It’s been a while since I’ve lived anywhere except Connecticut (or Vietnam). For the past month, I have lived in Bellevue, Washington with my family. I worked, they went about their “normal” business (just with a smaller homebase). How did it pan-out? Read-on!
I was excited for them to join me on a trip, for 2 reasons: a) I actually like my family, and b) I wanted them to see what “road Matt” was like – I embrace any chance to share life with them.
Well, I shared some of our exploits with y’all so far. We certainly took advantage of the time in another place and we explored the poop outta the immediate area. I am in the mood for a bullet-list, so here’s a random brain dump on my feelings about the Pacific NW (in no particular order):
- How could their traffic be worse than in the Northeast? Well, it is…
- The people are friendlier out here, and they live a slower pace of life (reminiscent of Vietnam, but without the scooters)
- The nature out here astounds me every day (and I’ve now lived here for 6 weeks)
- I don’t believe the “myth” about all the rain and clouds… it’s been cloudy all day for only 2 days during those 6 weeks… I guess I’ll see the gloom in October.
- People bring their dogs everywhere
- The cost of living is as high as CT, and their salestax is 9.5% (why the frak did I purchase an expensive electronic device out here?)
- I don’t miss my house/things… I do miss the pets and people 🙂
- I want to see more…
For our last weekend out here, we ventured towards Mt. Rainer… we had no idea what to expect. We picked a perfect day – sunny and clear. We snapped photos of the mountain as we approached, amazed at every turn. Then, we arrived at the gates of the National Park and they turned our money down – it was National Park Day and it was free (that only happens once a year – what are the odds? … oh yeah, 1 in 365).
The ancient beauty of the forest and mountain took my breath away. Though I believe a picture is worth less than a thousand words, I leave everyone with a picture we snapped at Paradise rise – 5,400 feet in the air. As you can see, we still had a long ways to go to reach the summit (perhaps when the kids are older we’ll do some climbing). This was the tallest thing I’ve ever been in the presence of… “majestic” is the best word that comes to mind. The mountain possess a serene power unlike any I have ever felt.
Missed you guys can not wait to see all of you when you get home
hey matt
how would you like to ski those mtns????????
have a safe trip home.
love,
dad