Christmas

Silent Night Chapel

On Christmas Eve, we took a trip out to the Silent Night Chapel, where the song was written and first performed. There was an hour service, which ended with all the verses of Silent Night sung in German with only a guitar for accompaniment, which is how it was first played. It was beautiful. (It was also very cold! We didn't know the service was outside.) We really enjoyed our Christmas Eve.

Views of Salzburg

We went for a walk up in the Monsburg (I think that is how you spell it) where there were beautiful views over Salzburg and of the surrounding mountains. We met a gentleman there who took us to what he considers the best view and it was a really pleasant walk with him. He even took some pictures for us. We thought we would eventually make it to the meadows that they sing the do-re-mi song in sound of music, but they built the blocky modern art museum in that meadow.

Dinner Concert

Our first night in Salzburg, we went and ate a delicious dinner and attended an excellent concert in the Salzburg fortress. We really enjoyed our evening.

Vienna Woods

One of our favorite activities was taking a bus out to the Vienna Woods and going for a little hike. There is a huge system of trails out there (they can be a bit confusing on which you are walking on) that would be really fun in summer. They were fun in winter too, but a bit slick. We had some great views of the city there too.

Who was in charge of facade decorating?

Our hotel (the Hotel de France - highly recommend and a great place) was right around the corner from the biggest Christmas market in Vienna, so we had a nice evening walking around it and looking at all the handicrafts. We were also right next to the subway system which was incredibly convenient.

Mozart's Residence and the Haus der Musik

T is a big Mozart fan, so we covered all the Mozart places in both Vienna and Salzburg. I now know a lot about Mozart and find the life he led to be fascinating. The first picture is of the residence he stayed at the longest in Vienna - two years. I think he moved about every 6-8 months. Must have been hard on his family.

We also went to a hands on music learning museum which was interesting. It took you through how music is made, how and why we can hear it, you get to make some of your own music and then near the end, conduct an orchestra. If you go too fast the orchestra speeds up and vice versa. It was funny. Here's T giving conducting a try.

I also had my wallet stolen on this day. Ugh!! But we were able to cancel everything right away. I do feel kind of lost without it. Thanks for the new wallet for Christmas mom!! I'm glad I brought my old one, now I have one for when we get back!

Vienna Churches

Walk through the Palace Gardens

Schonnbrun Palace in Vienna

We started our vacation in Vienna and went on a city tour combined with the palace. It was the summer residence of the Hapsburgs, and was interestingly enough, interior decorated in and Asian style. Even in winter the grounds were very pretty and we enjoyed our short walk through parts of them. I think this was the coldest day of our trip.

Mt. Rainier and Fall in the Neighborhood

Mt. Townsend

Marmot Pass

Flapjack Lakes

A long hike

Pictures to come, but on Saturday, T and I went on a 15 mile hike up to flapjack lakes. It was beautiful and there were still some lingering blueberries. The last 3 miles back to the car were challenging because my legs were a little tired (the trail up was really steep in some places. Then, while T was at work the following day, I went on a 13 mile bike ride which was fun and relaxing, but my legs were still tired so some of the hills were more challenging than normal.

Labor Day Weekend

T's parent's came to visit over the weekend and it was really fun! T had to work most of the days but was able to get Monday off so we could go hiking along the beach. We came back as high tide was almost at it's peak which made for some interesting times, but so much fun. Other things we did included going to Poulsbo and a walk along the beach and looking at the boats, the blackberry festival (it poured rain while we were there leading to:), touring the uss turner joy and eating at a fun pizza place. It was a really enjoyable weekend, and I enjoyed getting to know them better.

Family Photo

A wave just missed me. Jumped fast

It is not paint

Rialto Beach

Fruit from our garden, pics by T

Biking the Pass

Mt. Rainier

T and I went to Mt. Rainier a couple of weekends ago and had a great time. We had no idea it was so close, and T really wanted to bike up the pass. I got to be the driver. I don't think the camry has ever been started or stopped so many times (I took lots of pictures). the only bummer was that it was a nice day, but the fog had rolled in on the top of the mountain, so they are cool pics but can't see the top. Apparently there is a serious lack of available campsites if you don't reserve them ahead of time, but we decided just to drive home. It really is closer than we expected. WE also had an interesting dinner. T wanted pizza so we pulled over at a railroad car that said pizza, burgers. I looked at the menu, ordered and then looked around. I really wish I had looked around first. I'm not sure how they have passed health inspections. I asked Todd if he still wanted to eat there (he had just seen the lady (with her hair unrestrained and unknown cleanliness of hands start throwing our pizza with no gloves and I think long nails.) He was still ok with it. Yep, one of our riskier dinners but we came out unscathed, but have agreed that for $20 even if we don't get our money back, we won't eat in a place like that again and if either one of us was ever uncomfortable that we would leave. I've eaten in some sketchy places in other countries, but I just don't expect them here. Still, it was a great day and lots of fun! I really enjoyed myself.

A new neice!!

Hi Everyone!! I know it has been a while since I have updated but I am going to try to make it better. I have to stop waiting until I have pictures. Two weeks ago, baby M joined my brother's family, and she has two very proud big sisters. I am looking forward to getting down to visit in the near future and will try to take pictures.

New Bike!!

We purchased an exciting new addition this week. We bought me a great new road bike, my first ever. It has taken a while to decide that I wanted to try this kind of biking and it is fun. So very different from mountain biking. I am not super confident in road biking yet, but I am learning and have only been out on it twice so far. I rode home from work on Thursday, and on Saturday we rode 9 miles to the neighboring town where mom and dad picked me up while T continued on to a much longer ride. It is like learning a whole new way to ride. The bike is so light that at one point I was going down a hill with a cross breeze and I could actually feel the bike being buffeted by the wind. I will admit to a little nervousness about that one, but nothing happened. It definitely does not take as much energy to ride a road bike as to ride a mountain bike, although both are fun. Our only current problem is fitting the four bikes into the apartment. We have found a way that works currently. Anyway, here is to more fun on a new bike!!

Fourth of July

We had a fun 4th of July weekend. We both had most of Friday off and then I had the weekend and T had Saturday. My parent's came up to join us and we took them to Port Townsend to walk around on Friday. We had a picnic out at Fort Worden, which was really nice and some excellent ice cream at the Nifty fifty's diner. We came home and made dinner and just hung out. On the actual 4th, we got together with some friends for a dinner picnic and had fun just hanging out at a local park, grilling bratwurst and chicken and eating mom's wonderful side dishes. We came home and set off our first fireworks ever, this being the wettest place we have ever lived in. It was fun!! My favorite was this sparkling fountain one that was beautiful to watch. Hopefully our neighbors weren't too irritated with us, but we think next year we will do it in a parking lot somewhere. Mom and Dad and I played three rounds of a card game we like called Five Crowns, and we each won a full game. (It has 13 rounds to a game, but they go by really fast.) Dad fixed some problems we were having with our computer connection since upgrading to vista (thanks dad!!) and Mom sewed on a button to T's uniform better than either of us could have done it. (Thanks mom!!) all in all a great weekend, and i am wishing I did not have to go back to work tomorrow. I forgot to get pics from Dad, so they will be posted much later.

 

 

 

 

The Beach

A few weekends ago, T and I got ot go out to toleak point again, but this time with his good friend C from CO and his girlfriend B. We had so much fun and really like both of them. We hiked basically the same distance as last time, but camped in a little different place. We attempted to fly a kite but couldn't keep it up, and we had smores over a driftwood campfire. The weather was beautiful and we were camped right near a bald eagle nest somewhere in the trees behind us. We were eating breakfast listening to them talk. It was nice. I am going to try to post a slide show, but I don't have T here to help so it may show up a bit later.

Face of Betrayal by Lis Weihl

A 17 year old girl who is serving as a Senate page goes missing while she is home for Christmas vacation. Three friends, a reporter, a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent, race against time to find the young lady alive, and in the process face their own personal demons and external enemies.

This book was written from the perspective of several of the characters in the story, which is the first time I have come across this style of writing. I have since read other books written in this style and am impressed at the telling of a story smoothly using multiple perspectives. At first it was a little confusing because some of the dates are in the past, but other than that it reads smoothly. This book was easy to read and well written in terms of opening reader's eyes to how investigations affect each aspect of those involved. It was interesting to see how things work from 3 different job aspects in an investigation. Well written and keeps you wondering how it will end. Would recommend this book to others.