The Seattle Public Library is closed this week due to budget cuts. All branches are closed and the website as well. It's hard to believe that they had to close all branches, all at the same time, and turn off all the features of the website, too.

Most of the libraries here have been renovated or built recently and the one downtown is an impressive piece of architecture. I check out books from the library fairly regularly, but I guess I won't be doing it this week.

Since there's no Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, or Freebirds here, and Taco Del Mar and Taco Bell are just mediocre, I recently tried Qdoba downtown for lunch. It actually was pretty good for a fresh Mex burrito place. You can get burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and other Tex-Mex like food. You can even get corn on your burrito or tacos, which I don't think many other places offer and the sour cream is free. Granted, it's a little more expensive than Taco Del Mar or Taco Bell, but I think it's worth it for a decent burrito in downtown Seattle.

Now, I've always been a Freebirds girl, but since there are none here, I'm very happy that a Chipotle is moving in close to my work. It'll only be a couple blocks away, so I'll definitely go there for lunch sometime. The main thing I don't like about Chipotle is that they only have cilantro-lime rice. Otherwise I guess it's alright for fresh Mex. But I guess I'll have to learn to like Qdoba and Chipotle until Freebirds or Taco Bueno open a store up here.

Four weeks from tonight we leave for our trip to Australia! I can't wait! It'll be so nice to have two straight weeks off of work and be able to see two of our best friends that we haven't seen in a while. We've done some planning and researched a few ideas for things to do, but still have a lot to do. I guess we'll have a lot of time on the plane (around 19 hours) to figure stuff out.

I'm glad we're going to Melbourne first to be with our friends, so we'll have a chance to get adjusted to a foreign country with them. I think the weather will be pretty good too, with temperatures similar to Seattle's. Sydney will probably be a little bit warmer, with highs around 75 or 80 while we're there. How exciting! It'll be here before we know it.

Cascade Pass was our favorite hike that we did in our first year here and we wanted to do it again. Last time we went in September and the bushes were already changing colors for the fall, so we wanted to go earlier in the year this time.

We slept in a bit before leaving Sunday morning and decided to eat the sandwiches we brought at the trailhead. The weather was cool and partly cloudy, comfortable hiking weather. As we started the 3.7 mile ascent, we remembered that one of the nice things about this trail is that it's not as consistently steep as some others. As we neared the top, where the bushes had already turned reddish last year, everything was still green and there were some wildflowers remaining.

When we got to the pass, we sat and ate an apple, but there was a stiff, cold wind. With the wind, it felt like it was 50 degrees up there - a bit colder than we'd planned for. Originally we'd wanted to keep going, but we decided to turn back. Walking into the wind on the way down was uncomfortable, but after just a little while we were shielded by the trees.

Once we got back to the parking lot, we didn't do anything else there and just headed back. It was about a 3 hour drive back, with a couple traffic jams. It was a pretty long distance considering all the hiking trails that are closer, but it was a great hike. Hopefully we'll go again next year, earlier in the season, so that we can see more wildflowers and hike a little farther.

I've mentioned before an interest in getting a bicycle but I've been somewhat deterred because bikes here seem expensive. And apparently Portland is the same way, as someone wrote of their experiences trying to find a cheap bike in Portland.

Still, what’s up with this bike micro-inflation? Why does there seem to be no market in Portland for used bikes that are actually cheap? Portland is otherwise a pretty cheap city. Beer is cheap. Used clothing is cheap. By major urban standards, housing is cheap too, unless you compare it to the strip-mall-type cities. And certainly there are plenty of people in town who can’t afford to spend $475 — never mind $1,000 — on a bike.

I asked a few people in town about this and got some general sense of agreement and common frustration: cheap bikes are impossible to find around here. The word on the street was that so many people are selling their cars (or taking their cars off the road) and using bikes to commute to work that there just aren’t enough bikes to go around.

Interestingly, he then looks at the median price for bikes and for cars on Craigslist and finds something very interesting:



Of a few sample cities, Seattle is the most expensive place to buy a bike from Craigslist (and the cheapest place to buy a car). There are lots of possibilities why the bike prices are higher here, but the cost of bicycles here seems to reflect the fact that lots of people (including me) want to have a bike to ride.

Troy had a meeting at church this morning so I stayed at home and played the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It's an interesting game so far but I have to say that I like Ocarina of Time better. Then at 11:30 I went to get my hair cut at a salon a few blocks away on Lake Union. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted when I went there but I ended up getting my hair layered again, tapered in the front, and got bangs. It's still long enough though so I can put it in a pony tail if I'm feeling lazy. I'm just afraid I won't be able to fix it that well, but I've always had that problem.

After Troy got home from his meeting we walked to the library downtown so he could pick up a book he reserved. I didn't have much for lunch so I felt like having a smoothie from Jamba Juice. We shared the Caribbean Passion which has passion fruit mango juice, strawberries, peaches, and orange sherbet. It was really nice outside so we went to Seward Park. It was cool in the shade but warm in the sun. The park wasn't very crowded, which was nice.

We went to Red Fin sushi for dinner. We looked for the Malbec-Merlot wine from Three Rivers Winery that we really liked before when we had it with Ben, but they didn't have it. The sushi, especially the Ichi Roll, was very good.

Now we're watching the Seahawks preseason game against the Broncos. To finish the weekend, we're going to hike at Cascade Pass tomorrow. We're going earlier in the year than we did last year so I'm hoping to see some wildflowers.

Troy and I went to First Hill last Saturday. We spent a few hours walking around and ate at a couple of places. First Hill is actually one of the first places we looked for apartments when we came up here for my job interviews in January 2008. Parts of it are really quiet and peaceful and it feels more like an older city because of all the established buildings and hospitals.

First we stopped at George's Sausage and Deli, a small Polish establishment, and got two sandwiches that had a ton of meat on them, probably two inches thick. I got a pastrami sandwich on sourdough and Troy got roast beef on wheat. They were pretty good, but Troy's would have been better if it didn't have so much dressing on it. George's is also a small market that carries mostly if not all Polish food. We got a toffee candy bar called "Maciek toffi" and it was really sweet. I didn't care much for it, but it was interesting to try something different.

We continued our walk around the neighborhood and walked along Pike and Pine streets, which is actually normally considered part of Capitol Hill, but is on the border between the two neighborhoods. There are lots of interesting shops and bars around Pike/Pine, including a Value Village, which is basically like Goodwill. We also stopped to sit a few times at First Hill Park. We also had salted caramel ice cream at Molly Moon's new second location in Seattle. We didn't like it that much because it actually did taste like salt, it was weird. And like we almost expected, we ran into one of our church friends while we were in First Hill.

Around 5, we stopped to eat dinner at Saba Ethiopian. I had never had Ethiopian food before and Troy had only had it once, so we were going out on a limb here. I didn't know what most of the stuff on the menu was, but we'd heard the veggie combo was good, so that's what we got to split. The only way to eat Ethiopian food is to use Injera, a spongy like flat bread to scoop up the different stews and salads. Most of it was spicy, but tasted alright. There were a few piles of lentils and lots of other food I don't know how to describe. It basically looks like that picture on Wikipedia. It was plenty of food and Troy had some of it for leftovers.

We like First Hill because it's generally a well-established quiet neighborhood, full of older buildings, making it feel more like a part of the city. There are a lot of hospitals in the area though that break up the neighborhood and some areas are a little run down, which is why I wouldn't really want to live there that much.

Quick First Hill facts:

• Population: 17,345


• 2008 Median Home Price: $321,500


• 2008 Median Condo Sales Price: $305,000


• Cars per capita: 0.3


• 3rd most walkable neighborhood in Seattle

Sources:
1. Seattle Metropolitan Real Estate
2. Walk Score: Seattle's Most Walkable Neighborhoods

It's hard to believe that I've been at my job here in Seattle for a full year now. So far the initial impressions that I had a year ago seem valid. I still believe that this is a pretty good company to work for and I could see myself staying here for a while.

My current position was created for me and I haven't had a lot of external definition of my role, so I've done what I can to find ways to contribute. As this is also a relatively new department without a lot of managerial oversight, I've put a lot of emphasis on better defining and improving how we work through standard processes and documentation as well as through leading team meetings and implementing tools to facilitate collaboration. I've worked with others across the company to help manage projects for my department and I've helped with several small projects outside of my department. My visual design skills and web experience have also been very useful as I've lead the design of a few web interfaces. Also, as I'm new to this industry (or I guess, I was new to it a year ago), I've learned a lot about facility systems and HVAC, especially with regard to building controls. Also, my experience as an IT business analyst has helped me to understand our integration controller hardware and better define our project requirements. And, while I haven't been able to work with others as much as I'd like, I've made the most my involvement to build relationships across the company.

Just looking at the highlights, I've really enjoyed what I've done. I appreciate the freedom I've had to identify things to do and have worked on a lot of things that I've been interested in. But, a job is more than highlights and, to be honest, I can't help but feel disappointed that my role has been limited and I still am not contributing to the level that I'd like to. I'm doing my best to try to find ways to help others and am continuing to look for additional opportunities to contribute. I'd be interested in having more ownership and working with others to manage projects, improve processes, and serve our customers better. I think I'll be able to find some more of those opportunities soon and am optimistic that my second year will be more exciting and fulfilling than the first.

Troy and I had a good weekend together. We spent most of Saturday in another neighborhood, which he'll post about soon. We also watched the Sounders beat the LA Galaxy, putting them back into second place in the Western Conference. Then today after church we watched some of the Mariners/Yankees game and walked to Lake Union and sat for a while watching the sailboats and seaplanes.

We had the curtains closed for most of the afternoon today since it was getting warm outside and we wanted to keep our place cool. As the sun was setting, we opened up the curtains to see the beautiful sunset. This is probably one of the prettiest ones I've seen.

We've been riding public transportation since we moved here since it's usually more convenient than driving. We've ridden the buses, the Seattle Streetcar, the ferry, and now Link light rail. I used to have to buy ticket books for the bus at specified locations like Bartell or QFC. And sometimes I had to buy separate tickets at kiosks for the other modes of transportation.

So, Seattle came out with the ORCA card to pay for all these things much quicker and easier. It stands for "one regional card for all." I got an ORCA card online through their website and put money on it with my credit card. It was so easy and I didn't have to go to the store to get tickets or anything. We've had a few fare increases too, which meant that the tickets I bought weren't worth enough, so I would have to add a quarter to it a few times. With my ORCA card, I don't have to mess with carrying change with me. So far I've only used it twice, but I'm sure I'll use it again soon.

The company I work for recently added onto the office space in our building and I was in one of the groups that was selected to move into the new area.

At first I was hesitant to move because I liked how my old desk was in the central part of the building and convenient to a lot of places. But, as the move grew closer last week, I became eager to move, and after almost a week in this new space I'm really happy with it.

For one thing this new area is a bit quieter and I don't have people walking behind me all the time. It also seems like I'm closer to other people I work with and have more chances to interact with them. While I'm not sure what to do with my huge cubicle, I'm also glad to have a nicer break area nearby. Also, the restrooms nearby are a lot less busy than the restrooms were near my previous desk which were sometimes so busy that I had to wait behind other people.

One of the best parts is that I have a new phone. It's the kind of phone that I had at my old company, and has features that my previous phone didn't, like a mute button and a messages button so I don't have to remember the extension to dial for voice mail. It's also connected to the corporate directory and I can forward my phone from the intranet.

But the best part is just that sometimes change can be good. I feel refreshed in my new area and hope to see these positive feelings extend to other aspects of my job.

We bought tickets to go to a Seahawks game this year. We'll see them play the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals (it seems weird to type that). I don't know how quickly tickets sold out this year. They sold out too quickly last year, so this time I was able to buy them as soon as they went on sale.

We've been to Qwest field for a couple soccer games but this will be our first football game there. The Seahawks are known for their loud fans, so the game should be a lot of fun.

We had thought about going to Cascade Pass again this past Saturday, but didn't feel like doing all that driving. So, we looked for a trail in our book that wasn't too far away. We decided to hike Chirico Trail to Poo Poo Point (named after the sound steam whistles made to signal loggers, back when logging was done in the area).

The trail started in a pretty heavily forested area. Since it hadn't rained here in quite a while, the trail surface was covered with dry, loose dirt, and the ferns and vines near the ground were coated with a thin brown film of dirt. Even though it was cool, the trail was fairly steep, and both of us were sweating. Unfortunately we wore jeans, which slowed us down a little. The trail we used is often used by hang gliders, and after hiking through forest, we came to their launching field and stopped there. The winds weren't right for hang gliding so it was pretty quiet there. It was cloudy so the view wasn't as impressive as it could've been, but we enjoyed stopping and resting. We decided to turn back there, so we didn't make it all the way to Poo Poo Point. I'm sure we'll come back sometime when we can have a better view and walk farther and hopefully see some hang gliders.

I turned 26 years old on July 30th. My parents took me out to dinner on the day of, as I already mentioned. Troy and I didn't do much for it on the day of my birthday, but that weekend we went to see a movie with some free passes I won. We saw Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. It was entertaining, but I can't say I was blown away by the story.

Troy gave me a Mariners shirt and an N64 game, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, which I've been playing a lot. I also got a Beatles shirt from Troy's parents.

Then this past Friday night, we finally went out to eat for my birthday at our favorite Thai restaurant, Djan's Thai Restaurant in Wallingford. I had the Pad See Eiw and Troy got the Green Curry. Troy said he wanted a spiciness of 2 on a scale of 1-5 and it tasted more like a 3 or 4. I don't know how he ate it all. I might try one of the curries next time we go.

For dessert we had ice cream at a local place called Molly Moon's, half a mile from Djan's. I got a scoop of honey lavender in a waffle cone and Troy got a scoop of balsamic strawberry, also in a waffle cone. We thought it was ok, but we might like other flavors better.

Seattle typically doesn't get a lot of rain over the summer, however this summer has been especially dry. Over the past two months we've had only a quarter inch of rain. That's not much.

While the effects of drought haven't been very apparent in the city, while we were out driving around with Lesley's parents we saw a lot dead dry grass along the highways.

While Seattle's summer is great because of the sun and (normally) comfortable temperatures, I don't think I'm the only one who is glad to see some rain in the forecast over the next week.

My parents walked me to work the morning of my birthday. I only had to work half a day, which was pretty nice. I got a few cards and some presents from my co-workers and left around 11.

We stopped at the QFC we usually go to for some fruit on our way to Gas Works Park. We ate our fruit and had a great view of the city from there.

Then we tried to go to Seward Park, but it was closed due to the Blue Angels practicing for SeaFair over Lake Washington. We watched the rest of their practice and the park reopened at 2:30, so we were able to get in. I was disappointed though because it was too cloudy for them to see Mount Rainier. They wanted to see it the same way we saw it when we took pictures there and used one for our blog header.

Volunteer Park was next, where we walked around looking at flowers and the huge trees. We also went up in the water tower to see the view. We tried to find Kinnear Park next, but the GPS told us to go to the wrong side of it at the bottom of the hill where there was no parking. So we had to drive around up the hill to find a good place to stop and get out. The view was mostly blocked by trees, so we weren't that impressed with Kinnear Park.

We made a quick stop at Kerry Park one last time after that and then headed downtown to eat at the Icon Grill for my birthday! We started with the artichoke Gruyère dip which was delicious and then I got the steak with roasted red potatoes for dinner. We all shared a side of fried macaroni and cheese, which Eric my co-worker had recommended, but didn't like it as much as the ultimate macaroni and cheese that we'd gotten there before. That's the last time I listen to any recommendation from him. Just kidding.

I was hoping to have a piece of carrot cake there, but they had taken it off the menu since we were last there with my cousins, so we made a quick stop at B & O to pick up a piece of their carrot cake. They dropped us off at our apartment where we said goodbye and they went on to Alki to see the view from there one more time.

I'm really glad they were able to visit and be here so long. It was good that my grandma was able to come too and see where we live. I'll miss them, but it is nice to be able to go back to our normal daily life.

The last two days my parents were here were two of the hottest days ever on record in Seattle. The record high of 103 was set the day before my birthday. At the time I didn't really want to go back to work for a full day, but it was nice sitting in my air conditioned office all day. My parents coped with the heat by staying inside the aquarium most of the day, looking at the otters for probably half the time they were there.

They met me outside my office to walk home with me. Troy and I were considering eating at home to save a little money, but it was pretty hot in the apartment and we didn't feel like staying, so we went to Lemon Grass with my parents. It's a Vietnamese restaurant, so I'm surprised my parents were so open to going there. My mom got the sweet and sour chicken and I think dad got ginger beef or something like that. Dad's came out lukewarm unfortunately, but the rest of the meal was really good.

After dinner we went to the top of the Space Needle again, this time during the day. Troy and I used our coupon we got when we bought our one year memberships for two free glasses of wine. We just sat inside and drank our wine and didn't really look at the view much while my parents walked around outside. It was kind of hazy anyway.

For dessert we went to B & O Espresso on Capitol Hill at the corner of Belmont and Olive, where it got its name. Troy & I shared a piece of German chocolate cake and my parents shared the cheesecake with raspberry topping.

The next day was my birthday, the last day of their trip.

Here are two videos we took from the two beaches we went to on the Washington Coast. I enjoyed hearing the ocean waves crashing on the shore.

Rialto Beach from Troy on Vimeo.

Ruby Beach from Troy on Vimeo.

On Tuesday, the 28th, we left the hotel in Forks early to drive to Rialto Beach. We briefly got lost, but eventually found our way to the right area. There were a lot of tree skeletons and what I think was kelp on the beach. We walked for about a mile and a half north on Rialto Beach in order to find the "Hole in the Wall," which was literally a big hole carved in a big rock over thousands of years of erosion. It was a really pretty beach, with Pacific Ocean, sea stacks (rock formations sticking out of the ocean), and lots of greenery behind the beach.

The only way to get inside the hole is to walk slowly on the slippery, rounded rocks. I'm proud to say I was the only one of the four of us that didn't fall on the way over there. It seemed like it took longer to walk back than it did to get there and it was already starting to get warm.

The next stop was the Hoh Rain Forest, which unfortunately was a lot warmer and drier than we thought it would be. Since there hasn't been much rain lately, most of the moss on the trees was brown. We went on a short walk and stopped and ate some fruit that we had. There were some neat grass fields under the little pond near the visitor's center.


After that, we went to Ruby Beach on our way home, which was pretty similar to Rialto Beach but busier. But that might have been because we were there later in the day. We had to climb over a bunch of logs, which was kind of fun, but I could see how it would be difficult for some people to navigate. It was neat seeing the mist come onto the beach from the Pacific Ocean.

On the way home we got pretty hungry since we didn't really eat lunch. We planned to stop at a Dairy Queen in the next town, but were stopped for 30 minutes or so by road construction. We eventually stopped in Aberdeen where Troy and I shared a Butterfinger Blizzard like we always do.

We finally made it back into Seattle at around 6 and were really hungry. My Dad had been asking us since we moved here if we found a good Italian restaurant. We've been to a place called Mamma Melina twice before and liked it, so we decided to go there. I had forgotten they don't have lasagna on the menu, but they have several other good dishes that are reasonably priced. I got the rigatoni with mini meat balls and Troy got the linguine with clams. The clams came in the shells, which was a little weird, but he said they tasted alright.

We drove through the U district on the way back to the apartment. Overall, the Olympic Peninsula was impressive, though it would have been prettier had we gone at a different time of year when it wasn't as dry. Two days isn't enough time to see everything. We also skipped a few things, like Lake Crescent and the Sol Duc Falls, so we'll have to go back some other time to see. We'll definitely do more hiking too.

Monday morning we left fairly early to go to the Olympic Peninsula. After we dropped off my grandma at the airport to fly back to Fort Worth, we continued on toward our first stop, Mount Walker. The closest town was Quilcene, which didn't have much the way of food. We went out on a limb and stopped at the Twana Road House where we picked up some surprisingly decent turkey club sandwiches with avocado and chips. we drove to Mount Walker and stopped to eat an early lunch at the top. Mount Walker is 2,805 feet tall, the Olympic's easternmost peak, and the only peak facing Puget Sound to have a road and a trail to the top.

Next we stopped for gas at a nice gas station with a huge convenience/grocery store attached to it. They had so much food and tons drinks (including all the alcohol you could ever want) in there. We spent quite a while looking around and stocking up on snacks for the next day. It was such a fancy store, they had flat screen TV's in the restrooms.

The next stop was Hurricane Ridge, one of the most heavily visited areas in Olympic National Park. We walked on little trail near the visitor's center. It was really hot and there were lots of bugs around, which we're not used to up here, so that was a little disappointing. It still has spectacular views of the surrounding mountains though.

We were running short on time, so we didn't stop at Lake Crescent like we wanted to. We were only able to drive by it, which wasn't too bad since the road basically followed the shore of it. It looked really beautiful from the car, so maybe some day we can go back and stop there and maybe hike a trail or two.

After driving about 250 miles from our apartment in the morning, we finally stopped for the night in Forks, WA, a popular destination for fans of Twilight. I've never read the book or seen the movie, so I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. But the town seems obsessed with it. Anyway, we ate dinner at The In Place right next to our motel, but it was pretty mediocre. We didn't have many choices for food in Forks. It was nice to get out of the car and be done driving for the day.

Sunday morning, we went to eat some donuts at Top Pot, ranked by City Guide as the best donuts in America. Their apple fritters are the best I've ever had. We went to church after that and that went well, but my family would have rather heard the senior pastor than the associate pastor.

We did a lot of driving for the second day in a row, this time up North to Deception Pass and Whidbey Island. We stopped for lunch at the Calico Cupboard in La Conner, where I had a turkey club sandwich and Troy had a spinach salad with apple slices, almonds, Gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Troy liked his salad, but I didn't care much for my sandwich because it was drowning in mayo. But we did get a cinnamon roll to go, which we ate Sunday night and it was delicious.

We had clear, warm weather again when we were at Deception Pass. Since we've had a dry summer, a lot of the grass everywhere is a lot browner than normal, which made everything not seem as pretty. We went on a brief hike down to the shore, where it was slightly cooler. We only made one other stop, at Fort Casey. There were a lot more people there this time than when we were there for our anniversary this year. Lots of people were flying kites or just having picnics. We saw a mother deer and three or four babies too. We also went in the lighthouse building, which was closed for construction when we were there before, though the tower was still being refurbished.

We took the Mukilteo ferry on the way back to Seattle, where we at Thai food at Djan's. I was really surprised my parents, especially my Dad, were willing to try it. I was relieved when they said they liked it. It's really good Thai food and is pretty cheap for Seattle. We made a quick stop at Alki Beach for some pictures, then we went back to the apartment for dessert and packed everything for the trip to the Olympic Peninsula.

The third day was probably my favorite day of my parents' visit. We woke up pretty early and went to eat Noah's bagels around 8. I got an asiago and Troy got a sesame, both with regular cream cheese. We drove to Mount Rainier and stopped at Narada Falls first, which everyone seemed to really like. There was a neat rainbow near the bottom and lots of mossy rocks.

The weather had been pretty good so far, but once we got to Paradise, some clouds started to roll in and covered the top of Mount Rainier. It was still pretty sunny in most places though. We stopped to eat some fresh fruit and cheese that we had gotten from Pike Place Market the day before. The strawberries, raspberries, and peaches were really good. After that, we went to Reflection Lake and walked along a short path beside it. There was still a little snow on the ground, but not as much as when we went last year.

We learned at the Paradise visitor's center that the road to get from Paradise to Sunrise was closed because half of it had been destroyed from all the snow and mudslides after last winter. So we had to backtrack out of the park, go about 15 miles south and come back north on the other side of the road closure. It probably added an hour and a half to the trip, but it was worth it. Troy & I didn't have time to stop at Sunrise before, so I was glad we took the time to get there. It was pretty impressive. It's the highest point in the park that is accessible by car (6,400 ft). There were lots of wildflowers in the fields, including lupine flowers, which are a relative of the bluebonnet (the Texas state flower). Sunrise Lake was really pretty, with all the bluish greenish water. And the clouds parted for a while, allowing us to see to the top of Mount Rainier.

It was a lot of driving and took basically all day. After Sunrise, we drove back to Seattle and ate our favorite pizza we've found here, Pagliacci. We got cheese bread sticks from Mad Pizza too. We had just enough time to go to the Space Needle to see the sunset. The torchlight parade for Seafair also happened to be going on when we were at the top of the Space Needle, and we could hear all the cannon fire from the pirate ship float, which was pretty cool.

It was a very busy day but we got to see a lot of natural beauty.

The second day of my parents visit was fun. I only worked half a day and once I got off work, we went to Pike Place Market and ate panini sandwiches and macaroni & cheese at Beecher's. It's definitely the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had. We explored the market a little more and eventually bought Beecher's cheese and a bunch of fruit for Mount Rainier the next day. My grandma bought me flowers from the market for my birthday, which was nice.

After the market, we went back to the apartment to eat some of the apple pie I made for them. We had vanilla ice cream with it. Then we drove to Snoqualmie Falls and hiked down to the bottom of the falls. We'd all been there a few times before, so we didn't stay that long.

We picked up Troy at the apartment after driving back to Seattle and then ate dinner at Red Mill Burgers. I still think it's one of the best burgers I've ever had. I like how it has thin meat, not a big chunk of it, and lots of pickles, onions, and tomatoes. After that, we drove to the Mariners-Indians game at Safeco. Unfortunately, driving to the game was a little annoying, since traffic was really really bad going through downtown. We didn't get to the game as early as we wanted to and it was too late to get the free bobblehead giveaway. And of course, the Mariners lost terribly, 9-0. Oh well, it was still a pretty good day overall.