Seattle is our home!

Just as we were giving up on finding a house this year, a house came on the market in the perfect location- less than a block from Salmon Bay Park (a cute little neighborhood park). We went to look and found that it met most of our criteria- more than any other house we had seen. We had to go back a couple of times to convince ourselves that this could be our new home. Lucky for us the market is hardly moving at all and we could take all the time we needed to think about it. We aren't finished with the deal yet. But it seems that most of the sewer and electrical repairs will be done early next week. SO, we might be painting next weekend!

We are quite happy that we passed on the earlier house that we refer to as the "slightly haunted house." This one feels much better even if it doesn't have a tree house in the backyard. The structural integrity of it appeared unable to withstand Luc's weight anyhow.

Visit to Woods Hole and Nantucket!

Late in September Melissa had a conference in Woods Hole and Luc had a meeting the week after. So we played leap-frog in our visit to Woods Hole, and we stayed for one weekend together in Nantucket. September has always been one of our favorite months on the Cape. The weather is usually still pretty wonderful, most of the tourists are gone, and the water is still warm! I love visiting the Cape and the trip certainly makes me nostalgic for all the great things there- like Smitty's ice cream- yum yum- cherry amareto chip!!! And of course our wonderful friends that are still there!

Our romantic weekend in Nantucket was amplified by the near miss of Hurricane Kyle. The ferry ride to the island was a bit rough although plastic "travel bags" were provided at no extra charge. The island was pretty quiet, and reservations were not required at restaurants. We enjoyed a great meal at American Seasons just around the corner from our little B&B. We even saw a touch of sunshine at the beach on Saturday morning.

Great views come at a price!

September turned out to be a busy month, but we managed to make one great hike. I was looking at the pictures the other day and reminded of the amazing views. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and we headed for the mountains. Granite Mountain has a fire lookout on top with 360 degree views with the clear skies we were assured to have a stunning view from the Cascade range all the way to Mt. Rainier. The climb was 4000 ft elevation gain over 4 miles on a dusty and rather busy trail. But it was well worth the effort- grueling but stunning. There were even some ripe blueberries along the way. I guess that is what attracted the bear we saw swimming in one of the lakes- quite a sight from our mountain top vantage point.








Needless to say this beautiful day just reaffirms our decision to move to Seattle. What a great place we live!