on a whim

I just decided to ski at least once in every single month of 2009. This really isn't a big deal, especially when you compare it to my friend Drew, who's skied every month since 2006 or something ridiculous, but I'm excited to see if I can do it nonetheless. May, already booked with work stuff and friend visits, poses the first challenge, but luckily Sean and I are heading to Mt. Shasta, a big fat 14k volcano in California at the end of the month to celebrate a rad friend's 30th birthday with some climbing and skiing. Who knows what we'll ski in June, July and the rest, but the Cascades offer limitless options and we'll be sure to keep you posted. I'm doing this mostly to see if I've got enough follow-through to make it happen. Keep me honest, will ya?

In honor of the new goal, here are a few pics from my solo outing with Maya to Sauk Mountain today. Sean was busy keeping "the tulips!" tourists happy, poor guy.

Skis? Check. Food? Check. Knee brace? Check. Black 4-legged garbage disposal? Check.
Halfway to the objective
A new friend in the distance with the Skagit River below

I met the guy pictured above midway through the day. He was traveling with a 70 year old part man, part mountain goat who kicked everyone's butt up the mountain all afternoon. I'm thinking of dedicating my new goal to his inspiring and efficient scrambling.

Not man-goats ourselves, Sean and I are both super excited for spring and summer, so regardless of this goal we'll be talking about things other than snow on the blog, we promise.

the whole tulip thing

Sean and I have been hearing about "the tulips!" for months. The Skagit Valley is apparently the largest producer of tulips in the world, and folks here have been anticipating their annual arrival since, well, our arrival in the valley. Not plants to be rushed, "the tulips!" were late this year, sleeping through the visit from the in-laws and half of April as well. But they're here now, so Sean and I rode our bikes out to a local farm yesterday to check them out.

Now this is a garden!
The flowers were definitely cool, but the most entertaining event was this canine photo shoot. Sean looked at me and said, with a bit of affectionate disdain, "You'd do something like that, wouldn't you?"
Although I soooooo wanted to deny that I would ever employ a professional photographer to document my dog, I just couldn't quite do it. Oh dear. Oh well. The conflict within was amusing, to say the least.

Either way, we were glad to finally see "the tulips!". They're lovely.

parade!

Last weekend I was sweeping the dog hair that constantly coats our hardwood floors when I heard the sweet sound of bagpipes through the open, breezy windows. I also heard the telltale signs of a parade- car horns, clapping, laughter, talking. Maya and I bolted out of our house and ran down the block to find the Annual La Conner Tulip Parade.
Small town parades are very entertaining. Pretty much anyone can walk in it. There didn't seem to be many, if any, entry requirements. Yes, of course, we saw the standard parade things: clowns, kids, a Corvette Club, candy. We also saw Miss Teen Rodeo of Washington.
She was followed by a bunch of beautiful golden retreivers. This group didn't have a sign identifying them as anything, so I asked one of the fellows walking a particularly sweet dog who they were. Playing into the adage that people match their dogs, he replied with a big smile. "We're Golden Retreivers!" he said, with all the friendly gusto and innocence a Golden would have if they could actually talk. It took a little digging to find out the dogs shared the same mom and dad from the same breeder. Still not sure why there were there though. Just for fun is my guess.
Speaking of dogs, remember Dirty Biter? The mystery knitter made him some new threads for Tulip season!
Speaking of tulips, they're finally starting to emerge, so look for some cool photos of those soon.

the blog goes high tech!

I made this little video as a thank you to Julia and Rick of Fortunate K9. We worked with them on Maya's pound dog issues before we left New Hampshire and wanted to give them a taste of the life we can enjoy with her thanks to their strong guidance. I thought the non-Facebook folks would like to see it. Enjoy!

Visit from the parents

Last week my parents came out for a visit. It was great to hang out and show them where we live and for them to see first-hand the reasons that prompted us to move as far away as possible without leaving the lower 48. We saw a lot of daffodils, but no tulips. We tasted a lot of wine and hit up all the touristy spots. I learned a few things about myself and wine: It turns out I DO like port and I prefer a buttery chardonnay as opposed to a fruity one. Who knew? I also learned a lot about where I live. But that deserves its own post. Now for the slideshow!

The first night they were here my parents cooked a tradtional Puerto Rican dinner of rice and beans with tostones. It was awesome! Here's a pic of Dad...uh..cooking.

Teaching Nikki the family recipe.

Crossing Deception Pass Bridge. Dad is not a fan of heights.

Dad holding it together for a photo with Mt. Baker in the background.

"Ooo Lordy! That bridge scared the @#$% outta me!"

View from our table at the Oyster Bar. This place is tasty. The special when we were there was Stuffed Boar.
Off to taste more wine!

Dad likes historical sites. Dad likes posing for pictures. Combining the two is nonstop fun.

lone star love

I just arrived in Austin, TX for a work thing. (aside: Reason #235 why my job is awesome: I get to travel to rad places and stay in really nice hotels whilst feeling like I'm helping the world.) I've been here an hour and already Texas is living up to its reputation for resident pride. Saw a guy in the airport carrying a garment bag. This obviously wouldn't normally be worth noting, much less mentioning on a blog, but this guy's garment bag was special. The front was emblazoned with the Texas state flag. He was basically carrying the Lone Star over his shoulder...with some clothing accessories, of course. Also saw about a hundred people decked out in University of Texas Longhorn gear...granted 20 or so of them were members of UT's baseball team, who just won a 3 game series over Oklahoma State, but still. The Longhorn gear and garment bag (I still can't get over it) were enough to show me how much people here ardently love their state, their town and their cattle-mascoted university.

I'm pretty psyched to check out the town after hearing such great things about it for so long. And after seeing such endearing pride in the airport. Stay tuned.