Frog Shrine

One one of my breaks from work last week in SB Peter and I planned to have some sort of adventure. We were at Backyard Bowl contemplating the possibilities when we ran in to Pete's friend Marcus, who was exactly the kind of person who could help steer us towards some kind of adventure. He is a master "urban hiker" who prides himself in knowing about things like the Frog Shrine. Telling us how to get there was proving complicated and seemed to be getting him excited about it, so he offered to show us the way. We picked up Leon, and we were off. 
We followed him about halfway up the riviera and parked on some random street. Marcus would not allow us to simply drive up to the location, we had to "hike" for the experience. We walked on secret pathways between houses on the Riviera until we reached the magical street. We couldn't go straight there still, because Marcus thought that we had not been on a journey long enough. He assured us that it would be better if we walked around the block and approached the shrine from the other side. 
Along the wall as we approached we would see one little froggy, then two, then ten, then thousands. People must have been making frog deposits in this spot for years! There were frog toys, jewelry, drawings, statues, pictures, keychains, etc. We spent about ten minutes soaking in all of the frog-induced awesomeness. For all of his urban hiking knowledge, Marcus did not seem to know the origin of the Frog Shrine. Who started it? Why frogs? Maybe we will never know. 

Sunday Ride with Clay

Clay has staying with us for a few days on his Vancouver-Santa Barbara tour, and we wanted to get a decent ride in to keep his legs fresh before he leaves for Portland. We decided to take the Burke-Gilman trail out to Marymoor Park, maybe do some swimming, picnicing, and then riding the trail back home.

 

When we woke up this morning it was apparent that it was not going to be one of those 75 degrees, sunny and perfect days that we have been having since the day we moved here, but a true, gloomy, is it going to rain or is it not Seattle day. We decided to take our chances, and it gently sprinkled the first 20 miles. It was actually very refreshing, riding through the trees, checking out Lake Washington, etc. When we were only a few miles from Marymoor it started really raining hard, so we took a little break under a bridge and ate some sandwiches. Ten minutes later and the rain had passed, so we continued on. Marymoor was like its own little sports empire, with soccer fields, baseball, and even a velodrome. It was kind of chilly so swimming was out of the question, so we found some food and were on our way home. 

 

When we rolled in we were kind of surprised Clay's computer said that we had ridden 60 miles. It definitely didn't feel that far, probably because riding on the bike path was way more mellow than riding on the street. I got the Samson all grungy, hopefully it doesn't hate me for riding in the rain! 

Noah hiding from the rain: 

Me being awesome: 

Best after-ride snack ever: Almond Butter + Honey Sanwiches!

Time Flies...

So today is the 4th of July, but more importantly it is the one month anniversary of leaving Santa Barbara for Seattle. The last month has been a whirlwind because of two trips back and forth to SB, work, and a week visiting family in the midwest. Even though we have technically been here a month I have only actually spent about 10 days in Seattle, most of those in the company of my brother and sister (Kyle and Katie) and Jenn, who helped us move up. Finally everything is unpacked, organized, and all of our visitors gone (not that we wanted them to be, but having a month with constant company was a little draining). 

Now that the summer in Seattle is in front of me I am feeling very nostalgic for last summer in Santa Barbara, or last year for that matter. I feel like the month before we moved was so stressful because we didn't know if we were moving to Seattle or Portland, that we didn't get the chance to spend the quality time with friends that we should have. I am loving Seattle so far, but definitely missing those back home. 

Thanks everyone, for the awesome times this last year. And come visit us, you knuckleheads!