Postcard from Seattle, Part 2

When we last left off I was ogling the bountiful produce at Pike Place Market and taking pictures of the original Starbucks. My original plan had been to grab some lunch at one of the stalls at Pike Place but I wasn’t super hungry yet so I decided to take a walk to where Seattle began—Pioneer Square.

Pioneer Square is where one of the first founders of Seattle—Henry Yesler—built his sawmill back in the day. It is also home to the city’s first skyscraper and lots of cool galleries, interesting parks, and coffee shops. The area definitely has a different feel than other parts of the downtown area—brick buildings, ivy, and unexpected sanctuaries from city life.

At this point the rain started coming down and I was feeling a bit weary from all the walking so I headed to Zeitgeist Coffee to take a load off and grab a pick me up.  My latte did not disappoint:

After checking my email and consulting my newly acquired guide book I decided to head back out into the rain, back to Pike Place Market to grab a bite to eat. I ended up eating a grilled salmon sandwich at Lowell’s (very fresh and very tasty).  Refueled, I headed back into the misty weather and decided to take a break from the rain at the Seattle Art Museum.

SAM is home to a pretty eclectic collection of Native American, African, old-school European, and modern American art with some ancient Greek and Roman artifacts thrown in as well. I’ll be honest, it was a bit schizophrenic for my taste, but I did enjoy the Pacific Northwest Native American exhibits and there was a pretty cool photography exhibit in the modern art section as well.

At that point it was approaching late afternoon and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do the rest of the day. I knew I wanted to be in kind of early since I had a 6:00am flight home the next morning (getting up at 3:30am for that was painful, let me tell you).  I was trying to decide whether it would be worth it to visit the Seattle Space Needle or whether it was just too touristy when I walked outside. Lo and behold—the sun was out! The skies were blue! It was beautiful weather. I thought I might finally get a peek at those Olympic Mountains so I headed back to the waterfront. Just as I got there, they were boarding a boat to do a harbor cruise so I decided to take that as a sign and hopped on board.

Although incredibly touristy (they made me have my picture take before boarding the ship which was somewhat awkward since I was sailing solo), it was definitely an hour well spent on such a beautiful afternoon. I got a little history, some gorgeous views, and some time on the blue waters of Elliot Bay. It was the perfect way to end the day.

The Space Needle and the Olympic Sculpture Park from the water

I spent a lot of time trying to get a shot of the Olympic Mtn range...here you can see one of Seattle's ferry boats and if you squint your eyes just right you might see the snow topped mountains in the background. Near the clouds.

All in all my day in Seattle was great. Next time I go I would like to spend more time off the beaten path. But for my first solo sightseeing trip it was definitely a good one. And I look forward to going back and sharing the sites, sounds, and tastes of Seattle with Jason sometime in the not too distant future.

Postcard from Seattle, Part 1

As you may remember, I spent a week in the Pacific Northwest a few weeks ago as part of my whirlwind seven week tour of the country for work.  Originally the trip was supposed to be two travel days (to get there and back) and one day each in Portland/Salem, Oregon, and Olympia, Washington, in various meetings. Since I was going all the way out there (after 6 weeks of travel for work) I decided I deserved the opportunity to see some of what the area had to offer. So I took a day off and spent it exploring Seattle.

Given the crazy schedule I had been leading up to my trip I did not have time to do my usual planning. All I did was print out Frommer’s suggested one day itinerary for seeing Seattle and hoped it would guide me well.  Armed with that and my Droid, I figured I’d be able to “wing it.”

That lasted all of 2 or so hours.

I ended up buying a Seattle guide in the Seattle Aquarium giftshop---one of my first stops of the day (more on that in a second). Oh well. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks, right?! But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Still on something closer to East Coast time despite three days of being on the West Coast, I woke up early and was out the door of my hotel by 7:45am. The weather forecast also indicated that rain was going to move in around noon so I thought I should try and take advantage of not having to use an umbrella while I could. My first stop was going to be Pike Place Market—unfortunately I was a little early even for them. So I grabbed a coffee and a bagel and walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park instead.

View of the city from the park

The park is part of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and consists of 9 acres of exhibits and walking trails all along the waterfront. On a clear day you can see the beautiful Olympic Mountains too. Unfortunately, the day was not that clear.

After a nice walk checking out the art and the view, I decided to walk back towards downtown along the waterfront. I like water and boats and pretty much anything that goes along with those things (I used to be obsessed with Deadliest Catch for goodness sakes) so I really enjoyed the walk, seeing commercial cargo ships, the big fishing boats, the cruise ships, the ferry boats….Seattle really is the place to be if you are in to all things maritime.  After my waterfront walk, I went to the Seattle Aquarium. Given my predilection for life aquatic, I also really like aquariums and can’t resist visiting them whenever I come across them.

The Aquarium

The Seattle Aquarium was nice...small but the real deal. It was very locally-focused which I enjoyed. And does not have any animal shows which I also appreciate. Besides, who needs trained animals when you have really adorable sea otters like these:

My marine life (in all its forms) desire satisfied, I decided to see if Pike Place Market was bustling yet. It was. It was also a foodie’s dream, albeit a bit touristy. Beautiful , fresh seafood and produce everywhere you looked. Gorgeous fresh flowers that were SUPER CHEAP….I walked around there for a good 45 minutes taking everything in and wondering if I could get any of it home with me. I settled for The Pike Place Market Cookbook instead.

Pike Place Market is also home to the very first Starbucks. I decided not to stop there because I wasn’t sure it would be all that different from any of the other Starbucks around the world. And besides, I was on the hunt for latte art! And I wasn’t sure Starbucks…even the Mothership…was going to get me there.

This is where it all began.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we check out some more art, waterfront views, cool little parks, and yes…latte art!

Home Sweet Home

That's right. I'm back. For good this time. (Or at least until this weekend but that is a fun trip that doesn't require getting on a a plane so it doesn't really count.)

Here is a by-the-numbers recap of my work travel extravaganza:

11: time I got home last night
7: weeks of consecutive travel
10: states visited
21: flights taken
3: airline carriers
2: delayed/canceled flights
5: hotel chains
11: meals Jason had to make for himself
84: unread blog posts in my Google Reader this morning
2 or 3: cups of coffee I will need to keep me going today (conservative estimate)

Saying I am happy this craziness is behind me is an understatement. I can't wait to get on with normal life!

Postcard from the Pacific Northwest

I’m baaaa-acck! After a week out of town and a brief blog absence, I am finally FINALLY home again. For about 40 hours at least. That’s right, I am heading back out for the final business trip of the seven week up-in-the-air extravaganza tomorrow (yes, Sunday). But the final countdown has definitely begun.  I couldn’t be happier.

So last week I was in the lovely Pacific Northwest, my very first trip out that way. And I have to say, I loved it. Not the crazy work part, but that general part of the country. It’s beautiful. Lots of green, lots of trees, and amazing majestic, snow-covered mountains practically everywhere you look.

My first stop was Portland, Oregon. I think this may have eclipsed Austin as the number one city on our list of places we’d move to if we ever left the DC area. It was a beautiful city and I would love to go back (especially since I did not get to see as much of it as I would have liked) and show Jason since I know he would really like it too.  I was lucky enough to be able to stay at the Hotel Monaco in Downtown.  Hotel Monaco is part of the Kimpton hotel chain and if you ever have an opportunity to stay at one of these hotels you should. They are really cool, quirky hotels, definitely not your run-of-the mill establishments.

View from my hotel room

Downtown Portland (courtesy of portlandground.com)

My first night there, my colleague and I walked through the city, passed the famous Powell Books, to the Pearl District which is home to lots of cool shops and restaurants. We ate tapas and drank tasty sangria at Andina. So so good.  One of our dishes was the conchas a la parilla-  grilled diver scallops with a garlic lime butter sauce and crispy onions. I like scallops but these might have been one of the best things I have ever eaten.  I am salivating just thinking about them!

The next day we traveled to Salem for meetings but on our way back to the city we decided to take a detour through Rickreall and McMinnville to see if we could make it to at least one of the famous Willamette Valley wineries before closing time. We made it to Firesteed Winery with about 10 minutes to spare!  Willamette Valley started out as the premier destination for pioneers who made their way west via the Oregon Trail (loved that computer game!) back in the day. Today, it is still home to 70% of Oregon’s population as well as more than 200 wineries known worldwide for their Pinot Noir grapes.  I knew I couldn’t come home to Jason without a bottle of genuine Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to share!

On day 3 we left Oregon to drive up to Olympia, Washington for additional meetings. On our way there we decided to stop at the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Visitors Center (mostly because I needed a bathroom break but also because my co-worker who is from Washington State insisted that it was a must-see for any first time visitor). I had always heard about Mt. St. Helens but watching the little orientation video and seeing the before/after pictures was pretty amazing. It’s crazy to think that a lot of the Cascade Mountains (which run all along Oregon and Washington) are volcanoes that could blow at any time! But I guess the Pacific Northwest is part of the so-called Ring of Fire.

Mt. St. Helens before/after its eruption in May 1980

 

 View of Mt. St. Helens from Visitor Center (it was cloudy!)

The Cascades were probably one of my favorite parts of the area. They just seem to pop out of nowhere (largely because of all the clouds). You are driving along and look up and OH MY GOSH! there is huge Mt. Rainer right there in front of you.

Since I clearly couldn't take a picture of Mt. Rainer while simultaneously driving (dangerous!), this comes from Google Images. But this was seriously what it looked like. Only cloudier.

As someone who has lived on the East Coast most of their life, I am just so not used to these kinds of mountains. They are a whole different animal than the Blue Ridge Mountains I am used to!

My final day was spent solo in Seattle, doing some sight-seeing. But that is a blog post for another day :)

Oh the Places We Could Go

A week or so ago I mentioned that Jason and I were struggling with jobs and where to live, etc. While we are continuing to struggle with when and where to take that next step, I thought it might be fun to share some of the locales we have been (only half-seriously) considering should we decide to start over somewhere new.

Here are the top three areas that meet our general criteria of 1) having a real tech center (for Jason’s gainful employment); 2) being in or close to a state capital (for my gainful employment); and 3) having a lower cost of living than the DC area:

3. Denver, CO

Other Pros: most federal jobs outside of DC, near our friends Ryan and Katy who live in Boulder, skiing opportunities (for Jason)
Cons: too cold (for Lindsay)—it snowed there like last week and I’m not sure I can handle that much winter, we’ve heard that Denver itself is not as nice as some of the surrounding areas and we are trying not to have long commutes

2. Raleigh/Durham, NC

Other Pros: growing tech industry, lots of health care relate job opportunities, closer to family than the other options, mid-Atlantic state = not as big of a change
Cons: Playing it too safe?

1. Austin,TX

Other Pros: heard really amazing things about this city (consistently rated one of the best places to live), lots of potential job opportunities for both of us, fun place to try out, warm (for Lindsay)
Cons: Are we Texas people?

I should say that we are not really considering any of these places seriously at the moment (and we haven't even visited any of these places together to know whether we'd actually want to live there or not).  These are just the places we’ve talked about as potential options should we decide we’ve had enough of DC/Northern Virginia (and its traffic and sky-high home prices).

Where else should we be looking?

The Power of Positive Thinking

It was bound to happen eventually, I guess. After weeks of almost constant travel, it finally caught up with me this week. It being stress, exhaustion, and a general sense of feeling burnt out.

I had had a long day. I was feeling a little frustrated by some developments at work, including a overall sense of being over-worked and under-appreciated. But the tipping point was when Jason told me he was going to have to work some this weekend. I have come to rely on my weekends so much over the last few weeks and with the specter of my having to leave early Monday morning for yet another (week-long this time) trip, it was quite a blow to think that we wouldn’t have the free and easy weekend together I had been counting on. 

I had a meltdown.  A big one.

It was the perfect storm of work frustrations, personal disappointment, and exhaustion. And it resulted in one of those crying-so-hard-and-talking-so-fast-meltdowns that Jason had no idea what I was saying over the phone and I woke up the next morning with a headache and puffy eyes.

I got home last night still feeling  a little bummed out.  But after a good night’s sleep in my own bed and the prospect of two work-free days ahead, I am feeling a little better this morning.  And I have some things to look forward to: dinner with friends tonight, a free day to explore Seattle later this week, and the knowledge that in 10 days all of this travel craziness will be over and I can get back to my regular routine.  If I focus on that, maybe, just maybe, I will make it through.

I think I can, I think I can…

Since I've Been Gone

While I am doing all this traveling, poor Jason has been left to his own devices.  On the plus side, he has gotten to tinker with his computers in peace and to see Hot Tub Time Machine with willing participants who might actually appreciate its “comedic genius.” On the negative side, he has had to fend for himself food wise. This is what is on the menu for while I am gone this week:

I guess it could be worse. Last week he ate some concoction (that he came up with during his bachelor days) consisting of Pasta Roni and canned tuna.  Yum?

At least I'm in the home stretch now....4 states and 8 days of traveling to go!

My Bad Luck Continues

Man-- I just can't catch a break!!! You would have thought after yesterday's issues that today might be better. You thought wrong.

This is week four of my seven consecutive weeks of traveling. Today I was supposed to have a nice non-stop flight to Phoenix (with an aisle seat) that would get me in early enough to walk around, enjoy the warm weather, and see some of what Phoenix/Scottsdale has to offer. That was the plan...was being the operative word there.

My flight was canceled this morning due to maintenance issues. I am not sure whether to be grateful that I did not get on a broken airplane or skeptical as to whether that was really the issue given that I was first notified of a potential delay at 9pm last night....if there was a maintenance issue couldn't they have fixed the problem in the 13 hours between then and my scheduled flight???? Now I have to change planes in Charlotte, will be stuck in a middle seat, and won't get there until 6pm PST. Oh and the weather forecast for tomorrow-- a high of 57 and rain.

It's official....work travel SUCKS! Keep your fingers crossed that my remaining travel plans are on time and smooth sailing...

Simple Things

The first day back from vacation is always the worst. I think we can all agree on that. It's one of those universal truths in life. But I think that this fact is most evident when:

• your first day back is also a work day
• your flight the night before was two hours late getting home which means the only unpacking you accomplished before passing out was finding your pjs and tooth brush
• you woke up to remember that you had little food left in the apartment and had to scrounge up something for you and your husband to eat for breakfast
• you are so busy catching up from the last three and a half days of work you missed that you barely have time to shower let alone make something tasty for book club (which also happens to be your first day back)

On days like these, I am grateful for the simple things in life. Things like:

• Jason’s netbook (which allowed me to go through most of my 120+ work emails last night while sitting in the airport for almost 3 hours making this morning that much easier to get through)
• Quaker instant oatmeal
• hummus and pita chips
• the fact that tomorrow is Friday

I think that last one bears repeating….

Tomorrow. Is. Friday.

Yep. That pretty much covers it.

Wish You Were Here

I could get used to this.

Regularly scheduled posts to resume in a day or two....if when we come home.

Letting Go

Jason and I are hightailing it out of here for a few days of rest and relaxation with family and friends in South Carolina. I am looking forward to this trip for many reasons, not the least of which is because I don’t have to do anything to plan for it. Ok, so I did most of the travel planning—i.e. researching airfares and rental cars. But other than that I am just along for the ride. This is a big change of pace for me when it comes to taking trips.

Hi, my name is Lindsay and I am planner. While this is true in my day-to-day life (which I am sure Jason would be more than happy to attest to) it is even more evident when it comes to traveling.

I am a pretty Type A person. I like itineraries and agendas. I like to know where I am going and what I am going to do when I get there. I also enjoy doing new things and seeing new places and when I am there, I want to make the most of it.

Part of my guidebook collection

The first thing I usually do once a trip has been confirmed is to buy a guidebook (or two or three) and figure out where I want to go and what I want to do there.  Lately it has gotten to the point where I color code particular activities with these handy-dandy post it flags. (While seemingly anal retentive, it actually makes for easy reference when you are out and about and need restaurant ideas in a certain neighborhood on the fly.)

Jason is not much of a planner. I think he would be happy to just fire up the netbook and figure out where to go and what to do once we got there. But, to me, that is just wasting precious time in a place you may never visit again! I can understand where he is coming from though, planning every minute of your trip can eliminate a certain level of spontaneity. And I also have a tendency to over schedule. On our honeymoon, for example, we spent more time on the go visiting every corner of Kauai then we did sitting on a beach (tropical drink in hand) and enjoying our first few days of wedded bliss. But at least we saw every inch of the place!

You can see the color coded flags...blue was water-based activities, orange was restaurants, etc.

While I enjoy planning trips and the satisfaction it brings when I check all those places off my internal list of things to see/do, it can be exhausting.  So it is really nice when you can kick back and let someone else take the wheel.  Which is why I look forward to our annual SC trip. It is familiar. It is comforting.  And it really allows me to let go and enjoy the ride.

My Hero

The icing on this crazy-work-travel-week cake was that I had to drive to Annapolis today in order to attend a meeting where I had to present in front of a room full of people. Ok, so that is not THAT unusual (it’s part of my job description) but after coming off of three days of travel it kind of sucked. Not to mention that the weather is absolutely horrible today. (Rain, rain, go away indeed!)

My day was this close to getting much worse when my gas light came on during the drive home. Now, I had noticed that I was a little low on my way to Annapolis this morning but by the time I got to my car to leave I was wet, hungry and anxious to get the heck outta there so I didn’t pay attention to just how low things were getting.  By the time I realized what was happening, I knew I needed to take the next exit and find a gas station pronto. Unfortunately, once I exited the highway I realized that I happened to be in the middle of nowhere.  After driving around for a few minutes (which seemed much longer) I could feel the panic starting to take hold. What if I can’t find a gas station? What does running out of gas feel like? It’s going to be really embarrassing when I have to call Jason at work ask him what I should do….

Suddenly a light bulb went off- my phone! Thanks to Jason (who absolutely would not purchase a new phone or get a new phone plan this fall until the Motorola Droid came out), I have a super awesome smart phone with GPS capabilities and everything (my friend Stephanie has also chronicled the wonders of the Droid on her blog—check it out). Surely it would help me find a gas station. And it did thanks to an awesome Google app—Places Directory (also recommended to me by Jason)—that allows you to search for local establishments and attractions including restaurants, bars, banks, hotels, and (wait for it…..) GAS STATIONS! With a push of a (touch-screen) button my hero, the Droid found a gas station a mere 2 miles away and even provided me with turn-by-turn directions to get there. Who knows...if it hadn't been for my Droid, I might still be sitting on the side of the road in Maryland somewhere!

Up in the Air, Week 1

Please excuse the lack of posting that’s been going on the last few days. I had grand plans of trying to blog while I was on the road for work but it just didn’t happen.  I am going to have to figure out how to fix that since this week was the first of seven consecutive weeks of travel for me.

You read that right….SEVEN. WEEKS. OF TRAVEL. IN A ROW.

Over the next seven weeks I will be in 9 states (plus the two I’ve already been in this week)….that means at least one (if not two or three or four) plane rides per week until April 20th. All but one state/trip is for work, making me feel a little bit like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air. Three days in and I am already exhausted. However, I’ve already learned three valuable lessons when it comes to this level of work travel:

1.Take advantage of the “what’s yours is mine” aspect of marriage. We have a lot of computers in our family, including two desktops, 1 broken laptop (yet to be disposed of), 1 working laptop, and a netbook. Ridiculous, I know.  Usually when I travel for work I take my large-desktop-replacing laptop with me.  However when contemplating carrying it with me (along with a carry-on suitcase and various work papers, etc) around various airports for three or more days at a time, I decided that just wasn’t going to work. The solution? Jason’s netbook. It’s small, lightweight and generally easier to deal with when all I really need to do is access my remote desktop. And fortunately now that we are married, it’s pretty much mine too!

2. A rose by any other name may not be as sweet. When Jason and I got married, I made the decision to change my last name.  The process itself was relatively painless and I took care of most of the major stuff (e.g., SSN, driver’s license, credit cards, utilities, etc.) pretty quickly last fall. However I neglected to change my frequent flier memberships. And apparently airlines are sticklers for things like the frequent flier name matching the name on the ticket. You can bet that I will be changing those this weekend! (Because as Jason said, “we’d better be getting something out of all of this.”)

3.Find the fun. Most of the time traveling for work sucks.  People are always like “oh you are going to Chicago, that is so fun!” What they don’t realize is that my trips are usually so quick that all I really see is the airport, the hotel, and (in some trips) state offices if I am lucky. But I learned that the only way to stay sane with all the upcoming travel is to find something fun to do or see or experience….especially in new places. This week, for example, I was in Vermont for all of 23 hours.  While 95% of my time was spent in the hotel, airport, and meeting I did manage to 1) eat some really awesome Chinese food (seriously….maybe some of the best I’ve ever had.  If you are ever in Burlington, check out A Single Pebble) and 2) go to the Ben and Jerry’s headquarters! We didn't have time to take a tour but we did swing by the gift shop and, of course, the scoop shop. I had tried out local favorite Hannah Teeter's Maple Blondie. Fortunately I had my camera phone to snap a few shots:

Bonus lesson: traveling for work this much is also a lot easier when you have a partner who is willing to help pick up the slack back at home. It was so nice coming home to a nice and (fairly) clean apartment to a husband who was nice enough to have done the dishes and some laundry while I was away

One week down…six more to go!