Zen and the Art of Not Falling On Your Face

There are so many beautiful places in the world and it seems like we have a disproportionate number of them in the Pacific Northwest.  I was recently lucky enough to get to go on a yoga retreat (aka hippy camp) over on Whidbey Island and the entire drive out there and the location itself were just stunningly beautiful.  Driving north out of Seattle on I-5 is a lovely jaunt; there are mountains everywhere with snow on their tops.  Eventually you head west toward the water and go through Deception Pass (unless you take the ferry, which we did on the way back).  Good God, Deception Pass is one of the most unbelievably beautiful places EVAR.  And I was there on a slightly cloudy dreary day (shocker right?) when the mountains weren't as visible as they would have been on a clear day.

FYI

Deception Pass Bridge

Amazing trees

Looking north, where the strait meets the Pacific

Where the waters meet

Looking straight down

Water meeting and mixing

People kayak through here

From Deception Pass we headed on into Whidbey Island to the yoga retreat.  It was held at the yoga lodge and was absolutely amazing.  Friday - Sunday with a bunch of awesome people and awesome instructors.  We had yoga classes and fun with sounds from crystal bowls.  The food was amazing.  And the trails through the forests were gorgeous.  I also may or may not have almost gotten lost when out on the trails alone during a 'silent morning' hike.

Old Cabin on the Yoga Lodge's property

Where the campers set up

Crystal bowls

Our yoga studio

The pond

Amazing view from our studio

Forest trail

Mossy carpet

Fraggle rock 

Looking toward the sauna

Getting ready for class.

After the yoga retreat was over we headed back to Seattle.  Instead of taking the Deception Pass route back we headed south and stopped at a wine tasting room.  We were hoping to stop at several but, alas, I had to get back in time to pick up the furry monster from the kennel.  After the wine stop we boarded the ferry and headed back into the city!  All in all it was a fantastic weekend.

On the Ferry

Mountains in the background...heading into the wind.

  

Southern Breakfast!!

I guess this could have technically been part of the Beer Fest post since this happened on the same day...oh well.  So, we found a place that serves a real deal southern breakfast.  And all was right with the world.  This isn't the type of place to have one of those fancy schmancy 'websites' so here are the pertinent details.  The name of the place is the Silver Fork and it's in the either Columbia City or Mt Baker area.  Not really sure which b/c I've seen it labeled as both.  It kind of looks like this place has been around since the 70s b/c it's rocking the old school wood paneling.  Things that rocked about this place; they leave a carafe of coffee at the table, the servers are a ton of fun, it isn't as whitebread as Seattle tends to be (yay diversity!), and they have grits.  GLORIOUS GLORIOUS GRITS!  The eggs and bacon were great too, as were the hashbrowns.  But really, I can get these things in a ton of places.  I cannot, however, get grits anywhere I want.  I will be returning to this place.
There's also an amazing Ethiopian restaurant near here but I'm totally blanking on the name.

Mmmm...Beer...

Things that are awesome:  Belgian Beer festivals.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Belgian Beer fest down at Pier 66 and it was fanfreakingtastic.  Also, beery.  http://www.washingtonbeer.com/belgianfest/ We managed to leave our program at Quinn's after the beerfest but I tried to get most of the Saisons that were available.  Sadly, I can't remember now who made what so I don't want to accidentally link to the wrong place.  Needless to say there are some fantastic Belgian style beers coming out of local Pacific Northwest breweries.
Next up, the Cask Beer Fest.  http://www.washingtonbeer.com/cask-beer-fest/

ZOMG SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

Seattle recently had over a year's worth of snow fall in about 2.5 days.  Which was exciting and entertaining all at the same time.  People here aren't known for their ability to drive in snow (hailing from the desert wasteland of south Louisiana I happen to be an expert.  Or not. Either way...) so the city pretty much shut down.  A lot of people lost their power, thankfully this was not the case at my home but I wouldn't have minded not having to work for a few days. Something else I discovered was that the dog goes absolutely batshit crazy in the snow.  Ears back, nose down, pouncing in circles.  So the snow was fun but after being stuck in my house and unable to drive anywhere for a week cabin fever started to set in.  I have rarely seen as many happy people as I did when everything was once again drivable on Saturday.  Nor have I ever heard the phrase, "OMG it is so AWESOME to be out again" repeated so many times by so many people.

Snow nose!

Night snow

Mr. Snowman

Snow flowers

Snow throne of some sort...

Also, melting snow in the streets is disgusting.  Do not like.

How to stay upright when zooming downhill. On sticks. On snow.

So one of the things that happens here is SNOW. It's this odd white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky instead of rain, I had heard rumors of its existence prior to moving up here but I thought it was just a legend.  Like elk, or yeti.
Anyway within about an hour's drive of Seattle there are ski resorts where wizards can teach you how to stay upright on two tiny sticks while hurtling downhill.  If you drive even further east I hear there are some much larger mountains w/ ski resorts but I'm quite content with my little mountain until I too am a ski magician.
One of the things that I love the most about this area is how quickly everything changes.  As soon as you head east out of Seattle on I-90 you start climbing in elevation.  I've been going skiing every Sunday and every Sunday the drive amazes me all over again.

Heading east to the first week of ski lessons

Snoqualmie

About to hit the slopes

Sunset on the way home

Heading back up for week 2.  In a freaking snowstorm (see next post on SNOWMAGEDDON) 

Fairyland

Insane snow storm for week 3.  

The roads had several feet of snow plowed along the side.

Blizzard at Snoqulamie

I might do a follow-up post on this one if anything major happens.  Hopefully it will just be more swooshing downhill.

Christmas on the Bayou

I went home for the holidays and ate until I was cross-eyed.  There's never enough time in the day so I wasn't able to make it to Baton Rouge to see friends and family but I hope to make it there next time around.  But before I went back down south I did a few things around Seattle over the holidays.  Including picking up my lovely Christmas time wine from my wine club.  YUM.

Tasting at DeLille 

Enjoying the enclosed patio

It was a yucky day out.

 After that I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's showing of The Nutcracker.  It was great and a little different from the version that I'm used to.  Also, the Seafair Pirates were there collecting for children's charities and adding to the general festivities.

Yaaarrrrrrr 

The opening screen for the Nutcracker

After all of this I headed down south for the week of Christmas.  I was hoping to spend a lot of time sitting outside and soaking up some sun.  However, the Seattle weather seemed to follow me south.  Oh well.

Strange things were afoot in the Seattle airport 

Margaritas and cookies at DFW!

Christmas tree w/o any cats in it!

Southern Pecan...a good way of knowing I'm back home.

Ari looking festive

Looking down the Bayou 

Lovely Seattle weather in south Louisiana

Christmas Eve wine.  It was accompanied by Beef Burgundy

Birthday cake!

Christmas dinner...Turkey, mashed potatoes

Sweet potatoes w/ blue cheese and pecans, gravy, and dressing

homemade cranberries...

broccoli rice and cheese casserole and mac n cheese

Christmas decor

Festive kitty

Heading north!  Back in DFW for round two.