something every weekend. So, for the sake of our friends and family who are always wondering what we are doing, we decided to start this blog. To quickly catch you up to speed, we moved to Seattle at the end of March. Since that time (4 weeks) we found an apartment, started our jobs, made some friends and have had some visitors. We've been snowboarding, camping, hiking, snowshoeing, shopping, eating and have consumed many espresso's. We miss our friends from Maine, Minneapolis and St. Louis but have had a lot of fun during our short time in the Northwest. This Blog will hopefully chronicle the adventures, thoughts and complaints of Mike and Marcie during our time here in Seattle.
*See some pictures*