Biking from Ballard to West Seattle
We decided to go for a bike ride this morning and ended up riding from North Ballard to West Seattle. It took us 3.5 hours and we ended up biking a little over 26 miles round trip. We left our house at 11:30am after a slow start to the morning and headed out for downtown. Normally, we usually head down to the Burke-Gilman trail, but this time we crossed the Seattle Locks and went through interbay to downtown. It is quite a fun bike ride as you get a good view of the locks, the boat channel, and the rail yards (something I always enjoy). We biked to downtown without a problem and started heading for West Seattle along the waterfront.
Neither of us had been down by the Port of Seattle or the Cruise Ship Terminals. From there we headed to Harbor Island and on into West Seattle. It was at that point that Mars suggested we head over to see her Father’s store on California. What we both seem to have forgotten of course was the huge hill between where we were and his store is located. We worked our way up and over to the store and certainly surprised her dad!
We even met an older women who remembers growing up in Ballard not far from where we live now and she was telling us about the horse barn that she used to sneak through on her way to Market Street and how the streets were not yet paved and the sidewalk was made out of wooden planks. It is hard to imagine, but amazing to see how the things have changed. She also mentioned that she had recently learned that her former house was about to be torn down to make way for even more condos.
I don’t think I imagined it when I saw the wistfulness in her eyes. To be honest, it even made me a bit sad. Where do you draw the line between forward progress and respect for the past?
Mars and I really enjoy going on the rides together. We like exploring and finding our way in new areas. Biking is also a great way to see the town as you get to see it at a much more manageable pace than you would by driving. Also, there is the added excitement of getting buzzed by cars going 3-6 times your speed, sometimes within feet of your bike…
Previously, we have ridden to Sand Point Marina, around Lake Sammamish, to downtown, and around Ballard. This was our most adventurous so far. However, it in no way compares with the rides my Sister and Brother-in-law routinely do!
40 Serving 15, The Family Ties that Bind
Unexpected, that is the best term I have come up with. The time I spend with my wife’s Grandfather (Gung-Gung) is more than I spend with my family. After not playing tennis for more than 10 years, Gung-Gung got me back into the game by having me play against him and his friends. Often, I play with my Father-in-law as my tennis partner. Remember, all of Gung-Gung’s friends are well into their 60s and 70s. The thing is, they often win…
Now, I think this says less about the quality of my game, versus both their competitiveness and ability to absolutely get everything back. They have also completely mastered all forms of spin; top spin, side spin, back spin, diagonal spin, willy wonka spin, crazy spin, and whacked spin… You have to follow their racket closely to anticipate what type of spin it will be for every shot. For example, with side spin you have to stand where the ball will land at your backhand and let the spin carry it to your forehand.
When you think about it, this is a rare opportunity for three generations; Gung-Gung, my father-in-law and myself to spend time together playing tennis together every few weeks for an hour and a half. Not many families actually compete against one another and I have grown quite fond of playing Tennis with my wife’s family. I do have to slow my game down, hang out a few steps behind the service line to return serves and play extremely close attention to what type of spin my opponents plan to depart to the ball!
The best thing though, is when Gung-Gung and his partner come back from 3-0 in a set to win 6-8. It was great seeing how excited Gung-Gung was to win that set. He and his partner had some amazing side spin, down the line passing shots (who knew) and of course the completely improbably drop shots…
I hope he continues to ask me out to play. Luckily, he wants a rematch in a week or two!
PS – I once bet Gung-Gung a six pack that we would beat him. We were fortunate enough to win and he bought me a six pack of toilet paper. I am still waiting on the beer.
Birthday blog
This marks the close of my birthday and my first blog post. On advice from my mother-in-law I’ll not share my age. Thanks to my wonderful husband, I’ve had, not just a great birthday, but a great birthday weekend.
It all began with a surprise party on Thursday night. HOLEY SMOKES! I was definitely surprised, and it turned out to be just the thing to change the tone of my rotten work week. Poor Nate was getting an earful about how rotten this particular Thursday was, when he pulled back the door at Del Rey to reveal a host of friends, all shouting “SURPRISE!” Overwhelmed and conflicted about just having told Nate that I wanted to go home to eat leftovers and skip the birthday dinner, I burst into tears.
What can I say… sometimes I get emotional. It was a wonderful surprise with amazing friends, good beer (thanks Ailey, for introducing me to the 36 oz bottles of Carta Blanca!), a wonderful plethora of balloons and awesome cake!
The adventures continued on Saturday morning as the alarm went off at 6:15 a.m. and we awoke to prepare for our sailing regatta. As we made breakfast burritos, Nate somehow lit a kitchen towel on fire. My reaction skills at 6:30 a.m. are a bit slow, so I watched it burn in our oven, watched Nate try to pat it out with another towel, watched it smolder on our stove and finally watched it burst into flames and turn into carbon on our back patio without helping much. Thank God Nate didn’t burn the house down.
Oh, and the regatta was amazing. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in South Puget Sound and the whole crew aboard Cheetah had a great time. I think we came in third overall, which isn’t bad since several of us had never sailed together.
Finally, my birthday has been spent at home, enjoying the sun, the house (and what it looks like clean), the yard (after cleaning up the carbon pile on the back porch that used to be a kitchen towel) and lots of good food. Life is good.
Unfortunately, it’s Sunday and we all have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh well, maybe things will be better with this additional year of experience under my belt 
Finally Online
So, Marissa and I are finally online. We know this is a feeble attempt to catch up to my two sisters, brother-in-law, and other family members who seem much more online that we do (which is funny, because I work online)…
We plan to post on a number of fun topics…
- Help Me, I’ve Lost Gmail
- Surprise Parties
- Newlywed Bliss
- His version, her version
- Lessons in sailing
- Lessons in patience
- Many, many more
Really, we want to share our key experiences as newlyweds and how we explore this magnificent new relationship that we are in and the trials, tribulations, hopes, experiences, and adventures.
