We've been eating a lot more vegetables over the past few months. I used to think that a meal had to have meat for it to be a meal, but as we've become better at cooking, it's become easier to make good recipes with mostly vegetables.

The vegetable box we receive also gives us plenty of things to cook that don't have to be accompanied by meat, and I'm trying new fruits and vegetables with each box we receive.

I've made a conscious decision to try to minimize the amount of meat I eat and there are some benefits of that. For example, I may live longer by eating less meat.

A minor benefit of eating less meat is that cooking less raw meat means that there are fewer times when animal blood gets on our counter top and fewer bacteria in the kitchen.

The animal food industry has a huge impact on the environment due to all the resources it takes to feed animals so we can eat them, and also treats many animals inhumanely.

We have a couple pretty good cookbooks that we use that have many meat-free recipes. Stir-fry with vegetables and sometimes tofu is a favorite of ours. We've also found some recipes online for chili, veggie sandwich, and mushroom and potato soup.

Eating some meals without meat does take some effort to find new recipes that don't include meat, but for me it has been worthwhile and for many other people who have reasons for eating less meat.

We'd mentioned before that Seattle has 45% more dogs than children, and another study confirms that Seattle has relatively few children. In fact, of all US cities, Seattle has the second lowest rate of children living in the city limits, behind San Francisco:

Less than 20 percent of all Seattle households included children younger than 18, compared with 34 percent nationally and 33 in Washington state.

While the low rate of children here is striking, it's not especially surprising, considering the high cost of living, especially for home ownership, which prices many families out of the city and into the suburbs. And, with Seattle's city limits being smaller than sprawling cities elsewhere in the country, suburban expansion long ago filled Seattle to its edges, pushing families looking for new developments into suburbs outside of Seattle. Seattle also attracts singles and young married couples like us without children who create demand for small condos and apartments.

We've always liked looking at Christmas lights, so we went to Candy Cane Lane earlier this week. Candy Cane Lane is a short street in the Ravenna neighborhood, north of the U-District, where all the home owners put up lights and displays for everyone to enjoy during the Christmas season. It's one of the best light displays in the area with every house on the street participating. We decided to park a few streets over and walk through it as opposed to driving through like we have in past years.

I have been looking forward to our next trip, as we will be returning to Texas to spend time with family. This will be one of our longer trips back to Texas - we'll be there for 9 days - but it also feels like it's been a very long time since we've been there. Last year, we weren't able to be with family during the holidays, so I'm very excited to be able to see my parents and other relatives and friends, including our baby niece.

We traveled during the holidays our first year here, which was quite an hectic experience thanks to the snow storm that moved in before we left.

While this winter is expected to be wet and cold, right now the forecast doesn't show any snow that would impact our flight out.

I'm looking forward to satisfying my currently insatiable cravings for barbecue and Tex-Mex. Lesley and I will also be spending an evening in Dallas by ourselves and going to a hockey game with her parents.

While we'll have spent more than half of our vacation time this year to go back to Texas rather than traveling somewhere new and exciting, it's good to spend holidays with family.

So, I had another birthday recently. Seems like it comes around more and more often. I do like to take advantage of my birthday when it happens, and I was glad to be able to do all these things that I wouldn't normally do.

Lesley took good care of me for my birthday. She bought me several doughnuts from Top Pot, including my favorite: old-fashioned glazed. I love classic country music, so she got me a Patsy Cline greatest hits. She also took me out to dinner at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant that we'd never been to before. I pass by this place sometimes on my way home and have always been intrigued, but have never stopped in. I thought the place had good ambiance and despite being in an out of the way location, it got pretty busy when we were there. We shared a vegetable platter, which was a lot of food for pretty cheap. I'm not sure when we'll go back, as neither of us are huge fans of Ethiopian food, but it was nice to try this place out and go somewhere different for my birthday.

We also went out to brunch at a cafe that had opened recently just a couple blocks from our apartment and watched a film noir (The Third Man) on our Netflix queue. We also went out to a piano bar nearby and listened to a variety of songs, including work from 70s progressive artists like Kansas and the Moody Blues, ragtime tunes, and classical pieces by Beethoven.

It was fun going to several places we hadn't been to before. And it's cool that new places are opening nearby, as we didn't have to go any farther than half a mile from where we live for me to have a good birthday.

Troy and I went to my work Christmas party last night. It was held at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle instead of the Hotel Andra where it was the past two years. We just barely made the bus near our apartment and arrived shortly after it started at 6 for cocktails and appetizers. They had several kinds of cheese, including Gouda, goat cheese, and aged Parmesan. They also had nuts and dried cranberries to munch on.

After about an hour we all sat down at our assigned tables and had salad, dinner, and dessert. I really liked the salad, which had thin pear slices, cheese, walnuts, and bibb lettuce with a nice vinaigrette dressing. I had a steak with mashed potatoes and green beans while Troy had a cheese ravioli pasta dish with asparagus. My steak was cooked just right, but it didn't have a very good flavor. For dessert we had a chocolate Swiss roll with cream filling and raspberries. We also had some red and white wine throughout the night.

The Fairmont is a really nice hotel and the ceilings were really high compared to the low ceilings at the Hotel Andra, which made it easier to hear people talk. We also had a live group of carolers, which is always a nice touch.

This party was a little different from the last two, not just because it was in a different hotel, but because my former boss is retiring at the end of this year. A few people said a few words and gave short speeches. She really likes Elvis, so we had an Elvis impersonator put on a show. It was a big surprise for her and pretty unexpected. He sang to several ladies, but thankfully I managed to avoid him. It probably helped that we were at a table in the very back corner of the room, although I didn't like feeling so far away from everyone else.

Overall, it was an interesting night. I liked the nice hotel, but didn't care much for the steak or where our table was located. I got tired of standing on my feet, which hurt my heel. We also had to wait in the bus terminal for quite a while to get home, which was slightly inconvenient. I'll take free food and drinks though any day.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a housewarming party for some friends of ours that moved to Kirkland. We were driving around and exploring the area a little bit when we came across a gigantic bonfire, probably 10 feet wide! It was on a beach close to Lake Washington. We decided to stop and check it out. There were lots of other people standing around it, keeping warm. It was cold outside, but the fire was pretty hot, even standing about 10 feet from it! Unfortunately we didn't have our cameras with us, so Troy just took a picture with his cell phone camera, which doesn't really do it justice. I'd never seen anything like it, pretty cool.

Seattle City Light sends out a newsletter bimonthly with news and tips for saving energy and recycling electronics among other things. This issue detailed where our electricity comes from:

• Hydro - 91.2%


• Nuclear - 4.4%


• Wind - 2.3%


• Coal - 1.4%


• Other - 0.7%

I haven't bought a new game system since I bought my PS2 from my sister 4 years ago. I've been playing my old games quite a bit recently and have run out of ones I want to play for the 100th time. I mentioned I was interested in getting a Wii and one of my coworkers told me she would sell hers to me at a discount. She included the following items with her offer:

• Wii system


• 4 Wii remotes


• 2 nunchucks


• 2 controllers


• 2 wheels


• Wii bat/tennis racket/golf club

Games:

• Mario Kart


• Mario Party 8


• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games


• Wii Play


• Wii Sports

She was willing to take $250 for all of those items, so I quickly accepted! I think it was a pretty sweet deal considering all of that stuff brand new would cost a lot more than that. Now I also want to buy other games, including Zelda, Donkey Kong Returns, New Super Mario Bros, and Mario Galaxy 1 & 2. Early Merry Christmas to me! :)

We moved to Seattle largely for the walkable urban environment that is missing from our hometown of Fort Worth. So, I have been following with interest the study in Fort Worth to determine the feasibility of adding a streetcar line there.

We have a streetcar running in our neighborhood, which was controversial when it was installed. However, in the few years since it's been installed, ridership has grown significantly as has the neighborhood. Developers have responded to the streetcar investment Seattle made in this long-neglected area and the neighborhood surrounding the streetcar is the fastest growing part of the city. Like Portland's streetcar did, Seattle's streetcar has been a catalyst for the development of a good urban neighborhood.

Fort Worth has also neglected areas near its downtown and a streetcar there would have sparked private development toward creating a significant urban center city area - the studies so far had predicted millions of dollars in growth. However, Fort Worth's city council decided to stop the studies and abandon the streetcar project. Stopping the streetcar study points to a lack of vision on behalf of Fort Worth's leaders and established interests.

There has been some resistance in Seattle to the investments in Seattle's urban areas and public transportation, but Seattle has been successful at creating urban areas that people want to live in. Fort Worth hasn't and apparently doesn't care to. Consequently, the town of Fort Worth will see more people like myself who prefer walkable urban areas over drivable suburban areas leaving for cities like Seattle.

I had my MRI Monday morning and that went ok. I didn't know they were going to inject dye into my right arm at the elbow, so that wasn't very fun. I had my normal reaction of feeling nauseous and close to fainting. The MRI was really loud, so I had to wear ear plugs and I also had music to listen with headphones. They did short 2-3 minute tests and the machine would make all kinds of noise. I was glad when the whole thing was over, it took about an hour.

Yesterday we met with the doctor and went over the MRI results, which were negative. He didn't find any tumor, cyst, or bursitis. He said it is just chronic plantar fasciitis, so he told me to keep doing what I've been doing - stretching, wearing my night splint, icing my heel, and wearing shoes all the time. He also gave me some silicone 3/4 shoe inserts that should give me more padding than my harder orthotics. I got another coritsone shot too. Hopefully these new inserts help. He said plantar fasciitis normally goes away for most people after about a year, no matter what measures have been taken to cure it. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I guess it's better than unnecessary surgery and having to use crutches.

Our apartment had their annual holiday party this past week and we decided to go. There were some finger foods and drinks, however we showed up late, so some of the food was cold or already eaten. There was also a raffle for several prizes that were donated by local businesses. There were quite a lot of other people there, but Lesley and me were each lucky enough to win a prize.

I won a free pizza from Tutta Bella and Lesley won two free tickets to the Cinerama.

We had our free pizza with a calzone this weekend and we had been wanting to go to the Cinerama since it was remodeled, so we're looking forward to seeing a movie there sometime soon.

We've mentioned Top Pot a few times before, but it definitely deserves its own post. We woke up pretty early this morning for some reason, so I suggested we walk to Top Pot to get some doughnuts before the Conference USA championship game between SMU and UCF. I usually get them for free at work all the time, since it's only a few blocks from my office and people bring in a couple dozen almost every week it seems like. I used to only eat the apple fritter, but lately I've been trying different ones like the cinnamon sugar covered blueberry cake doughnut.

We got four doughnuts this morning. Troy got a regular and a chocolate old fashioned glazed and I got a peppermint snowdrift and a chocolate bar. I was barely able to finish the chocolate bar. Top Pot definitely has the best doughnuts I've ever had. Troy likes them more than Krispy Kreme now. I wonder if we'll ever try them all...

I had my follow up appointment with my podiatrist the day before Thanksgiving. My foot had not improved at all since my second coritsone shot (now 5 weeks ago). In fact it got considerably worse, probably the worst it's ever felt. He said it seemed that my plantar fasciitis had gone away, but that another mass had gotten bigger in a different spot on my heel. He thought it might be neuroma or bursitis. The podiatrist recommended either an MRI or surgery because he wasn't sure what was wrong. He made an MRI sound like it wouldn't really give us much information about what it is, so I was leaning toward just doing the surgery.

After talking to several people, I decided to get a second opinion, this time from an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle problems. He was highly recommended to me too. He said I should definitely get an MRI because it actually does give you a lot of information about your muscles and fatty tissues in the heel. It would pinpoint exactly where my pain is and what is there so that if surgery is necessary, they know exactly where to cut.

So, I decided to go with this new doctor who seems to have a lot more experience with this type of surgery. My MRI is scheduled for next Monday at 8:00am and my follow up appointment to talk about the results is Tuesday at 3:45pm.

I can't wait to hear what the doctor says about the results and what we can do from here. This problem has gone on way too long and I'm ready to get back to my normal life of walking and hiking.

Thanksgiving kind of snuck up on me this year and I didn't really think about it as much as the last two years. Still, we bought everything by last weekend and I started cooking last night. I watched Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast on TV while I made the pumpkin pie, pecan pie, turkey brine, and cornbread for the dressing. It was fun watching those classic Disney movies, which are two of my favorites.

The last time I made a pecan pie it didn't turn out too well, but I decided to try to make one again for Thanksgiving. We actually had to buy a new pie plate because I only had one and that was for the pumpkin pie. I followed a recipe online and it turned out really good! I arranged the pecans on top in circles and it looked so pretty I almost didn't want to cut into it.

Then this morning, I made the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and the rest of the dressing. The 3 pound turkey only had to cook for 90 minutes. We also had cranberry sauce, rolls, and white wine. Everything tasted really good, especially the brined turkey. Makes me wonder why we don't cook this kind of food at other times throughout the year.

We'll probably go for a walk later after the football game and maybe watch a movie or play some games tonight. I have to work tomorrow, but we'll probably get out at 2, so that won't be so bad. Then this weekend we'll be putting up our Christmas tree! Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had some very cold weather the last several days, which has brought snow and ice to the area. It was really windy, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour last night, which blew the snow everywhere and made roads worse. Some of my coworkers who ride the bus to work said it took them anywhere from 3 to 8 hours to get home last night.

It seems to get this cold once or twice a year, and then the rest of the winter is more mild. Here's a few numbers from our unseasonal cold and snow, which originally appeared on Ballard Komo News:

2.7" – That’s how much snowfall we received in Seattle Monday. Not a huge snowstorm, but enough for a daily record and the most snow we’ve had in the city before Thanksgiving since 1985.

89 – The number of consecutive hours that we will stay at/below freezing in Seattle. We started on Sunday evening and we won’t get above freezing until noon on Thursday.

32, 28, 30 – The high temperature from Monday, followed by the forecast for today and tomorrow. Longest cold snap in Seattle in November since mid 80s.

1985 – The last time we were this cold and snowy in mid-November. It has been a generation since we’ve seen something like this.

15 – That’s how cold we will be Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. This will likely set a new daily record for Seattle.

15" – The highest snow total I’ve seen so far. That’s from Snoqualmie Pass.

41 – The forecast high for Thanksgiving, the first day above 40 degrees since Saturday.

0 – The number of meteorologists, myself included, that saw this exact chain of events coming in advance.

Here's a video of the snow falling:

Snowing in Seattle! on Vimeo.

The last three weeks we've tried two new restaurants. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us either time, so you'll have to imagine what the food looked like.

I bought a Groupon for $25 of food at Araya's, a Thai food restaurant in the U-District. There were a lot of people there since it was a Friday night. We saw several other people with the same Groupon. The service was really slow, but I liked the nice romantic atmosphere and the food was really good. We shared some fried spring veggie rolls and I had the pad thai. Troy got the green curry, which was a little spicy but good. I'd like to go back and maybe get a curry or something.

Then this last Saturday night we went out for dinner to La Isla, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard. It was similar to real Mexican food. There were a lot of seafood items on the menu and some interesting appetizers. I got a Mai Tai, which was really good at first, but seemed to get too strong the more I drank it. We shared an empanadilla and had the ropa vieja which is shredded beef in abodo sauce, peppers, and onions. It came with some tostones, avocado, beans, and rice. The food wasn't as hot (as in temperature) as it could have been. We also had a yummy dessert called "Guayabitas Vivian". It was a torte with mango filling and cream cheese topping served with vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon. It was good, but a little expensive and the service was a little slow. We'd like to go back though and try more different dishes.

We're getting our third produce box today and it will include these items:

• Red Potatoes, Organic - 1.5 pounds
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Treviso Radicchio, Organic - 1 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Green Kale, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Baby White Turnips, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Green Beans, Organic - 0.75 pound
  California Growers, California


• Celery, Organic - 1 each
  California Growers, California


• Red Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
  Lakeside Organic Gardens, Watsonville, California


• Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
  Cal-Organics, Lamont, California


• Valencia Oranges, Organic - 3 each
  California Growers, California


• Fuyu Persimmons, Organic - 2 each
  Wild River Ranch, Marysville, California


• Pomegranates, Organic - 1 each
  Twin Girls Farm, San Francisco, California


• Gala Apples, Organic - 3 each
  Earth Conscious Organics, Brewster, Washington

We were scheduled to get more pears, but I don't care for them much and I think Troy was getting tired of them too, so we substituted them for a pomegranate. I'm looking forward to getting more oranges and apples. The celery will be useful for making dressing for Thanksgiving next week. I think we have a few recipes in mind to use the turnip, radicchio, and kale. I'm also interested in trying the persimmons since I've never had one before.

I was asked last year to join the finance committee at the church we attend. I declined because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be that involved. But then I was asked again this year to serve on it and I accepted. The term generally lasts for three years, but isn't set in stone. They meet for a couple of hours on the third Wednesday of every month, which I've been going to since July. Meetings start at 7 and normally end around 9.

Most of the time is spent reviewing the budget and or working on the annual stewardship campaign. Since I studied accounting and finance in college, I can easily understand what they're talking about when reviewing reports or budgets, which I think is pretty valuable. I'm more interested in investing, but unfortunately the church doesn't really have much in the way of stored up reserves. It's been an interesting experience and I'm glad that I'm able to lend a hand.

Note: This walking route through Seattle's neighborhood of Wedgwood comes from Walking in Seattle.

This quiet residential neighborhood in Northeast Seattle is home to a large glacial boulder and the city’s first P-patch.



Click here to continue reading.

Note: This post comes from Walking in Seattle.

Enjoy this walk through the forest and along the beaches at Discovery Park. It may be challenging for some due to the elevation change.



Click here to continue reading.

We decided to continue trying out receiving a produce box every other week. We still had a small credit from the Groupon we bought, so that was nice. I picked up our second box last Thursday from Fare Start, a restaurant in downtown, and carried it home. It was pretty heavy, so I had to keep switching arms and the way I was carrying it. It contained the following:

• Red Potatoes, Organic - 1.5 pounds
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Leeks, Organic - 2 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Spinach, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Red Bok Choy, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Brussels Sprouts On The Stalk, Organic - 1 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Bunched Baby Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington


• Green Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
  Siri and Sons, Clackamas, Oregon


• Gala Apples, Organic - 3 each
  Earth Conscious Organics, Brewster, Washington


• Valencia Oranges, Organic - 4 each
  California Growers, California


• Red Flame Grapes, Organic - 0.75 pound
  Delano Farms, Delano, California


• Bartlett Pears, Organic - 3 each
  Washington Growers, Washington

We'd never had brussels sprouts until we cooked them tonight with some pasta. We tossed them in some olive oil, salt, and pepper and then roasted them in the oven. They didn't taste like anything we'd had before. Apparently they're supposed to taste sweet if you roast them long enough. We might have them again some day, but probably won't go out of our way to get them.

I've already eaten three of the four oranges and they were the best oranges I've had in a long time. They were easy to peel and tasted really sweet and like citrus at the same time. The grapes and gala apples are juicy and sweet too.

Getting organic food is really good for you because there are no pesticides or other chemicals sprayed on them. Everything we've gotten has been fresh and locally grown, mostly in Washington. Even though it can be a little more expensive, it tastes much better than regular produce at the grocery store and is much higher quality. We might continue to get a produce box every other week and see how we like it.

Note: This walking route through the neighborhood we live in comes from Walking in Seattle.

This part of Seattle has been transformed over the last several years and this nice long walk takes you on a tour to see the history, the public spaces, and the recent development that this area has to offer.



Click here to continue reading.

According to a news article and video on King5.com, the Seattle waterfront might be getting a ferris wheel soon. The owner of Pier 57 has applied for a permit for a 175-foot tall ferris wheel. There is currently an arcade with an old-style merry-go-round on the pier. The Alaskan Way Viaduct will eventually be torn down with a tunnel being built and the waterfront will be revitalized in the next few years. A ferris wheel would be an interesting addition to the touristy area of the city. I'm not sure how much I like it being part of the already beautiful skyline, but I suppose I could get used to it.

A couple weeks ago we saw a flier in our building for cooking classes in the area. The classes covered a variety of food - Spanish tapas and paella, soups, and dim sum. We had talked about taking a cooking class before and decided to sign up for the class on Thai food, since it's one of our favorite foods to eat but one that we don't know how to make well.

Last Thursday night we walked the couple blocks to class. The class was hands-on and about 14 of us stood around a table and all participated in making the food. There were a lot of ingredients that we weren't familiar with, like Thai eggplant, fish sauce, and tamarind concentrate. We started by identifying all the exotic components and then started preparing food.

We all had a chance to make spring rolls, and helped make pad thai, papaya salad, peanut sauce, and green and red curry. We finished off with some sweet coconut rice. The recipes included ingredients completely from scratch and were more complicated than we're used to cooking at home. However, the food was pretty good, and it was helpful to see how these dishes are made. At the end we were full and tired, but it was a fun experience.

I'm not sure when we'll have a chance to round up all the exotic ingredients it took for some of these recipes, but we'll probably try to make one of these recipes at home this week.

It's time for another election and that means more initiatives to vote on. Unlike Texas, any initiative can make the ballot if it receives enough signatures before the election.

So, in addition to the hotly-contested, high-profile race for state Senator and the low-profile and mostly uncontested races for various judge positions, there are several interesting initiatives that we can vote on.

One initiative would establish a state income tax for high-income individuals. Another two initiatives would both privatize liquor sales and remove some regulations (liquor is currently only sold in state-run stores). We can also vote to repeal taxes that were recently placed on sales of candy and soda.

Many of these initiatives are heavily supported by various industries, so we're seeing commercials in favor and opposed to many of these initiatives. It's nice to have the opportunity to vote on fairly significant potential changes to state laws, though it can be challenging to make the right decision.

This past weekend I was able to go to Game 3 of the World Series and visit my family in Texas, thanks to my friend Megan's buddy pass to fly stand-by for Southwest Airlines. I wasn't guaranteed a seat, so I wanted to get to the airport fairly early. I took a half day off work on Friday and made my way to the airport via the Link Light Rail. It was really nice and took me straight there in about 35 minutes. Getting into the terminal took no time at all and I was able to get a boarding pass while waiting for the flight since it wasn't very full. I can see how flying on stand-by would normally be stressful if the flights you're trying to get onto are pretty full. I lucked out with all my flights since there were at least 20 seats left on all four I took. I got a window seat every time and no one next to me in the middle seat until the last leg from Albuquerque to Seattle.

Megan picked me up from Love Field, which I'd never been to, and we went to Uncle Julio's for dinner. It was really good - we shared the nachos and combination fajitas. It was a lot of food! I enjoyed catching up with her and hanging out. Then she dropped me off at my parents house for the night.

Saturday morning I woke up pretty early so we could go eat bagels at Einstein Brothers bagels, which owns Noah's, our favorite bagel place in Seattle. I got a sesame bagel and some hot tea. We picked up my grandma and took her with us to breakfast too. Then my Uncle Bob met us there so he could see me for a little bit.

After that, we dropped my grandma off and went to my sister's house so I could see my niece, Evie! We spent about 3 hours there and I took lots of video and pictures of her! She was so cute! She's already able to walk around a coffee table while holding onto it. She can even let go and still stand there for a few seconds on her own! I got to see her room too and it was really cute. My sister fed her while we were there too, so I got to see her eat solid foods. I'm looking forward to seeing her and my sister again during our Christmas trip. We're going to babysit her one night so my sister and brother-in-law can go out and eat dinner and have a fun night out.

My parents and I went to Cousins for an early dinner after that. I got a chopped brisket sandwich, fresh hot okra, and the potato salad. It was really good.

Unfortunately, my Dad couldn't get a third ticket for my Mom to go, so it was just my Dad and I at the game. I felt bad using her ticket, but she kept telling me it was ok and that she was just glad to see me. We left really early to get to the game about 2 hours before it started. I'd never seen so many people at the Ballpark. The game set an attendance record of 52,419. My Dad waited in line to get some souvenirs for an hour and a half. The lines everywhere were so long. It was really cool seeing Nolan Ryan throw out the ceremonial first pitch to Pudge. The game went by really fast and the Rangers won 4-2. It was exciting seeing all the home runs and watching the fireworks go off. I still can't believe I was able to go to Game 3 of the World Series! It's one of those once in a lifetime things you can't pass up if you have a chance to go.

We stayed up a little bit once we got back to the house and watched some tv shows my Dad had recorded about Seattle and a little bit of the UW-Stanford game. We had to get up early Sunday to get to the airport for my 9:10 am flight. There were plenty of seats available on the flights, so I had no trouble at all. It was a really short trip, but it was worth it to see my niece and the game. We'll be back soon too for Christmas in a couple months. Thanks again to Megan for getting me the plane ticket and my Mom for giving up her game ticket for me! :)

For the past few months I've been writing for Walking in Seattle, a blog that focuses on news and issues relevant to pedestrians and other walkers in the city.

When I started the blog, I expected to mostly use it to share various walking routes in the city as a way to get me to go out and discover new places to walk and then to share them with others. As the blog has evolved it has included more references to content from local news sources.

It takes a lot of time to write for Walking in Seattle, but it's something I've enjoyed doing. Also, the content fills a niche, as the number of subscribers in Google Reader has grown above 30 (this blog by comparison has 9).

Over the next few months I will be making some improvements to Walking in Seattle and hope to continue to deliver good content for people interested in walking in Seattle.

I've never been that interested in trick-or-treating, but apparently Seattle is the best city in the country to do it according to a study by an online housing blog. The study calculates the "Zillow Trick-or-Treat Housing Index" using four equally weighted data variables: Zillow Home Value Index, population density, Walk Score, and local crime data from Relocation Essentials. Based on those variables, the Index represents cities that will provide the most candy, with the least walking and safety risks. San Francisco, Portland, San Jose, and Denver rounded out the top 5 cities.

The study ranked the individual neighborhoods in each of the top 20 cities as well. The top 5 Seattle neighborhoods to trick-or-treat in are Wallingford, Ballard, Queen Anne, Roosevelt, and Ravenna. I'm not at all surprised that Wallingford is at the top of the list since it's very family friendly and there are lots of nice homes in the area. Ballard is a very safe and walkable area as well, with lots of families. We were in the Queen Anne area this past weekend and saw lots of Halloween decorations on many of the houses there. Halloween and trick-or-treating seem to be a big deal here in Seattle.

Last week my Dad said I should fly back to Texas if the Rangers made it to the World Series and he could get me a ticket, but I figured it wasn't possible since plane tickets would cost over $450. Then the Rangers won the ALCS last Friday night to make it to their first World Series in franchise history. And then the San Francisco Giants won the NLCS on Saturday night. My friend Megan said I should fly back for a World Series game and that gave me the idea to ask if she could get me free round trip airfare through Southwest Airlines since she works there. Luckily she had a free pass and was incredibly nice to offer it to me! So, that means I'll be going to Game 3 of the World Series this Saturday between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants! Who would have thought two of my favorite baseball teams would make it to the World Series in the same year?!

So, I'll be flying in tomorrow night around 8:30 pm and leave Sunday morning at 9:10 am, with a stop in Albuquerque each way. Not only will I see the first ever World Series game at the Ballpark in Arlington, but I'll get to see my niece, Evie! She's already over 8 months old and starting to stand on her own and even make word-like sounds! I'm really excited about seeing her, my sister, and Mom and Dad. I'll also be having dinner with Megan after she picks me up from the airport. It should be a lot of fun!

The Texas Rangers have made it all the way to the World Series and it has been a lot of fun to watch them over the last few weeks. While we both rooted for the Rangers back in Texas, when we moved here we decided to adopt the Mariners as our favorite team. Until this year, neither of these two teams had made it to the World Series, they're not exactly the most successful franchises.

The Mariners just finished a 100-loss season, so it wasn't that much fun watching them this last summer. It is exciting to have a good baseball team to root for now, though, and to be able to watch the Rangers in the playoffs on national TV. I wish they could've been more successful when we lived there, but we'll be rooting for them this World Series.

Troy and I went to a pumpkin patch this past Saturday. There are tons of them in the area and we'd never been to one before, so we decided to go to the Craven Farm in Snohomish, about 30 miles to the northeast. The drive was pretty with lots of colorful trees all red, orange, and yellow. We got there and the parking lot was intimidatingly full. Once we got inside, there was so much stuff going on and so many people there that we didn't know what to do first.

We made our way to the pumpkin patch that seemed to go on for miles. I couldn't believe how many pumpkins of all shapes and sizes there were! Some were as small as two fists and others were the size of two basketballs. There were probably over 5,000 pumpkins there to choose from. I guess we could have bought one to carve or make food from, but we didn't bother with it. Last time we had a carved pumpkin in our apartment, it started to smell after a few days.

Other things we could have done included a hay ride, corn maze, pumpkin slinging, face painting, and seeing baby livestock. I was interested in the corn maze, but we didn't have rain boots on and it was probably pretty muddy in there from the recent rain we've had. I snacked on some roasted corn and Troy got two donuts, including a pumpkin one.

The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of a nice set for taking pictures. It sounds corny, but I wanted a picture of Troy and I sitting on some hay with pumpkins around us. Oh well, maybe next year we can try out a different pumpkin patch. It was a fun experience this year and definitely worth doing at least once.

We know a few people who subscribe to receive a weekly produce box from a nearby farm. There are several farms that deliver a box of fresh, in-season produce to anyone who subscribes. Lesley got a coupon for a free produce box from Full Circle Farm, so we decided to give it a try. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, at least compared to how much we used to eat, so this seemed worth a try.

I picked the box up after work on Thursday and brought it home. It was a pretty big box so we had to rearrange the fridge to fit everything inside. The box included quite a lot of vegetables and fruit:

• Yukon Gold Potatoes, Organic - 1.5 pounds
  Farmer's Own Organics, Seattle, Washington.


• Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
  Lakeside Organic Gardens, Watsonville, California.


• Green Chard, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington.


• Celery, Organic - 1 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington.


• Spinach, Organic - 1 bunch
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington.


• Green Bell Peppers, Organic - 2 each
  Siri and Sons, Clackamas, Oregon.


• Romaine Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
  Lakeside Organic Gardens, Watsonville, California.


• Delicata Squash, Organic - 1 each
  Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington.


• Red Flame Grapes, Organic - 0.75 pound
  Delano Farms, Delano, California.


• Dapple Dandy Pluots, Organic - 3 each
  Okanogan Producers, Okanogan, Washington.


• D'anjou Pears, Organic - 3 each
  Nicholson's Orchard Fresh, Peshastin, Washington.


• Fuji Apples, Organic - 3 each
  Earth Conscious Organics, Brewster, Washington.

We knew what we'd be receiving, so we planned ahead so that we'd be able to cook with most of this. We've never cooked with some of these before, like the delicata squash, so we'll be trying new recipes. It's an overwhelming amount of food, however, so I hope we're able to cook with it all.

With our coupon, we were automatically signed up for to get a new box every two weeks. It costs $32 each time, so I'm not sure how long we'll stay subscribed, but considering the amount of food, the price is probably competitive with the grocery store. It's also nice to get two weeks worth of high-quality produce without having to go to the store to pick it out. And, since the contents of the produce box vary depending on what is in season, we'll have the chance to try out a lot of different kinds of fruit and vegetables, and to try to new recipes to use them.

According to a recent Travel + Leisure review, Sea-Tac International Airport is the best in the nation in terms of delays, with only 10.6% of flights being delayed. By comparison, 22.3% of flights are delayed at D/FW International Airport, the 3rd worst in the nation. According to the survey, the best time to fly in or out of Sea-Tac is before 10:00 am. The worst time window is 6–8 p.m.

Sea-Tac is one of the best airports I've been in. I've always liked that it's smaller than the gigantic D/FW Airport and isn't nearly as hard to get around between the terminals and concourses. It's still definitely large enough to get most places we want to go via direct flights. Sea-Tac rarely changes the terminal or gate on you at the last minute, which is nice. I've always been able to get through security rather quickly and most flights I can remember have been on time. The only exception to that was our flight out for Christmas in 2008 with the terrible snow storm that hit the area that winter. I also really like Alaska Airlines, which has its main hub at Sea-Tac.

Sea-Tac also has a lot of public art inside it, making it one of the most unique airports I've seen. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the terminals, which comes in handy while waiting 1-2 hours for flights. It is also served well by Link Light Rail from downtown Seattle, although we've never actually taken it to or from the airport the entire way. We hope to do that this Christmas.

All of these factors add up to a generally stress-free traveling experience, which is not very common at other airports.

And because I like interesting statistics, here are the top 10 domestic routes out of Sea-Tac in 2009 by number of passengers (from Wikipedia):

1. Los Angeles, CA - 744,000
2. San Francisco, CA - 719,000
3. Anchorage, AK - 681,000
4. Denver, CO - 650,000
5. Chicago, IL (O'Hare) - 589,000
6. Phoenix, AZ - 550,000
7. Las Vegas, NV - 540,000
8. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN - 519,000
9. Spokane, WA - 503,000
10. Dallas/Fort Worth, TX - 484,000

The weather was beautiful yesterday - clear skies filled with crisp fall air. Since I chose to drive to work, I wasn't able to enjoy the weather as much as I could've if I walked and took the bus to work. I was driving home with my window rolled down and when I turned on a street near our apartment, I heard a noise that I immediately knew was the sound of one of our car's hubcaps falling off.

This wasn't totally unexpected as our car's wheel covers have been cracked almost since the car was new, and each visit to the tire shop to have our tires rotated came with a warning that our hubcaps were cracked. In fact, last time I was told that if I didn't take the wheel covers off, they would come off on the road.

I was able to park on the next block to go pick the wheel cover up off the street. We had been planning to get new wheel covers soon anyway, so I suppose this was just a good reminder to do that.

I've had my orthotics for 5 weeks now and yesterday was my follow up appointment with my podiatrist. I told him I wasn't too thrilled with my orthotics and that they haven't helped my feet improve that much. My left heel still hurts every now and then and it doesn't seem to correspond with times of extended activity on my feet. He said most people have about a 50% improvement by now and I'm maybe 30% better.

So he said to try a cortisone shot that should make the inflammation and swelling go down so theoretically the muscle can heal faster. I wasn't expecting to get a shot yesterday, so when he suggested it I got a little nervous because I hate getting shots. But it wasn't too bad because I was able to lay down and he told me to breathe deeply several times before he did it. I didn't react as badly as I normally do, maybe because it was in my heel instead of in my arm, or maybe it was because he prepared me pretty well. It was numb all of last night. He said I could stop wearing the night splint for a little while too so we can see what the cortisone does.

I'm not that optimistic this will help in the long run though. Everyone I've talked to says a cortisone shot is just a big band-aid over a bigger problem. But I guess I'm willing to try anything at this point... It didn't hurt when I was walking to work this morning, which was nice. I have another appointment in two weeks to see how it's doing.

The Seattle Public Library has Kill-A-Watt's to borrow. A Kill-A-Watt is a device that you can plug other electronic devices into and it will tell you how much electrical power it uses. I've known about these for a while, but it's not relly worth buying at around $25, so it's really nice that they can be rented from the library.

Over the past several days, I've been plugging all of our electronics into it to see how much power they consume. While electricity is very inexpensive here at around $0.05 per kWh, it's still cool to know how much electricity our electronics are using.

We weren't able to measure any high-voltage appliances, but certainly our refrigerator and oven use a lot of electricity. Of the appliances we were able to measure, our microwave and vacuum use the most power when in use, but we don't use them very often, so they don't account for a very large portion of our electrical consumption.

I was most interested in finding out how much standby power our devices used when turned off. Over time, these phantom loads from TVs, microwaves, and video game systems can add up to quite a lot of power. Some estimates are that standby power costs Americans $3 billion annually and accounts for as much as 10% of residential electrical consumption.

We found that the biggest things that steal electricity when not in use our CD player (particularly the clock), computer equipment (especially the modem and router), and our cable box. In fact, somehow just the clock on our CD player uses more power than our laptop does when powered on.

Contrary to things we'd heard, many things didn't use electricity when not in use - our cell phone chargers and other electronics chargers didn't show any electric consumption when our devices weren't charging.

Now that we have a better understanding of how much electricity our things use, we'll try to make better decisions about how we use them. For example, it's not very hard to switch off our surge protectors at night when we're not using them, and in doing so we could save over 10% off of our annual electricity bills (we only spend around $157 annually anyway). We'll also likely keep our CD player clock off now that we know how much power it wastes.

Anyway, it's cool that we were able to borrow the Kill A Watt from the library and now we're a little more educated on how we're using electricity.

We spent last Saturday exploring Wallingford, one of Seattle's many historic walkable neighborhoods.

We headed out on the bus, which took us pretty much straight to Mighty-O Donuts, one of the best doughnut places in Seattle. A neat thing about their donuts is that not only are they very good, but they also don't use any animal products. I really liked my apple fritter. Lesley got an apple spice donut that was good. After doughnuts, Lesley got some tea, and we walked to a nearby park. We enjoyed our tea and time sitting in the park. Then we walked around the neighborhood some. Like many of Seattle's older residential neighborhoods, there are a lot of unique homes with beautiful landscaping.

For lunch we went to a taco truck called Rancho Bravo Tacos in the area and had some pretty good burritos - the best we've had in Seattle.

We then walked up the main drag of Wallingford, 45th St, which is lined with a mile of shops and restaurants. We stopped in a Hawaiian store with shirts and food from the islands. We also stopped in a stationery store, which had some cute cards, and a travel store with a lot of books and maps.

In the middle of Wallingford is the Wallingford Center, which used to be a school and now has a few stores inside. Outside are plenty of benches, as there were throughout the neighborhood. I enjoyed spending time sitting outside before walking around the neighborhood more, passing through a very busy kid-filled playground/soccer field, and by an old school.

There is a two-screen theater in the neighborhood, which we almost went to, but the movies weren't playing at a good time.

We went to Archee McPhee, a popular novelty store, for the first time. We didn't buy any bacon-scented air freshener, but I really enjoyed looking at the various rubber animals, listening to the Mr. T voice box, and dreaming of buying the bacon tuxedo for someone.

We also stopped at Bottleworks, a shop with a lot of different kinds of beer, where we bought a few individual bottles to take home and try, and stopped by a wine store. We then sat outside more at Wallingford Center and watching the cars, bikes, and people go by.

One of our favorite Thai places in the city, Djan's, is in Wallingford, but for dinner we decided to go somewhere different to Jhanjay. Lesley had pad see eew and I had a ginger stir-fry. After dinner, we stopped at the main grocery store in the area (with a giant "WALLINGFORD" sign) to get some food for the next day, and then we took the bus home.

We had a good time in Wallingford. Based on the types of stores and the playgrounds and children we saw, it's apparent that more families live there than in other Seattle neighborhoods we've spent time in. The neighborhood is more kid-friendly and has fewer apartments and condos than other dense neighborhoods in the city. Unlike other urban neighborhoods close to downtown (Capitol Hill, Fremont, Ballard, etc), Wallingford lacks a notable landmark. It's still one of Seattle's most walkable and pleasant neighborhoods.

Quick Wallingford facts:

• Population: 20,433


• Population density per square mile: 11,544


• 2009 Median Home Price: $411,000


• 2008 Median Condo Sales Price: $299,000


• 10th most walkable neighborhood in Seattle

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

Our lease for our current 550 square foot studio apartment is up at the end of February. We're not as satisfied with it as we used to be because of several things. For one thing, it's small and we technically don't even have a bedroom. We have a small area for the bed, which sits against two walls and the dresser is right at the foot of it. We're also running out of storage space because we have gotten a fake Christmas tree, some floor fans, and more drinking glasses and other kitchen stuff since moving here.

Secondly, we're tired of being directly above the community grill area a few floors down. When someone uses the grill the smoke always rises up and inevitably gets into our apartment because we usually have the windows open for ventilation. This always causes us to have to close the windows, which sometimes makes it pretty hot in here during the summer.

Thirdly, people make a lot of noise near the grill area and in the alley between our complex and the recording studio, especially if they've had a few drinks. The noise from the studio itself is also obnoxious.

We'll definitely be moving to at least a one bedroom apartment instead of a studio. We still like this complex overall. It's a nice building and the unit is nice with pretty new appliances and nice wooden cabinets and a big window facing the sunset to the West. The neighborhood is growing on us, especially with the addition of South Lake Union Park and more businesses opening nearby because of Amazon. It's very convenient to get to downtown and walking to work is really nice. We won't rule out looking at other buildings or in other neighborhoods though, such as Capitol Hill or Lower Queen Anne.

We're also considering the possibility of getting a two bedroom and using one of the rooms as a guest room for visitors. Having an extra room would make it a lot cheaper for friends and family to visit more often or for longer because they wouldn't have to pay for hotels. However, it would cost about $250-$300 more per month for an extra room and we're not sure it would result in more frequent visitors in the next year. We would also have the large extra costs of purchasing a second set of bedroom furniture, a mattress, etc. And we don't really have a use for a second room for the rest of the year. Perhaps in 2012 we might get a two bedroom apartment.

I'm also interested in buying a house or townhouse in the next few years. After a down payment, monthly house payments can be almost the same as apartment rent, depending on how big the house is and how close to downtown it is. I guess we'll just have to see what prices are and what would be affordable at that time.

We found out recently that our apartment building offers composting. I can put things in compost at work, but we've never done it at home. Some people have their own composting bins at home so that they can use the fertile soil that comes from it. Residents in our building can just put their compost in a separate bin and some company picks it up.

Food scraps are the main thing that is compostable. We eat a lot of vegetables and there are always unused portions for composting. We also just finished a bag of Sun Chips, which are now sold in a compostable bag, and were happy to put the bag in compost instead of adding to our landfill-bound trash.

We already have bags to put our recyclables and our regular trash in, but we don't yet have a place for a composting bag, so we'll need to figure that out soon. It's too bad we didn't take advantage of this over the past couple years, but it's nice that there's another way in which we can reduce our negative impact on the planet.

Whenever we go to the coast, we always see "tsunami evacuation route" signs and are amused since it seems so foreign to us having not grown up in this area. Some locals in small towns along the coast have removed the signs so that tourists aren't scared away. But tsunamis really are very dangerous and apparently the West Coast is totally unprepared for such an event. Apparently there's a series of 39 buoys all along the coast from Alaska to South America that are supposed to detect tsunami waves and alert areas that will be affected by them. However as many as a third of them are down for maintenance issues at various times.

The last earthquake and tsunami from the Cascadia fault occurred 300 years ago. The last tsunami to hit the northwest coast was in 1964 when an Alaska earthquake caused a tsunami that damaged Cannon Beach, OR. Here's an excerpt from a Seattle Times article that explains what parts of the northwest coast are considering in order to be more prepared for tsunamis:

The Oregon town of Cannon Beach is considering construction of an earthquake- and tsunami-resistant building that could serve both as a city hall and a refuge. On Washington's Long Beach Peninsula, where there's very little high ground, leaders are mulling the idea of building berms where people could gather to escape a tsunami surge.

We live near Puget Sound, which isn't that close to the Pacific Ocean, so tsunamis aren't as big of a threat to us, but are still possible.

Here are some pictures Troy took at the Lake Union Park opening last Saturday. We added to an existing gallery, so be sure to check out the second page of photos. There was a lot more people and a lot less food there than we were expecting at the park opening. We did see some guys cooking salmon on an open fire which I'd never seen before. We were sort of hungry after we'd been there a while, so we bought some cheese bread and banana bread from the farmer's market. We also bought some blueberry jam from a local farmer and it was really good. The weather was also incredible for late September, with a high around 75 and completely sunny.

More than a year ago, phase 1 of South Lake Union Park opened. Unfortunately, the park closed again after just a few months so that the other phases could be built. After a very long wait, the rest of the park opened on Saturday.

We're just over a half mile away from Lake Union, but with the park being closed, we didn't really have a good way to get to the lake. The park has some good open space and offers a plesant environment for enjoying the view across the lake.

During the opening festivities, there were kayak and stand-up paddleboard rentals, several informative booths, and a farmers market.

The park includes a model boat pond, a public fountain, which had plenty of children playing in it today, and green space for sitting, lying down, throwing a frisbee, and whatever else.

Now that the park is open, it contributes to the growing livability of this part of the city along with the new restaurants that have opened in the past few months. We're looking forward to being able to walk down to the lake and enjoy the park.

I've had my foot orthotics for two weeks now and my heel has improved slightly, but not as much as I'd hoped. I don't have sharp pains much any more, but still have the dull pain sometimes. The extra support near my heel felt nice at first and now I'm sort of used to it. In fact it might hurt my feet a little bit, but I guess it just takes getting used to.

The week after I got them, I wore my work shoes while at work with my old mediocre support from Foot Solutions in it. My new orthotics won't fit in my work shoes. My heel continued to hurt even though I would wear my athletic shoes whenever I wasn't at work. So this week, I decided to just wear my athletic shoes all the time, even at work. Nobody asked me why I wasn't wearing my nice work shoes, so I guess no one had a problem with it. I just looked kind of silly wearing my work pants with athletic shoes, but whatever helps my heel get better is what I'll do.

I'm still stretching and wearing my foot splint every night, which is getting old. I have a follow-up appointment in a few weeks, so we'll see how I feel then.

We had been looking forward to this trip for a while as we had heard several good things about the Oregon Coast. And, our trip lived up to expectations, it was a lot of fun. We're already thinking about going back sometime, though are not sure when. It's about a 4 hour drive to the coast from Seattle, so to be worthwhile we'd want to stay at least two nights probably. There is a lot of other traveling that we'd like to do as well.

Now that we've been to the coast and are more familiar with the area and the various towns and the things to do, we have a better idea of what we might like to do next time. The best part of going to the coast was the time we spent on the beach - walking, watching the waves, lying down in the sand - it was all great. If we go back, I'd like to make sure we do more of that.

I'd also like to do less driving. We had wanted to see as much as we could of what the coast had to offer, and while we did see a lot of different things, all the beautiful viewpoints started to look the same after a while. I think it would be nice to spend more time in each place we stop.

We passed through quite a few towns along the coast and many of them were forgettable, but we have a better idea of where we might like to stay next time. Though Cannon Beach was overrun with tourists, it had a nice beach and lots of places to eat. Also, we liked our time near Yachats - the town was okay, we really liked the food at Luna Sea Fish House, and our motel there was a good value.

We don't have a date set, or even that much of a plan for when we'll travel back to the coast, but we're already looking forward to it.

I've always liked lighthouses and made it a point to visit several on the Oregon coast. Unfortunately we somehow missed the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, but we were able to see 4 out of a possible 5 on the trip. There are a total of 11 lighthouses on the Oregon coast, 3 of which are not open to the public. All of the lighthouses we saw originally had a first order of the Fresnel lens, which is the largest of it's kind at 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Lighthouses make for really beautiful coastline photos and also have interesting stories of their own.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
Location: Cannon Beach
First Lit: 1881
Deactivated: 1957
Height: 62 feet
Feet above sea level: 133 feet
Range: 18 miles
It was the most expensive to operate in the US before it was decommissioned. Nicknamed "Terrible Tilly" because of the exposure from terrible storm waves, the former beacon is now used as a columbarium (for storing peoples' ashes). It is the only privately owned Oregon coast lighthouse on National Register of Historic Places.

Cape Meares Lighthouse
Location: Tillamook
First Lit: 1890
Deactivated: 1963
Height: 38 feet
Feet above sea level: 217 feet
Range: 20 miles
Cape Meares is the shortest lighthouse in Oregon and is also the home of the Octopus tree. Unfortunately Cape Meares has had several instances of vandalism since the 60s, with an occurrence as recent as January of 2010 when two men fired several shots into the windows and damaged the Fresnel lens. It cost over $500,000 to repair the lens.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse
Location: Newport
First Lit: 1873
Height: 93 feet
Feet above sea level: 162 feet
Range: 18 miles
This is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. During World War II, 17 servicemen were stationed at Yaquina Head keeping a lookout for enemy ships. This is also a popular area for whale, seal, and bird watching.

Heceta Head Lighthouse
Location: Florence
First Lit: 1894
Height: 56 feet
Feet above sea level: 205 feet
Range: 21 miles
Heceta Head is named after the Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta, who explored the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. The lighthouse is claimed to be the strongest light on the coast by several sources. It is also one of the most scenic and is the most photographed on the entire West Coast. You can also stay at the old keeper's house which was turned in a bed and breakfast able to house 14 guests. Nice antique furniture, a seven-course breakfast, relaxing fireplace parlors, and breathtaking views make it a great romantic getaway.

Beautiful Heceta Head on Vimeo.

We'd been interested in seeing the Seattle Symphony for a while and we finally decided to go to a show last Friday. We saw Live & Let Die: A Symphonic Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney, which had a Beatles cover band along with a partial orchestra. There's actually several Beatles/Wings that have flutes, violins, trumpets, or other instruments in them. The guy playing as Paul was especially good and sounded and looked pretty close to the real thing. Some of the songs included Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Yesterday, Maybe I'm Amazed, When I'm Sixty-Four, Jet, and Band on the Run. It reminded me of the two Paul McCartney concerts I went to and also the time some of my friends and I saw the cover band Me & My Monkey at the Moon in Fort Worth.

Benaroya Hall was a pretty basic symphony hall. The inside was plain and wasn't nearly as fancy as other places I've seen the symphony. Overall it probably wasn't the best value for our money, but it was still fun singing along and hearing the orchestra.

There are many places to stay on the coast - bed & breakfasts, local motels, and chain motels scattered all along the coastal towns and oceanfront. Since we were only staying one night at each place, we had to find several places to stay, so it took some time to get all our lodging lined up. We were looking for places spread evenly apart so that we would have a relatively consistent amount of driving to do each day. We also wanted these places to not be expensive (under $100) but not be dumpy, and to be near the beach, if possible.

It seems that a lot of places aren't easily found on the internet, so sometimes our options for booking online seemed fairly limited. That was the case with our lodging the first night in Astoria. We just needed a place to stay for the night and we ended up at the Lamplighter Motel, which was the most inexpensive place we stayed on the whole trip. It offered pretty basic accommodations with no frills. Fortunately the only superficial complaints I would have would be that the carpet and furnishings in the room just looked a little worn - it seemed clean enough - and it was still a satisfactory place to stay, though we might look for something a little nicer if we were to go back.

Our next night we stayed in Rockaway Beach, a tiny town of less than 2,000. Our lodging that night at the Silver Sands was expensive at $126, but it was right on the beach and we had a view from our window. The room was nice and it was very nice to be able to get to the beach with just a short walk. We were again on the 2nd floor and we slept with the windows open until a bird woke us up. We would look for a better deal next time, but it was a good place to stay.

Our final night on the coast was near the town of Yachats. Deane's Oceanfront Lodge was actually a few miles from the center of town and though it was just off the main highway, it felt rather isolated. When booking our room, the owner was nice enough to give us the off-season rate, though he wondered why he did that when we checked in. Our room had cable TV, a fridge, an electric fireplace heater, and a DVD player (which I never could get to work). The bed and pillows were also the most comfortable we had on the trip. There were games and DVDs to borrow in the office as well as coffee and doughnuts in the morning. They were even thoughtful enough to include a mini-flashlight with the room key so that we could walk down to the beach at night (which we did and loved). The building was old, but it was decorated nicely in a beach theme. We never could get our keys lock the rooms and the hot water didn't work during my shower, but somehow despite those big drawbacks, we both really liked staying here.

The final night of our trip was different from the others as we were staying in a large Doubletree hotel in the middle of Portland. This meant we parked in a garage and used an elevator to get to our room instead of parking right outside our room and walking just a few feet. We happened to find a pretty good rate on this place, as it would normally cost more than we'd like to pay. This hotel is geared more for the business traveler than the couple on a road trip, so it was the only hotel on our trip not to have a mini-fridge and microwave. It was also the only place we stayed that didn't offer free Wi-Fi. Yep, in the year 2010, the cost for internet at the Doubletree hotel is like $10/day. It worked out okay, though, because instead of looking online for somewhere nearby to eat, we went down to the concierge to get recommendations. We also got a free breakfast with a full menu or breakfast buffet. Our room was pretty nice too, maybe a little too elegant for my taste, but past the view of the monstrously drab roof of the hotel's conference area, we had a nice view of the Portland skyline. I liked staying here pretty well, though I wouldn't be likely to pay much more than we did this time.

Since we were out doing things so much of the time, we didn't spend much time actually inside our hotels/motels. None of the places we stayed were really remarkable, but they were all fine.

We weren't sure what to expect for dining options on the Oregon coast. Most of the towns we were going through were too small to have that many restaurants, let alone really good ones. We did a little research before the trip and I knew of a few places to specifically try. Overall the food was alright and the service was pretty slow everywhere.

Lost Roo in Long Beach, WA - We stopped at this Australian-themed bar on the first night going to Astoria. Troy got a Caesar salad and I had a salmon burger. The food was alright, nothing special at all. We had slow service, but figured it was just bad luck with our waiter and the fact that we were in the bar area.

Bowpicker Fish & Chips in Astoria, OR - My coworker mentioned this place and said it was the best fish and chips she ever had, so I made it a point to try it. We ate here after the Columbia Maritime Museum. We both got a 3 piece fried tuna fish and chips with a canned soda. I liked it more than Troy, but I guess in retrospect it was fairly average. The fries were definitely nothing that great, but having freshly caught fish fried to order was nice.

Sweet Basil's in Cannon Beach, OR - This was a small family-owned restaurant that also had fairly slow service. It was pretty small inside and there was only one table that wasn't reserved and it happened to be right next to the kitchen, which was pretty open. We could hear everything the cook and his assistants were saying, so the atmosphere wasn't the greatest. I got a house salad and the crab wrap, which was pretty good, but a lot of food. We both liked my wheat tortilla it came in. Troy got the veggie melt tapa, which he really liked. I'd definitely go again and get something different, as long as we could sit outside or have a reserved table farther from the kitchen.

Grateful Bread in Pacific City, OR - We had the worst service of the whole trip here. In fact, it was probably the worst service I've had anywhere the last few years. It took 10 minutes for the waiter to bring us water and then at least another 5 minutes to take our order. The food took a long time to arrive and was just average. I got an egg scramble with came with two biscuits and fruit (they were out of roasted potatoes) and Troy had some french toast and two eggs. Probably the worst part was that we waited at least 20 minutes for the check that never came. I had seen other tables get their checks at the table, so I figured we had to wait for the check to come to us. I got tired of waiting though, so we went up to the register where I asked for the check and finally paid.

Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats, OR - We had the best food of the trip here. We had a really late dinner around 8 after we went to Heceta Lighthouse. After waiting about 30 minutes for a table, we were finally seated. We had cheese and crackers with us we were going to eat that night, so we decided to share a plate at Luna Sea. We got the Captain's Special which included two pieces of fried halibut, two fried scallops, two fried shrimp, and two fried oysters. It also came with fries, coleslaw, and a piece of garlic bread. It took a while for them to make our food, but man, it was the best fish and chips I'd ever had! We wished we had each gotten our own plate. It was so good, we decided to go again the next day for lunch and get it to go before heading to Florence for our dune buggy ride. Unfortunately the fish wasn't fried as crispy the second time, but it was still very good and the fish was so tender and fresh. Our only complaint was the slow service. We'll definitely be going there again though.

Chai Yo in Portland, OR - We were planning to eat at Schlotzsky's for dinner before arriving in Portland, but it was closed for Labor Day. Instead we walked to this Thai food place within a few blocks of our hotel. We were definitely looking forward to having something other than fried food. It was empty when we got there, but a few other people eventually came in and several people had ordered food to go. I liked the atmosphere. It was nice and quiet and very clean. I got the pad thai with tofu and Troy got the stir fry with vegetables. It was decent food for the price.

Voo Doo Doughnut in Portland, OR - This place is really hyped up on the Food Network, specifically because of the Man vs Food episode featuring it (only the first minute of the video is about VooDoo). We went to the original location in downtown around 9 at night and the line was out the door and around the corner of the building. We weren't going to wait in a line with 50 people in it, so we decided to go to the other location closer to our hotel and instead only had to wait about 15 minutes behind 10 or so people. While we were waiting in line, I played a game of pinball on their Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine. You can get all kinds of crazy doughnuts here, including ones with cereal on top. I got the voodoo doll and Troy got the maple bar. Troy really liked his maple bar, but my voodoo doll was so sweet I couldn't finish it. It's a chocolate covered doughnut in the shape of a doll with red fruit (blood) filling. I have to say Top Pot is still my favorite.

Built to Grill in Portland, OR - We at at this food cart stand in downtown Portland before going to the OMSI. Apparently food carts have become a big deal there and this was one of the highest rated ones. The food exceeded my expectations. I got a grilled chicken panini and Troy got the basil pesto pasta. They were both really good and not that expensive. I could see how it might be difficult to eat here however, because there isn't really anywhere to sit. They had one table with two chairs and two high chairs next to the food cart for people to use. Luckily we were able to sit at the table to eat.

Escape from New York Pizza in Portland, OR - We each ate a slice of pizza at this place, which we'd been to before and loved. We weren't that hungry, but we needed something to hold us over until we got home. I got a slice of pepperoni and Troy got mushroom. Unfortunately they overcooked them a little bit, but it was still pretty good pizza.

This was our last day of vacation, so we slept in a little bit before heading downstairs to eat the free breakfast offered by the hotel. We had our choice between a breakfast buffet or to order from their restaurant's full breakfast menu. I chose the buffet and Lesley ordered an omelet from the menu.

After breakfast, we headed out for a walk at Mount Tabor. This is a park on an extinct volcanic cinder cone. The weather was cool and damp, but it was a beautiful morning for a walk as we almost had the park all to ourselves. There were a few small reservoirs in the park as well as views toward the city.

We then headed toward downtown to have lunch at one of Portland's many food carts. We then went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Like most science museums, the exhibits were made to be fun and interactive for children, but it was still interesting enough for us. There were several brain teaser puzzles that we did and there was a large globe that showed all kinds of neat things about earth, including weather patterns, earthquake locations, and flight patterns. It also had information on Jupiter and its moons. There was another exhibit area that had a lot of interactive experiments that were kind of fun. We also got tickets to the planetarium where they were showing "Laser Michael Jackson", which was quite corny, but it had some of his songs with a laser light show on screen. In retrospect we wished we'd gone to the show about stars.

When we left the museum it was raining lightly, but by the time we got to our car (not a far walk away), we were in a downpour. This sudden heavy rainstorm was unlike anything I've ever experienced in Seattle and very similar to the type of rain that we used to get in Texas. It was great (once we were inside the car) to get to watch such a downpour. It, however, made it a little more difficult to figure out what to do next. We decided to escape the rain at Powell's City of Books, a huge bookstore in downtown Portland. We bought a cookbook there and then headed to a pizza place for dinner before heading back.

We left at around 6:30 and didn't have many issues with traffic or rain on our way back, though both got worse as we approached Seattle. We didn't have much time to unpack when we got home and had to get ready for work the next day.

For the first time on this trip, we slept in a little late. We got some doughnuts and coffee at the lodge where we stayed and then walked along the beach again for half an hour or so. We went to Luna Sea Fish House again to get more food. This time we ordered to go. While we waited for our food, we walked over to a grocery store in Yachats to buy some wine and beer from Oregon. We then headed down the road and ate at a nice viewpoint. We also made a brief stop at a viewpoint for Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Continuing on, we went toward the sand dunes along the coast where we had a reservation for a dune buggy ride. This was recommended by one of Lesley's co-workers who does this on his own ATV sometimes. We were in a group of 9 people and all loaded into the buggy. We then sped around the dunes, going around turns, over hills, and down seep slopes at high speeds. There were lots of other individuals out there riding ATVs as well. It seemed like it could be dangerous but our driver was safe and we had fun. We had to keep our mouths closed so that we wouldn't ingest any sand. Also, we made sure to secure all of our belongings - apparently it's easy for things to fall out of your pockets during the ride and some people have lost car keys in the dunes. Imagine all the junk you could find if you could sift through all the sand out there.

We then had a few hours of driving ahead of us to get to Portland that evening. We headed east along a crowded two-lane highway. We drove by the University of Oregon in Eugene and then stopped at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. The art deco building is pretty unique among state capitols as far as I know, but the grounds were nice and we spent some time there.

We had intended to stop for dinner and eat at Schlotzsky's Deli, one of Lesley's favorite sandwich shops from Texas, which has a franchise open near Portland. However, it was closed so we continued on to our hotel in Portland. We were both tired of eating fish and chips, so we walked to a nearby Thai place for dinner. That night we made a quick journey downtown looking for Voodoo Doughnuts, a famous doughnut place that had been recommended to us. However, the line was around the block, so we went to another location that had a shorter line (but we still had to wait like 15 minutes). I got a maple bar, which was very good and Lesley got a voodoo doll.

Bird running on beach on Vimeo.

Ocean Waves on Vimeo.

Heceta Head Lighthouse on Vimeo.