Road Tripping: Seattle

I can't believe it's been over two months since we were in Seattle. It was a really quick trip, but we managed to see a lot of the city. We got in late in the afternoon and parked by the pier. We had about an hour until my friend and his wife could meet up with us so we wandered around. 

Pike Place Market was just down the street so we headed there right away. I'm not sure what is up with this gum wall, but it's huge. N thought it was pretty gross and I kind of do too. Interesting to photograph, but I don't think I could bring myself to touch it and add my own piece to the wall.

We wandered the market a bit and then went in search of parking to meet up with my friend and his wife. I hadn't see Lucas since he came to Calgary for Stampede Week in 2006. We originally met in France while studying in Rennes in 2005. He played tour guide and showed up some of the main sites downtown. We eventually decided on Ivar's for some seafood on the pier. It was great catching up and hearing about everything they'd been up to since I'd last seen him (there's a lot. They're pretty worldly and impressive people!) They were generously putting us up at their home just outside Seattle so after dinner we headed back to their house to rest up for the next day.

Our first stops after breakfast the next day were the Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder. They were built to link the freshwater of Lake Washington to the saltwater of Puget Sound. There is also a fish ladder built to allow easier passage for salmon to return to Lake Washington and navigate the locks. There are glass panels below the waterline so you can watch the fish swim up the ladders if you're lucky. We waited and waited, hoping to see a salmon swim up the ladder, but it was wasn't until we were just walking out that one finally made an appearance. It swam so fast that we didn't get to see much. It'd be really cool to be there when a lot of salmon are making their way to Lake Washington.

We had visited Pike Place Market briefly the day before but wanted a little more time to see it and try some seafood so we headed back there. The rain held off and gave us the opportunity to wander the market. We tried some fresh crab and marvelled at the amazing seafood. The rest of the market was great too, but that scale of seafood isn't something we see at home so we were spent most of our time in awe of the seafood.

We tried to visit the first Starbucks, but the line outside was insane so we took dumb pictures outside instead. It was possibly the most touristy moment of our trip. I worked at Starbucks long enough to grow an intense appreciation for good coffee and small roasters, of which there are plenty in both Seattle and Portland. I appreciate what Starbucks has done for this industry. It really wouldn't exist if someone hadn't come up with the idea to open this little italian style cafe and try to sell the idea of lattes, americanos, and cappuccinos to North Americans. Thank you, Starbucks. 

Lucas had mentioned we should check out the library. It's a pretty cool building and definitely well worth a wander if you're looking for something to do downtown and are interested in architecture. We didn't stay long, but we wandered all the way up to the top. This is the top floor of the library.

Afterwards, we decided we'd seen enough of downtown Seattle and headed up to Capitol Hill. This is such a cool area of Seattle. We were ready for a break, some beer, and a snack so we wandered the area looking for a good spot. We stumbled on Oddfellows and decided it looked like a good choice. We shared some charcuterie and a couple drinks. I absolutely loved the space and was sad to have to head back to the car. I would have loved to have had more time to explore Capitol Hill. I guess that means we'll have to make another trip out to Seattle.

 We headed to the Walrus and the Carpenter for dinner that night. The restaurant is in Ballard, which is another really cool neighbourhood. They don't take reservations and it is a pretty popular spot so we showed up and had a two hour wait ahead of us. Luckily this gave us a chance to wander around the area and grab a drink on a patio. Again, another neighbourhood I'd love to have more time to explore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter is a little Oyster Bar in a beautiful old restored building. They also have a lot of small plates and a beautiful wine and beer selection. We ordered a bunch of delightful things along with both fresh oysters and fried ones. It was a delicious meal and the perfect end to our food tour of the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, it seemed too cramped a space to pull out my SLR so I only have grainy iPhone photos of the meal. Trust me, these don't do it justice.

We woke up "early"the next morning, grabbed coffee in the beautiful town of Edmonds (Lucas picked a beautiful spot to call home!), and hit the Interstate. We stopped for some quick outlet shopping before crossing the border back into Canada; it was time for Kelowna and a very exciting half marathon!

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August in Instagram

It's vacation time! Woohoo! I feel like I've  been waiting for this all summer and it's finally here. I don't usually do scheduled posts, but I didn't want to miss out on an August Recap! When this posts we will hopefully be having a glorious time at a Wedding in Vancouver. Here's what we got up to this month:

1. I'm always cooking (or at least it feels that way!) This recipe was fantastic! Paleo pork burgers topped with yam noodles. You can NEVER go wrong with yam noodles. I also made yam chips by deep frying yams in bacon fat. Yum!
2. I already posted about Color Me Rad, but it was seriously fun!
3. I went out to Columbia Lake and hung out with my folks. I love that spot.
4. N was away for a few weeks. I hated it, so we went for brunch at one of my favourite restaurants, Ox and Angela, to celebrate his return.
5. We went backpacking along Lake Minnewanka with some friends. We ran into bears and it was terrifying, but we made it out alive. It was a fun trip overall!
6. We experimented with a new paleo crust from one of my new cookbooks, Gather. It was delicious.
7. Fitness Friday is still happening every Friday. It makes me incredibly happy to see how much stronger all these people are getting. Our little group is growing and it's amazing!
8. We hiked Grizzly Peak with T. It was a wonderful way to spend a sunny Saturday.
9. Mom treated me to a manicure and my first pedicure. I could definitely get addicted to having pretty nails!

Enjoy the long weekend! Excuse me while I dance the night away! We'll be on the road tomorrow exploring the Pacific Coast Highway on our way to Portland. I can't wait!


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This Land is my Land

We went hiking this weekend in Kananaskis Country. There are so many hikes I want to do that chosing one can be really tough sometimes, but we eventually settled on Grizzly Peak. I'd seen some photos from a friend of a friend and it looked like a great hike. You can't beat the view you get from the mountains in Kananaskis and you get the added bonus of not needing a park pass.

The very beginning of the trail

N and I hoped in the car and picked up a friend early Saturday morning. After unsuccessfully trying to get coffee at three independent coffee places, we gave in to Starbucks and headed West for the Rockies. 

Grizzly Peak is an unmarked trail between Grizzly Creek and Hood Creek. It was relatively easy to find using the landmarks described in online guides. We parked in the ditch on the side of the highway, changed into our hiking boots, and started up the trail. You could distinctly see it running beside the creek from the beginning, despite it being an unmarked trail. 

It started climbing pretty quickly right from the start. We weren't going to get much of a break on this hike, it seemed.It was so steep that it took us over an hour to cover the first kilometre. I'm sure the boys could have climbed faster, but they had to wait for me and I'm just a little bit slower.

T being....T

Right from the beginning, there were some great views and fun obstacles. There was a little point where we had to scramble and carefully hug the side of the mountain. It looks a lot more difficult than what it is. 

Obstacles!

The trail as pretty distinct until we got about three quarters of the way up, when we hit a bunch of scree. You could tell people had made different decisions as to which route to take and there wasn't a clear trail. We continued to scramble up and then decided to take the steep grassy route up to the saddle instead of scrambling up some interesting rock and creek. It was steep and tough, but definitely better than the alternative.

Let's take the grassy route...

The saddle itself was pretty amazing. I wasn't expecting to find a beautiful clearing up there, surrounded my mountains. It was so peaceful and seemed like a great spot to take a lunch break. We found a nice little spot and hunkered down for some food. It was gorgeous. 

Finding a lunch spot

From the saddle, it was an easy 15 minutes to the summit. We really lucked out with the weather and it was gorgeous when we reached the top. Most summits are pretty windy so we took advantage of the stillness and hung out for a while, enjoying the view and chatting. It was breathtaking.

Thanks for an amazing day as always, Kananaskis Country! I highly recommend Grizzly Peak if you're looking for a new day hike to try. The views are incredible right from the start, the saddle is beautiful and peaceful, and it makes for a great day!

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Color Me Rad

Fun runs seem to be popping up all over the place lately. I can't seem to login to Instagram on the weekend without coming across at least one photo from some kind of charity or fun run. It's great! I love to see people getting out, moving around, and getting healthy.

A few friends and I signed up for Color Me Rad this year. You dress in as much white as you can and run 5 km while people throw packages of corn starch dye at you. It was originally scheduled for July Long Weekend, but due to the flooding it got rescheduled to August Long and a lot of my friends couldn't participate.

Luckily, Color Me Rad is an easily transferable race, so a few other friends took their places. We met at Crowfoot LRT Station on Saturday morning and took the shuttle bus out to Canada Olympic Park for the run. There were so many people up there. It was great to see everyone dressed up and running around having a great time.

At the start line we were given our first colour bombs, which we proceeded to throw at each other. We couldn't start things off with pristine white shirts. The race itself was up and down the hills and trails at the Park. It was a mix of pavement and trail running, but all in all a fairly easy course. We weren't with many actual runners so we walked a lot of the hills and just took our time, laughing at each other as we got more and more covered in colours.

As we rounded the last corner, they gave everyone one last colour bomb to use however they wanted. Of course, we saved ours and dumped colour all over each other at the finish area.

I really enjoyed the race. It was lighthearted and easy so there was no pressure running-wise. It was advertised as a 5 km, but I'd give it 3 km at most. Definitely manageable for all fitness levels. We got a lot of great photos and laughed a lot. If you have the opportunity to do Color Me Rad or some other colour run, I would definitely go for it. If you're worried about the colour dying your hair (like I was), coconut oil seemed to keep the colour out and had the added bonus of leaving my hair super soft after I washed it.

Happy Running!

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