Mountaineering!

I'm baaacckk!!!! That's right. After a long hiatus, I am back on the blog. Chrissy has done a wonderful job filling in the blogger position while I've been away at work. Working 10-12 hour days has left me with very little time to do much else. But don't worry, I will always make time for you guys :)

This last weekend Chrissy's old La Crosse roommates Shauna & Briana came to visit with their boy friends. It was so nice to see them! We definitely had a great time. We wanted to show them what the state of Washington has to offer so we took Shauna and Jeremy for a hike next to Mt. Rainier.

After heading through the small town of Carbonado, we came across a small one lane bridge that spanned from one ridge to another and crossed over the Carbon River. We parked and and walked over to fully experience what this mountain valley. As we were walking, two guys in an old pickup truck approached slowly. You could here the dueling banjo theme softly playing in the background as if we were in the middle of a scene from Deliverance. Much to our relief they simply wanted to inform us that it is mandatory to bring a rock with us to throw over the edge into the water below, preferably the biggest one we could carry. Awesome.

We ended up driving up this crazy dirt access road along the cliff side to get to the trail head. 3/4 of the way up we ran into the snowline. As we progressed it got deeper and deeper. We got to one point where the snow was about 1 & 1/2 feet deep with tracks as narrow as the tires. It started to get a little extreme and we didn't want to get stuck so we decided to drive backwards a half a mile to park. Even though we didn't go all the way, I was impressed by the Hyundai Santa Fe that they rented. It's four wheel drive was pretty impressive, especially for a Hyundai! And I think if we risked it we could have made it all the way.

From this access road we were treated to a beautiful panoramic view of the mount side and the surrounding valley. We took time to fully take in all of the sights and breathe in the pure freshness of Nature. It honestly doesn't get much better than this!

After hiking the rest of the way to the trailhead, we began the hike into the woods. The snow was quite literally all around us. Both everywhere we look and walked, and even falling from the trees as the summer sun was warming the snow capped canopy. Even though we felt like we were in the middle of winter, the weather was wonderfully warming to the point where I could even hike in my tee-shirt. At the end of the trail we were treated to the most pristine snow covered lake that was completely untouched and unmolested by the hands of man; a true winter wonderland. Picture do not do it justice!

I highly recommend everyone get out to enjoy what our planet has to offer. It has such remarkable sights that we often taken for granted. Even if you live in a state that doesn't have cool mountains, enjoy what it does have to offer. In fact, as I was standing on the middle of that snow covered lake, I was imagining one thing that I absolutely love from the state that raised me:

To hold you over until the next post, enjoy this compilation of Discovery Park and our hike to Mt. Rainier:

Ben the Beer Maker!

Ben has been brewing his own beer now for the past few months with the help of Mr. Beer. He is getting really good at it and makes some excellent beers! Last night he set out on his latest brew, the Canadian Draft. Can't wait to try it!

Glass Museum

Ben & I were in Tacoma last weekend getting my ring cleaned and perusing wedding bands. Since we were down South, we decided to check out the wicked cool glass museum while we were there. Here are some photos from the day. It was gorgeous out too, as you can see from the bright sun! These pictures don't do it justice but they are all amazing. Looking in the gift shop I felt like a little kid again, I had to touch and pick up everything I saw because it was so baffling how they are able to make these pieces. So creative!

Courtney's Visit to Seattle

Hi Everyone, look at me blogging again! We had another wonderful visitor last weekend! Courtney came to visit from March 4th - 7th. It's been a long time since I have spent some QT with my dear friend Courtney so it was wonderful to have her here.
Ben picked her up from the Amtrak on Thursday to welcome her into Seattle. That night we enjoyed a girls night out on the town. We went to dinner at Blue C Sushi where the sushi comes to you on a conveyor belt and you can swipe what you want as it scrolls by. It was delish! Then because it was the first Thursday of the month we were able to attend the art walk. It is in an old building downtown by the water where there are several floors of artist lofts. You can freely walk through the building and view the art in each loft. This event has become quiet popular and they even sell food, beverages and have live music now too!

The next day was a day at the market! It was a beautiful day and we spent it chatting over coffee, shopping for shoes, and finding some fish and veggies for dinner.
Here we are in front of the wonderful display of fruits and veggies! We got lunch at an excellent chowder location in the market overlooking Elliott Bay.
Since the weather was so nice we spent some time relaxing at the park and taking in the sun!!!
Even Mt. Rainer was out, you can vaguely see it below behind the Qwest field arches.


For dinner we grilled fresh swordfish, cauliflower, and asparagus. Oh and we grilled polenta too! Who knew we were such good grillers! Everything turned out perfect and better than expected :) We ate up on the rooftop....

Then it was time for First Friday Funk night at Lo-Fi. We danced the night away!!! Here we are taking a quick break.


Saturday was another great day, sunny and reaching 65 degrees. We had brunch at a great location at a flower nursery. Then we decided to do a little hiking outside to take advantage of the weather so we went to Discovery Park. All of the mountains were out again and there were some great photo ops!



We spent some time relaxing down by the beach and watching some surfers do their thing. What a great way to spend an afternoon! Later we took Courtney to Gas Works park to see the Sleepless in Seattle house and of course got the obligatory troll photo...


For our last night we went to see the new 3-D Alice in Wonderland movie. It was a really fun movie and we all enjoyed it, but we realized we had forgotten the story since it's been years since any of us have seen the movie!

Sadly, Courtney had to leave Sunday afternoon after brunch. It was a great visit - thanks for coming Courtney and come back soon (or just move here, either one;) !

Mom and Dad Meier Visit Seattle!

Hello everyone! Well it's been awhile since we've updated the blog and that is due to the fact that it's my turn (Chrissy) to write it! Things have been crazy around here with work, school, and wedding planning so I am a bit behind. Well my parents were finally able to come out West in February for almost a week, the 10th-16th. We packed in all of Seattle into a short visit, they even experienced the rain....the WHOLE time they were here. WE swear it's been sunny and gorgeous for the most of this year! Ben picked them up from the airport on Wednesday and we gave them the fabulous AMLI tour of the rooftop, java cafe, workout room, and of course our apartment. This is where I run everyday, got place for a photo op. Then we wisked them off to Happy Hour at McCormick and Schmidt's, (or Schmicks). We enjoyed dinner and a drink over looking the beautiful Lake Union. We caught up and laughed. Later we got them settled into their hotel and got a late night treat at Molly Moon's - known for their homemade ice cream and interesting flavors. Mom tried honey lavender, yum! The next day, the tour of Seattle began. We started out heading downtown to the Olympic Sculpture gardens and taking in the sights. Look at that crazy tree with the eyes!
Then we walked down to the Aquarium and got to see them feed two of the octopus!
Lunch was a sampling of all the best. Beecher's homemade mac and cheese, a cookie as big as my head, and the BEST clam chowder!

We strolled the market and found some goodies including some fresh roasted nuts and a giant grapefruit!


We took the trolley down to pioneer square and did the Underground tour. Here is one of the old bar store fronts.

The next day we arose for more touring! We went to the EMP (Experience Music Project) and got to see their special Sci Fi Exhibit which I had never seen before. It was awesome! See some of the characters below!


This was soo cool! It's the tree of Life from the movie, The Fountain - you should all watch it, so good!
Next we checked out the Space Needle. It was kind of cloudy and overcast so the view wasn't the best during the day, but luckily we went back later that night and got some great pictures of the city then.



Then we took the monorail downtown -
It was quick and easy and allowed us to get downtown quickly so we could make it to grab a quick bite at Piroshki's and then go on a boat tour of Elliot Bay.
For dinner we made it to another happy hour at the restaurant Mexico and had our own little fiesta!
The next day we went to Woodinville, WA and went to 2 wineries and the Red Hook brewery. The landscape was beautiful and the Muscat Cantanelli was even better, good then we bought a bottle! Then in the evening we met up the Triple A's - Aaron, Amy, & Alexis!


We all went to dinner at Red Robin (since everywhere else was packed for Valentine's dinners :) Here we are with our valentine dates :)
Sunday we all went to Seattle U's chapel for church and Lexi said the "Our Father" with the neighboring lady's hand in her mouth :) We got brunch at SLUG (South Lake Union Grill) which is by our house and where we ALWAYS eat on Sunday because everything is half off!We even got our own personal space in the upstairs dining area. Breakfast was delicious as always. After we headed to Fremont to check out the infamous troll and the Fremont market! Lexi got a cute toy :)

The last day was our girls day! Amy, Alexis, Mom, and me all went downtown shopping. Lexi got the new hat she is wearing with grandma, isn't she adorable!
Amy tried on several bridesmaid dresses and we found the one! But I won't show you now...you have to wait until our wedding to see that! It was a perfect day shopping and eating sweets all through downtown. I wish I could do this with them all the time! What a treat!

Cheers! Come back soon everyone :)