Down by the Bays: Washington

Showing posts with label Washington. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Evergreen Shirt

Oh goody, another freezer paper project! Carson found some plain tshirts for cheap at a thrift store and I thought I'd make them fun. This is the only pen I've gotten around to so far, and he loves it! Since we're all the way across the country now, there have been people who know it's a state, but don't know it's Washington, and Carson has enjoyed telling them about his state and that I made it, which always impresses them.

It's super easy to trace something to make a stencil (or to be much more brave and freehand) and to pick up a paintbrush and make any plain shirt (or pillows) your own!

I have more details on this in my first post about freezer painting, if you're interested.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Home Is Wherever I'm With You

I was going through pictures of the days surrounding our move and made this video.

Carson thought it would be fun to share it, so here you go!

Included:
the few weeks before we moved, the endless packing, the goodbyes, the final adventures and sights in Spokane, the road trip, some commentary on the drive, and pictures of when we first moved in!
Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Our Move, Day One

We left Spokane on Monday morning at 5:35am. The plan was originally to leave at 5:00, but that didn’t happen for a number of reason, the biggest being poor planning. We’d left our packed car in the garage of some friends so that it wasn’t a temptation for any passing pedestrians, and Carson drove over in the morning to go get it. While he was gone, my friend Jessie, who had been up half the night with her kids, drove over to be our send-off party.

We packed up the car with the bike and the doormat on the back and left later than planned. The moon was still out and the sun hadn’t quite woken up yet.

We watched the sun rise as we drove through Idaho. It rose quicker than expected and though you only see a few pictures here, I took about fifteen.

We stopped for coffee, gas and food, but our stops were rather limited for the most part.

Montana was eternal. We drove through the “Big Sky Country” most of the day, seeing cattle and fields, hills, rocks and plains. It was beautiful country. We passed several advertisements for grizzly bear viewing and one of us was really tempted to turn in and see them, but we accidentally passed the exit and didn’t want to turn around.

We listened to Pride and Prejudice for a good amount of the trip

Wyoming had big hills, oil rigs and even more cows. It was beautiful too.

I didn’t get a picture of the sign welcoming us to South Dakota, but seeing it was a joy, because we planned to stop there for the night. We watched the sun set in South Dakota, and once it became dark, we were ready for bed. We found a reasonable hotel and stayed the night in Rapid City, a town north of Mount Rushmore. Our arrival was a bit later than planned, so we weren’t able to drive down and see the heads of our former presidents lit up that night.

The number for a pizza place was the first thing that we saw upon entering our room, so we called and made an order. I showered while Carson took a swim in the pool, and soon after, our pizza arrived. I have never seen us eat like that before. We each ate half of the size large pizza, and I’m sad to admit that Carson finished his pieces after me. Oops. We’ve recently gotten into the show Downton Abbey, so we watched an episode while eating, then turned off the light and drifted off for a good night’s sleep.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Gorge-ing on Washington's Scenery

I love road trips. Remind me of that when I'm anticipating our several-days-long cross-country move, but as a rule, I love long trips in the car. Wind in our hair, music blaring, junky convenience store treats in our center console. I like the time to sit and think individually or to sit there and have a real, drawn out conversation while we're sitting still for a really long amount of time (on a related note, we tend to get into arguments during this drive more than any other time - no distractions, I guess).

This is a drive that Carson and I have made often in our time here in Washington. His parents live in Olympia, on the other side of the state (the part that gets the weather we don't in Spokane - that stereotypically rainy, cold weather).

It's become a familiar drive throughout our relationship; we first made it about two weeks after we began dating, when I went to meet his family for the first time. Since then, I'm not sure how many times we've made the drive. I once counted thirteen times, but it was sometime last year that I calculated that and we've driven that way about five times since. It takes us a little over five hours to make the drive, but we usually stretch it out with a million coffee breaks (all him) or through a drive-thru for a meal, or we make stops like this one to enjoy our state.

Since this may be our last time making the drive for a long time, I asked Carson if we could stop at the Gorge to take some pictures. He obliged.

This is the Columbia Gorge. It's one of my favorite stops on the drive over and roughly three hours away, about halfway. It's gorgeous, which the camera can't fully capture. It's really windy there but I just love it.

He was helping me down the steep rocks.

In addition to beautiful sights, we often listen to music (mostly me) or lectures (mostly Carson) as we go. I sometimes get a little bored even though it is a pretty drive, so I just take pictures of myself or of Carson. I have about a thousand of the side of his head as he drives, pretending to be oblivious of the camera... he's a trooper.

I think that this could have been the last time we'll make this drive; it's certainly the last time for awhile. I took many more pictures of mountains and waterfalls on the sides of huge rocks to remember our drives.

Ps- two Columbia Gorge-related puns were discussed for the title of this post. This was Carson's contribution. Mine was "Gorge-ous".

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Spring Fever

Facebook is a terrible thing. I keep seeing pictures of beach days, swimsuits, tan people and statuses that say things like "Wow, summer is here already!"

And why is this terrible? I've included a picture to illustrate. This was today's forecast on Wunderground:

Now do you understand? Call me wimp, but I'm from the South... this is terrible weather!

I love Washington in the summer and in the fall, but those are the two shortest seasons! Yesterday was the first day of spring, but this rainy, overcast, 90% chance of snow weather is just not very springlike.

I don't remember what spring fever is supposed to indicate, but I'm using it to mean that I really really want the warm weather to come to Spokane and stay! We've only got a few more months here; we'd like to look back on this place with fond memories!

Comments on the warmth of the temperature wherever you live are unacceptable. I don't want to know.

(disclaimer: though I really do want the warm weather to come and for the sun to shine, I'm not actually angry about it; bitter at those who rub their awesome sunshine in my face? yes. :) )