Say Cheese!

Since we love us all kinds of cheese, Scott and I headed down to Pike's Market today for the Seattle Cheese Festival. We had heard good things about it from coworkers and was warned it gets busy but we weren't prepared for the throngs of people that showed up. It was crazy crowded! They closed off the streets right around the market so cheese vendors could put up food stalls. With the "scorching" heat today (yay for 70s!), it felt a lot like walking down 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica! Only thing was I was unprepared and was wearing jeans and no sun screen.

The cheese tastings were really fun and I think next year, we'd make a longer time out of the event by checking out the wine garden and maybe trying out some of the participating restaurants. That, and we'd go earlier in the day.

More Orcas!

Scott didn't pick the good pictures to put up for Orcas, so here's a few more! :)

Chillaxing on the lawn of the rental house.

View from Property2. Pretty isn't it?

Property 2. The view was great, but you have some yucky neighbors.

What a cutie!

Property 1 Beachfront. Nice, but it was a hike to get down here!

Out on the little island off of East Sound.

Island Time on Orcas Island

With airfare dropping recently, my folks decided to jump on the opportunity and head up to Seattle for a quick weekend trip to hang out and visit Orcas Island (part of the San Juan islands). We drove north an hour to Anacortes and took the ferry over to Orcas. It was a gorgeous day and we stopped in the little east bay town for a quick stroll over a wildflower covered island in the bay, lunch and then the local farmer's market. The real purpose of the trip was to look at a few pieces of property with my folks to see if we could find some vacation home potential properties. I think we were all surprised, the least likely prospect wound-up being the best candidate. Fingers-crossed, hopefully the owners lower the price just a little more... After getting our hopes up we went to the local (one of two) grocery store to stock up on food for the vacation rental we got for the night. The rental was awesome, very private and secluded home right on the water, even with its own private beach. The view was mesmerizing, who knew Mt Baker could look so big? After cooking up some salmon filets we went down to the beach snooping around for clams, oysters and other strange sea creatures. It was quite the show, we saw sea otters, seals and even a few deer! On Sunday morning (mother's day) I took my bike out for a ride near the rental but I quickly realized that Orcas Island is quite a work-out for cycling, a lot of really big hills. On our way back home we drove to the top of Mt Constitution (tallest mountain in the San Juan Islands) and took a few amazing pictures from the top of the lookout tower. May and I can't wait to go back!

Dodging the Po-Po's

May was driving home tonight on the back roads from downtown Bellevue to the 520 freeway (Microsoft alley). For some reason the traffic was abnormally bad and all the city roads were jam packed. Mind you, I distinctly remember on my driver's license exam question #10 ("...can't stop in the middle of an intersection if the car in front is blocking the way"), but the 19 year old Clyde Hill cop that pulled us over felt otherwise. After a fierce debate, the cop insisted that blocking the intersection isn't illegal but turning right from the left lane to enter the carpool lane around the blocked cars in the right lane is. Take me to see the majistrate, but I know we were in the right... I think that's why we got a warning. Question: aren't the Clyde Hill police just Bill Gates' rent-a-cops anyway?

Sunny summer days

If "May Day" (May 1st) is anything like ground-hog day, we may be in for a nice sunny warm summer. The weather on Friday was perfect, almost 80 degrees, perfectly clear. I kicked-off the afternoon leaving work a little early and going for a bike ride over to Puget Sound, down to Ballard locks, and then back up. The waterways were chalk-full of boats, prepping for Saturday's boating season opening preparation. Hundreds of boats were roped together in a long party line.

We started the evening by heading over to Maggie Bluff's Grill on the bay for happy hour. A bit windy, but it has a beautiful skyline of downtown Seattle and great buffalo wings. Next - Brauer's. They have one of the most impressive bottled beer lists I've ever seen (who stocks a $600 3 liter beer?). Atmosphere is fun, but pretty packed. We followed this up with a little pistacio gellato in Fremont. Hit the spot.