October 2018

October 29, 2018January 14, 2019

A Fall Hike on the Snow Lake Trail

We took a Fall hike up the Snow Lake Trail

Last weekend Scott and I wanted to get out and enjoy Fall, so we headed to Snow Lake Trail at Alpental on Snoqualmie Pass. It is about a forty-five minute drive from Seattle and the scenery was beautiful!

To get to the trail head, simply follow the signs to Alpental ski area. We arrived about 10:30am and the parking lot was packed!

There were some serious hikers in the lot, with their walking poles and gear. Only wearing tennis shoes and sweats, I got a bit worried. The hike is about 7.2 miles round trip with about 1100 feet elevation. As soon as you leave the parking lot, you start inclining right away.

Note the switchbacks towards the end of the trail – they are many of them and it’s a hike up!

A moderate hike

That was the description on the Washington Trails Association website. The trail starts out with a mild incline through the woods.

Because we have had such a dry summer, the trail was pretty clean. However, if we had any amount of rain the day before, the trails would have been really muddy.

I will say there were a lot of dogs and elderly people on the trail, but it was extremely rocky and I wouldn’t recommend it for either. Soon after you begin your ascent through the wooded part of the trail, the trail turns pretty rocky. You really have to watch your step, so you don’t twist an ankle.

But the vistas are gorgeous has you ascend up the mountain.

How long does the hike take?

The hike took us about two and half hours to get to the top and two hours to get down. We hike slow, so you could trim some time off of that.

Just as you approach the summit, you will come across some stairs.

These lead to the summit and rocks overlooking Snow Lake.

The guide says the trip is 7.2 miles round trip, but my Fitbit only said 6.3 miles. We think this is because the trail continued down to the lake. It would have been great to go see it, but that would have meant we would have to come back up!

We got to the top, now we have to get back down

While the views and vistas were amazing, the hike itself wasn’t that relaxing. The trail is so rocky that you really needed to watch every step you took, as to not twist an ankle.

At the end of the day, it was a fun hike. Just be sure to wear comfortable shoes and honestly, walking sticks would be smart too. Below is Episode #24 with our full tour.

If you are new to our blog, you are probably wondering why we are talking about hiking when this is a boating blog. Well, a month ago we sold our boat and now we are taking the winter off. We’ll start shopping for our next boat come February. In the meantime, we’re exploring sights around Seattle and the PNW.

Please be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. #BoatingJourney @BoatingJourney

Cheers, Scott and Ally

October 23, 2018

Exploring sights around Lake Union

Exploring Sights around Lake Union

When Scott and I moved to Downtown Seattle, we knew that we would be exploring the city and we’ve been amazed at how many things there are to see around Lake Union.

Our apartment is on Dexter Avenue and we face east. Directly across from us is St. James Cathedral and above it, is Volunteer Park. Neither of us have ever been to the park, so we decided to explore it.

Volunteer Park

Volunteer Park is a 48 acre park that includes a conservatory and the Asian Art Museum. The history of the park is fascinating and told by different placards in the water tower observation deck. In 1885 the city had planned to make it a cemetery, but that was overruled and it became Lake View Park. By 1909 the Olmstead brothers began adding improvements including gardens, a children’s pool and a performance stage. The Olmstead brothers were dedicated nature and creating parks throughout the city. It’s pretty cool that they were so committed about nature and ecology back in the 1900’s.

There is plenty of parking inside the park and there are walkways throughout. We parked and headed towards the Asian Art Museum. Unfortunately it is closed for renovation and will open next summer.

The photo above is actually the children’s wading pool. I wouldn’t recommend using it today. Scott and I then headed towards the Water Tower Observatory. The water tower is reportedly haunted and I will tell you, this is the last place I would want to be at dusk or at night!

There are stairs that take you up both sides and it’s a climb!

What’s really cool about this water tower is that not only is it still being used today, but that they enclosed it in brick to make it look better! That’s a lot of work just for a water tower. Remember what our water tower looked like in our driveway of the house we just sold? LOL

History of Seattle Parks

Once you get to the observation deck of the water town, you have a 360 degree view from Bellevue to Seattle. You can also read about the history of the planned parks in Seattle by the Olmstead brothers.

The statement above is so true!! It’s one of the reasons we love living in the Pacific Northwest.

From the water tower observatory, we walked the grounds to enjoy some fall scenery.

The conservatory was closed, so we didn’t get to go inside. Right outside the conservatory, is a statue dedicated to Henry Seward – who knew his importance to Seattle? So fun!

If you haven’t visited Volunteer Park, I highly recommend it for a fun afternoon!

Borealis Light Festival

The following weekend, MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) hosted the Borealis Light Festival. This was an international contest and it was one of the coolest things we’ve seen in a long time! It’s too bad it wasn’t here longer. We tried to capture as much footage as we could, which you can watch on our next YouTube episode.

Stay tuned for our next blog and we’ll update you on our boat search and hopefully our plans for the Spring! As always, thank you for following us! Be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

#BoatingJourney

October 1, 2018October 1, 2018

No Boat, What now?

The big question – No Boat, so What Now?

Since selling the boat two weeks ago, everyone keeps asking us, “no boat, so what now?” We wish we had a definitive answer, but we don’t. What we can tell you is, we are trying to figure that out and hope that soon we’ll have an answer.

If you recall two years ago, Scott and I were at the Annapolis Power Boat Show, looking for a liveaboard. After the show, we decided it would be in our best interest to buy a weekend cruising boat first to make sure we like spending time on a boat. As we began our search back then, we realized that finding a slip was an issue. Luckily, we were able to secure one at Elliott Bay Marina, a month before we had found our boat.

Fast Forward to Today

When Scott and I sold our boat, we were given lots of advice on what to buy next. Remember, we sold our home with the intention of moving onto a 50-55′ boat. That’s why our lease in our new apartment is only for one year (with only 7 months left). Wow, we’re right on track, so let’s start shopping! Not so fast……..

Turns out that plan has a HUGE hiccup in it. We have checked with our own marina and all of the other main public marinas in Seattle and all of them have a 3-5 year waitlist for boats over 50 feet! Guess we didn’t think about that, even though we kept hearing “you better get on a list”. On top of all of this, we love Elliott Bay Marina and we don’t want to leave, but they also don’t allow liveaboards. Great, now what, you ask? Just for kicks and giggles, we asked about the availability for 40′ and 46′ slips at Elliott Bay. Those are 3-4 months on a waitlist. Just to be safe, we are on the waitlist for those.

Basically, we have three options.

We can buy a 37 – 43′ boat and keep our apartment for another year. But that wasn’t originally in our budget or plan.
We can hope that we find a liveaboard that comes with a slip already.
We don’t buy anything

The last option sounds so drastic and not part of any of our original plans. However, one thing Scott and I have agreed upon and that is “we will not buy a boat simply to get a slip in our marina”. If we find the right boat and we feel really great about it, then we’ll know it was meant to be. So we are searching every day and of course, with me working at Lake Union Sea Ray, everyone there knows I’m searching for a boat too.

So no boating journey?

Of course not! Remember, this blog started in 2013 long before we had a boat. Scott and I are committed to staying very active on the water some how or another. This includes kayaking, sailing on Lake Union, chartering a boat to the islands, canoeing, you name it.

We’ll also continue to share tips, videos, books, recipes and vacation information along the way.

Exciting Sailing Trip in the Caribbean!

Just this weekend Scott and I booked an exciting trip in the Caribbean. We have never been on a cruise (and have no desire to either), but we have heard wonderful things about Windstar and Star Clipper. There are many charter companies in the Caribbean and we’ve talked about finally signing up (but that seems risky not knowing the other four passengers). So we opted to go the larger group route!

We booked an 8 night Leeward Island Cruise for next March and we used our BoatUS membership for a discount! The vessel, Star Flyer, is 360′ long with a 50′ beam. Unlike a formal cruise ship that typically has thousands of guests, this vessel only holds 170 passengers with 72 crew. It also doesn’t have fancy restaurants, casinos or theaters. Instead, it is set up as a casual sailing experience in a more intimate setting.

The itinerary will visit the Leeward Islands (funny, our apartment complex is called Leeward) and the only island we have visited before is Antigua.

Once we get more information about the trip, we’ll be sure to share that with you. I’m a bit nervous about getting sea sick, as there will be a lot of movement up and down on the boat (especially our room, as it is up front). The booking agent recommended that we take Bonine as it works much better than Dramamine. Guess we’ll find out!

In our next YouTube episode, we’ll sit down with you all and talk more about our plans and what we have on our agenda.

Thank you for following us! Please be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and also follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Until next time! Cheers, Scott and Ally

#BoatingJourney