It’s been a busy month since I last posted. During that time, we have successfully moved along the process of selling and buying our new homes, and currently have moved all of our possessions out of home in hopes that we’ll be moving them into our new home later this month. After the frantic pace of the last few weeks, the time has finally arrived for us to embark on our travels and find some relaxation in some other parts of the country. Our first stop and the end of last week: Seattle!
Note: I’m catching up on posts that should have been written earlier this week, so you’ll see a series of posts about what we’ve been up to in Seattle.
We actually flew into Seattle last Friday to attend the wedding of our Rachel and Ken. The wedding was actually outside of Seattle on Whidbey Island, a quaint place that you get to by ferry. We made a small mistake in the amount of time that we took to make our way up to the ferry, and by the time we arrived at the ferry pick-up in Mukilteo, the waiting line was almost 2 miles long and a 2 hour wait – and here I thought ski traffic was bad! The time went by quickly though, and we were able to board the ferry and arrive on the island before 5:30. We were lucky enough to get one of the front spots in he ferry, which gave us this view right from our car:
For our lodging, we ended up going into a VRBO with some friends and ended up with a beautiful beach house on the southeast part of the island. We were delighted to open the back door to this wonderful view:
One of the benefits of staying at a house like this is that we could make a great dinner at home – which consisted of crab and a awesome shrimp pasta that Bethany had made. We also treated ourselves to something I never experienced before: a beach-side campfire, which I would say seriously rivals mountain camping fires.
On Saturday morning Joel and I joined other wedding guests in some sea kayaking, which made me once again fall in love with the activity and exploring the feasibility of owning my own. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures there, as I didn’t want to chance a water accident with the camera.
Rachel & Ken’s wedding was held at a place called Rhythm Waters, which easily goes on my top 5 list of wedding venues out there. It was nestled meadow at the top of a very steep hill. We actually got a sneak peak of it earlier in the day when we ran a wedding-prep errand. Pulling up I saw a big open meadow to my left and thought that the wedding simply hadn’t set up yet. I was also fearful of where all the guests would be parking. However, I quickly realized that the meadow was simply the parking lot, and that there was a small path that lead you to a 2nd, bigger and more beautiful meadow.
The wedding itself was a total blast! During the reception there was actually a wedding triathlon, where Bethany and I emerged as winners of the knot-tying contest. We even got medals to show for it! Rachel and Ken also had an awesome first dance as well:
Because the wedding was being held at a hidden meadow, there was the challenge of how people were going to be able to use the bathroom. The problem was solved by putting outhouses – but not just any outhouses! These “Royal Restrooms” was a motor trailer with flushable toilets, plush carpeting and running water. All of the guests were fascinated by these futuristic remote bathrooms. The insides were spacious and I’d imagine they’d be what airplane bathrooms would be if the airlines gave a damn about comfort. If you have to pee in the woods, this is the way to do it.
We ended our Whidbey Island adventure by heading home and taking in one last shot of the sunset.
Next up: Our week-long time pretending to be Seattle’ites.