The Great State of Alaska

Our very good friend Jim invited us to his company fishing lodge in Alaska over the weekend. Well, let's call it a long weekend. We shot out of Seattle Wednesday night for Anchorage, stayed a night there in my old hometown - which was an eye opener - then headed out to Dillingham, Alaska and up to the lodge on Thursday morning for a great Alaskan fishing experience. 

The lodge is owned and operated by a large Alaskan corporation, so no expense is spared in making guests feel comfortable. All the gear necessary for fishing, boating, skeet shooting, paddle boarding, kayaking, etc... is there and available. There are guides provided for every activity too.

Most guests are there to salmon fish, but we were between the King Salmon run and the Silver Salmon run, so we mostly fished the river and lake for smaller fish like Trout, Arctic Char and Grayling, all catch and release. We had the best time, didn't see any bears, but still.... amazing!

These trips are generally for clients and employees, so we were super lucky to be invited, and I so so so hope we get to go again someday. 

And still trying to work off the chocolate chip cookies!

Oh, back to Anchorage for a sec. I grew up there - and it was good. But not having been back to Anchorage except maybe 3 times in the past 25 years -well- it's looking a little shabby. I have a feeling that maybe Anchorage was always somewhat shabby, but my younger self was more forgiving. Anchorage may possibly have the worst urban planning in the United States. You should see the number of crappy strip malls with crappy stores, and there isn't a sidewalk to be found anywhere. Thank God there is snow covering it up most of the year, cuz it ain't pretty. 

We took a little tour past the house I grew up in - still looks exactly the same. Drove past my high school - which sort of resembles a large prison - ahhh.... again, not so charming or attractive. But, there you go! We are all who we are and where we came from - so as we drove around, we just laughed and thought about how great it was to visit and not still live there. We did get to meet up with some old friends before we flew back to Seattle, so that was a really great part - I still have some good friends up there - and they are all super happy to live in Alaska still. See, Alaska is great for some, not great for me! 

Mt. McKinley - or Denali (if you so choose)

The Goose that took us from Dillingham to the lodge

The Dining Cabin

Our front porch

Our lovey rustic bedroom

Our cabin

Shooting Skeet

Me shooting Skeet - not exactly by the book 

Getting the dry suits for kayaking

Alaska version of Paddle Boarding - with a dry suit!

Bears!

My big catch

Juvenile eagle

Good stuff for Cheap

Here it is, the middle of summer, places to go, people to see - and damn it - I needed something(s) cute to get me through the last stretch toward fall. Check out these super cheap and super awesome nuggets I picked up last week.

1. These Old Navy Women's The Diva Skinny Jeans for $15.97. So, A month or so ago, I got this linen blend navy tunic at J.Crew that looks slightly Tory Burch, slightly 70's Elizabeth Taylor - anyway, awesome but needed something good on the bottom that wasn't baggy, because you are going to look like a blob if you mix a loose tunic with baggy pants. These are the perfect white jeans for cuff up and wear with the tunic and espadrilles or with the Blue Superga's that I just got at Nordstrom. I would show you the tunic but it has mysteriously disappeared from the J.Crew website. Oh well. Anyway, these jeans have just the right amount of stiff and right amount of stretchy so they don't bag up and they look really cute. Get some immediately before they are gone.

This super cute Target Xhilaration Fedora Had with Band - $3.99 Ok, so the price online says $10 bucks or something like that, but it's $3.99 in the store. I went in to look at cheap sunglasses and came out with this. I've been coveting the J. Crew white fedora - which I might still really want - but c'mon, the price is right at Target, and now maybe I'll end up with more than one. Super cute.

And, last but not least. Check out this this pair (sort of - if you combined the colors - the website doesnt show the exact ones) of Havaiana's at Nordstrom Rack for $12.99. Again, the price is not $26.00, it's $12.99 at the Rack and they are blue with cute neon green. 

So, now i have a few new things, and I didn't really spend anything - and I'm taking all these things to Croatia - which by the way - is just ONE MONTH AWAY! Whoohooooo! 

Big Dig - Seattle Style

Photo credit: King TV

Today is the big day! Big Bertha starts chewing her way through the underground of downtown Seattle - and eventually we will have a car tunnel along the waterfront and we'll finally be able to take down the eyesore that is known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct. We've been watching the preparation for this for a while now, Big Bertha has been parked down near Pioneer Square for the past months getting assembled and ready to go. Here's to a great success, and here's hoping it's nothing like Boston's Big Dig. Yikes.

This marks the beginning of what will eventually be an incredible and well deserved waterfront renovation in Seattle. We have lived for so long with a "working" waterfront and waited patiently while idiotic Seattle government types have spent endless amounts of money on consultants to FINALLY after 40 years get moving and get something going. 

I've mentioned before that the plans for the new waterfront are fantastic, and as a Seattle downtowner, I'm super super excited to see it all come together. Check out Friends of Waterfront Seattle for more information about the plans. Take a look at the core projects in this brochure, there is an excellent explanation of what the segments of the plan are and why. A lot of really involved Seattleites have worked really long and hard on this plan, and I have to say it feels like they have thought of all the things that are important to make Seatte a great waterfront city to live in and a great waterfront city for people to visit. 

Good luck Big Bertha - and Buon Appetito!

Field Trip - Port Ludlow

We have been spending a lot of time on golf courses this summer. I can't say it's helping my game very much (because it's not!), but the scenery has been awesome. I thought I would start including some of our favorite courses as potential field trips for you.

This weeks field trip post is lovely Port Ludlow, Washington. It's just a short ferry and drive from Seattle, and from the farm it's only about a 20 minute drive - so pretty convenient for us. We played golf at 11 - on the Tides and Timber courses. Originally, there were 3 nines at the course; the Tides, Timber and Trail courses. They closed the Trail course for the time being  - I don't think they are getting enough activity to keep all three open now. The Tide and Timber courses are completely gorgeous though, and well maintained... oh, and don't let the score card fool you. This course might seem like it would be easy because it's shorter than most - ha, this course will beat your ass! Seriously! Especially the greens - they are deadly! Oh, and the narrow fairways and the enormous trees all over the place! 

 After the beating on the course, we drove down to the Resort at Port Ludlow, (right at the Marina), and had lunch and cocktails and enjoyed the view. The weather was perfect as you can see from the pics. Next nice weekend, get out there - play a round of golf, stay at the resort - walk around the Marina. So much fun. I actually think we'll go back in the winter too, I think the Inn and the beach would be really cozy that time of year. Port Ludlow is a little gem!

Field Trip - West Seattle

Last night we took a field trip to West Seattle. For a while now we've been thinking that it would be fun to jump on the water taxi to West Seattle and go to dinner at Marination and last night the weather was again PERFECT, so we did it. We walked down from the condo, met friends at the dock, hopped on and in 10 beautifully picturesque minutes, we were in West Seattle drinking Sangria and stuffing our faces. We liked Marination, the food was good, super casual vibe, and only a few steps from the water taxi dock. We sat on the patio, had fish tacos, pork sliders, fries - yum!

You should do it too, but keep in mind that the water taxi doesn't run late every night, just Friday nights and weeknights only if there is a sporting event. So, check the schedule to make sure it's running. We got lucky, there was a Mariners game last night, so it worked out for us. Also, there is a Vashon water taxi too, so that will be a future field trip - how fun would that be!!

Here are some pics from our adventure. Good times with good friends -