Charlotte's Blog

My recent Microsoftee Wannabe blog got rave reviews but due to privacy issues, I had to move it out of public view. If you are interested, I can send you a copy.

The summer went by quickly, so it does when you are having fun. Amazingly, we are still having some summer weather here in the notoriously rainy Emerald City. All summer long, temps have been in the 70s with just a couple spells of 90-degree days; fairy mild compared to the rest of the States. Most days there was not a cloud in the sky making it even sunnier than Denver at this time of year. But don’t pack your bags to move out here yet, the gray curtain of winter is on its way along with shorter and cooler days, or so they say…

In August, we celebrated our 3rd year anniversary...yahoo! We had a nice dinner at Cafe Juanita which is a local Northwest/Italian restaurant. The food was fantastic and a nice change from all these chain restaurants popping up all over the place. Interestingly, Seattle is not really big on chain stores and restaurants. They prefer the local mom and pop stores, hence the difficulty of knowing where to go buy something. They do have a lot of Regional Northwest chains, like Jet City Pizza and tons of local markets and festivals. It is kind of nice to have unique shops and sometimes even get to know the people who work there. Don't get me wrong, they have chain stores here it is just more the exception, although I do think that it is only a matter of time before the giants take over.

The biggest cosmicadventure of our summer was a trip to the Olympic Peninsula and Victoria, BC. We made Port Angeles our base, staying at a small hostel with very interesting people. It is a small charming waterfront town that is convenient to both Victoria, BC and the Olympic National Park. The first day we got there, we saw "Hurricane Ridge". It’s a scenic viewpoint that is 5240 feet high, about the same elevation as Denver, but only 17 miles from Port Angeles which is at sea level. You get a 360-degree view of the region with views of the remote Mt Olympus, and on clear days, you even see Victoria.

Speaking of Victoria, we made a day trip there the next day. It is an hour ferry ride from Port Angeles so we planned on taking the first trip in the morning and the last one at night to make the most of the trip. This time, it was even more beautiful than we remembered from visiting 6 years ago. We walked all over, checking out the neighborhoods, restaurants and even saw the classic boat festival. It was so interesting I just had to get this cool Classic Boat souvenir t-shirt. Meanwhile Marcel was happy to find a Guinness t-shirt at an Irish store in the old Irish part of town. We also saw Chinatown which was on the small side but I thought was the most charming Chinatown I have ever seen. We had lunch at a Vegan restaurant which was quite an interesting meal and dinner at a South American restaurant.

On the third day, we made our way to the Olympic Coast Beaches. On the way, we saw Lake Crescent which is one of the deepest lakes in the US, going as deep as 624 feet and over 8 miles long. This lake also contains two unique species of trout that get up to 15 pounds and aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Too bad its catch and release only but we understand the need to preserve. The area was quite spectacular looking resembling the Norwegian Fjords. The first Pacific beach we saw was Beach #2. It was just breathtaking! The Washington coast is still for the most part wild with strong wind, washed up driftwood, huge coastal monoliths, and very cold water. These coastal areas are not very accessible and most of the coastline is either protected by the national park system or Indian reservations. We also saw the Rialto beach and Ruby Beach which was named for the presence of red stones resembling rubies. Someday it would be nice to hike and camp along the coast.

The Hoh Rain Forest was our last stop. It was just out of this world! The average rain fall here is 140-167 inches per year! It was so green you would think you were in a Tropical Rain Forest. The trees were overgrown and some very thick and tall. Moss was growing all over the place. After stopping for a snack at the Hard Rain Café (yes that is spelled correctly) we enjoyed a couple of hikes around the highlights of the forest and were able to see the best parts of it. We even saw a huge elk rustling around in the forest.

In other news, Marcel recently started a new job at a local startup company, also here in Redmond. They sell mostly plotters so he is doing Tech Support for that along with some Web Editing and technical writing. It is a great opportunity for him to learn and possibly start a whole new career in the Tech field. If you have been reading the previous blogs, his Telecom experience has not been helpful as they use different technologies here. At the same time, he is also going for the Bothell Police Officer job. The written test is coming up soon and it will take a couple of months to complete the whole process. Soon, he will find out if there is cheese for him in the PD or maybe the cheese could grow into something more in his current job. Only time will tell.

As for me, I'm still doing the same job. So far so good. I have been learning a lot but also need some new challenges. When the time is right, I will be searching for other opportunities either within the company or somewhere else. I am confident that my Microsoft experience could go a long way in my search for new opportunities.

In the Fish Dimension our new favorite Fishing Spot is the Skykomish River in Monroe, about a 1/2 hour drive from where we live. We have been fishing under a bridge where the salmon are just jumping all over the place. Unfortunately, we have not caught one yet but seeing other people catch them is very encouraging. Last time, we saw a guy catch a salmon, about 30" long, maybe as heavy as 15 pounds! Imagine that? That is like 3 times the size of the trout we were catching in Denver. We plan to kick our fishing activities into high gear by learning more about the science of salmon and steelhead fishing. There are several types of salmon and they all spawn at different times of the year so the opportunities are endless.

Last weekend, we spent a day in downtown Seattle. The Retail area is one that we have not explored yet. I was impressed to see that it was similar to 5th Ave style. Each brand had flagship stores in individual spaces. They had Barney's NY, the usual brands and a lot of local shops selling designer items. There were some cool ships like the paper warehouse which sell contemporary novelty items as well as everyday office supplies. We are slowly but surely getting to know the area and settling in. We have long decided that this is going to be our home for a while…that is if we can buy a decent house. As you know from previous blogs, the cost of living here is much higher than in Denver. Anyway, as always, we are staying positive and just enjoying what Seattle has to offer. We firmly believe that you can accomplish what you want if you focus and work on it. Nothing is impossible with God!

-Charlotte

Friday was quite an emotional day for me. It was my last day at EchoStar. I've met some great people there and honestly, it was the best job I've ever had. After almost five years, I sadly left the place I have grown to love. I knew that this day would come but did not realize that it would not be as fun as I thought it would be. Anyway, we're now moving on to a new phase in our lives, something to look forward to :]. So far, I'm enjoying not having to go to work every morning . Monday was spent doing errands and probably today will be no different. We're hoping to leave for Dallas by Thursday. For those of you who do not know, we're flying out of Dallas on July 6. I'm also excited to see my family there, especially Mika, my only niece. 'Would also be nice to see some old friends. We have a few things planned such as Fishing and Rock Climbing. That is, of course, if we can stand the Texas heat . It will be a nice 3-day weekend. This is all for now, 'have to get back to working on the house...at least it is not a JOB!

-Charlotte

The last few days have been spent saying goodbye to friends who in some cases feel like family to us. Friday, we had a farewell party sponsored by the DTC (Denver Tech Center) ladies (and gentlemen). There were lots of food, gifts, hugs, laughs and prayers. Since then, every day was spent visiting with other friends. After today, I will have only 3 days of work then I'm free! Yahoo!:] Oops, don't let the boss hear that. I'm supposed to be a company woman until my last day of work. I'm really looking forward to times of refreshing physically, mentally and spiritually as we search for great travel adventures. Are we there yet? We thank the Lord for giving us this opportunity. We will miss Denver, our friends and all the great memories we've had here Thanks everyone for wishing us well.

-Charlotte

Hello all, it is the end of the weekend again and the start of a new work week. We had a chance to go Rock climbing yesterday at the HRCA. It was so much fun! I got to test out my new harness and carabiner. Also the chalk ball...although in Colorado, your hands are always dry anyway. The last few weekends have been spent mostly working on the house which is quite a chore but it's all part of moving forward. I have high hopes that the house will either sell or rent soon. The weather has been great! Sunny in the mornings, cloudy in the afternoons plus a little rain which is nice except for some thunderstorms. I'm sure it is warming up in most places too, so I encourage everyone to get out more...

Charlotte