Oktoberfest!!!

(Our flight out of Vancouver - yes, that's a tri-engine MD11, KLM being the last passenger operator)

Well, that was an adventure...flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam - rental car from Amsterdam to Utrecht. And then, after arriving at our Bed and Breakfast for the evening, and strolling out to explore the city a bit, Geoff learns his first valuable lesson of the trip - bicycles are silent killers. Ok then, so I'll keep my head on a swivel.


Our first night in Europe we stayed at a nice B&B in this college town. It was very comfy, casual, and provided for some much needed rest. The next morning, after a fresh breakfast (including some awesome fresh squeezed orange juice) we ventured out onto the Dutch highways, and headed for Munich.


Funny moment of the morning - passing through the countryside, not seeing a speed limit sign, freaking out that you don't know what the speed limit is, seeing a sign that says "ausfahrt" and suddenly realizing you've crossed into Germany, you're on the autobahn, and there IS no speed limit! Unfortunately our rental car was a bit underwhelming - A Volvo C30 with a 2.0 liter engine, no turbocharger, and only 5 forward gears. Not really an Autobahn cruiser. I DID manage to get it up to 175kph at one point, but not for long. We averaged ~140kph. Ok, that's fairly decent...

To break up the length of the drive (~8 hours from Amsterdam to Munich) we stopped in Wurzburg for lunch. Got a much needed walk in, and had some recommended fresh Italian food from a restaurant where they didn't speak English. Lots of pointing at the menu ensued. Thank god "Coca Cola" is universal!

(the palace above the Rhine river in Wurzburg)

Another few hours on the Autobahn, and we were finally nearing Munich. I'll admit it, we had a Garmin...which leads to our next insight - the freeways run all around Munich, our hotel was in central Munich, and there was no direct route there. "Turn onto (insert weird German road name here) and continue for 7km" then "turn onto...and continue for 9km" Finally, the little finish line flag was visible on the map. We had arrived! We parked the car and greeted friends Lian and Mike in our hotel room. After an authentic German dinner (and a beer warm up) we headed to bed to prepare for the main event!


Wednesday, 9:30am, our journey to the Theresienwiese begins. We began our day at the Augustiner tent, where Lian talked to a waitress setting up who promised us she'd get us seated, since most all of the inside tables are reserved. We walked around for a while and checked out the rest of the tents, and then as people started multiplying on the fairgrounds, we headed back. After again locating our waitress, we sat down, I bought some giant pretzels, and we ordered our first round!

(Live every moment, and prost!)

With a toast to my late boss to start, our Oktoberfest experience is on. This is what it's all about. I know in the picture it looks like there was a lot of foam in the glass, and there was, but it was the first pour of the day. We'll cut them some slack, after all, I'm pretty sure the folks at Oktoberfest know how to pour beer...


Food was ordered (1/2 chickens, more pretzels) another round was ordered, Phase 10 was played (awesome card game!) and the tent slowly filled. A nice couple from New Jersey sat down with us. Then the Austrian Police force K9 unit sat down with us.



Madness ensues, more beer is ordered, German phrases are taught (ask Jaime!) Music is played, and slowly, the afternoon begins to run together. Funny thing about that...yes Judy, the beer probably is a bit stronger, but after 4 liters, ANYONE is going to start to feel it.

Time to stretch our legs. We part company with our Austrian friends, and head outside into the sunshine. Good lord it's bright out here! So, what do you guys want to do? Hey, let's head to a beer tent and have a drink! Awesome...


I'd love to tell you about the rest of the afternoon, I know we ended up in the Hippodrome tent...that's really the only detail I'd be able to confirm...maybe ask Jaime...

Gonna pause for now - will continue the story tomorrow...in the meantime, here's the link to the Shutterfly album (some of the pictures have captions)
Address:

Catching up...

Ah, Labor day weekend...the last gasp of summer. And judging by the weather, it's VERY true this year.


Jaime and I spent the weekend at the property/cabin with niece Kendal...and yes, we volunteered for it (well, Jaime did anyway). The weather was at least a little better on the other side of the mountains, got some sun in (and some wind). Wasn't warm enough for swimming (oh well) but we had a good time anyway. Kendal was wonderful the whole time! Only snafu would be the cricket that was chirping from the ceiling at 2am. BUT, a flashlight and a broom took care of that. I swatted him off the ceiling and "took him outside" (translation for those without kids - I squished him).

Housework continues...I'm now a lighting expert - can change out a fixture in about ~30 minutes! We've only got 4 fishbowl fixtures left, so after that, I guess I'll have to develop some other specialty. Thank god Jaime enjoys painting. Also working on the slow process of replacing every outlet in the house (they're all beige and worn out). I've only managed to shock myself twice. Whoever wired this house decided to randomly assign outlets/switches to breakers, because it makes absolutely NO sense! Oh well, the joys of homeownership.


Summer of 30 was a HUGE success - sorry to those that could not make it! Unfortunately, I was so busy socializing that I didn't get any pictures! If anyone has a picture of the hot dog cart, please send it my way. Also, Craig's a rockstar for letting us borrow his Subaru to tow the cart out of the backyard (and hopefully not destroy his clutch!)

Beyond that, summer is drawing to a close. Jaime's folks will be in town next week, and the weekend after that, we're leaving for Oktoberfest. Where has the time gone.

Ok, I'm gonna get back into a rhythm and keep things updated.

Later!

Somewhere, lost in the 'Quah

We're working on rekindling the ole blog, it's been a LONG time! Something about having a house and fixing stuff and planning stuff and summertime and Facebook. Trying to come up with a new title - we're no longer geographically "left" of Seattle on the map, but we're certainly still more "left" of Issaquah (Not talking maps here, people) though maybe less so than when we were in West Seattle...

So "Right of Seattle" is out for sure...I guess "Left of the Quah" would still work...thoughts?

Slighty Right of Seattle?

4 years ago today

Four years ago today we got married in a beautiful location with all our family and friends around us. It was one of the greatest days of my life and I wouldn't change a thing.

I am so blessed to have the best husband and friend a person could ever want.

I can't believe time has gone so quickly, but I'm glad we've made the time to do everything we have done together. Its been a great four years and I'm looking forward to the rest to come.

-wifey

One more quick personal update

For those of you who we haven't spoken with recently, I want to let you know that you don't have to hate children's hospital on my behalf anymore.

They opened up another position, in the same group with the same title, and offered me the position. So I start working at Childrens and the Therapeutics Development Network of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on June 14th!

I am really excited about the job. Plus now I don't have an unfounded grudge against an amazing non-profit institution.

Also, we moved into our house this weekend, which is AWESOME! But I know Geoff will give a better update about that soon so I will leave it to him.

Way to go, BP! (That's sarcasm, btw)

Granted, there are MANY people to blame for this disaster (including oil hungry Americans)

Holy Crap, May!

So, at the start of the month, Geoff and Jaime headed off on a little European vacation. Two weeks in London/Paris...



It was rad! Brother in law Ryan and Peyton were waiting to pick us up from Heathrow, and it was a short car ride (on the wrong side of the road!) out to Pinner and my sister's LOVELY house! After a short nap Sunday afternoon (we arrived at 10am, having left Seattle around noon the previous day with a stopover in Chicago) we were adjusted and ready to enjoy the time we got to spend with niece Isabel and nephew Peyton, and our travels! Monday we got a late start to the morning and headed into London proper for our first experiences. Since we missed both Isabel and Peyton's birthdays, we took them to Hamleys, a large toy store in downtown London. Afterward Jaime, Tina, and Isabel headed to Harrods for tea, and Ryan, Peyton and I walked around Hyde Park.


The following day Jaime and I departed for Paris via the Eurostar. Ok, ok, I'm a train guy - but the Eurostar is amazing! It's fast (almost 200mph), smooth, and QUIET. Seriously, Jaime and I were whispering with each other because the cars are so quiet...It's also incredibly easy! I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you're in London or Paris (it also goes to Belgium).

Video of Geoff and Jaime on Eurostar

Paris was RAD! Paris is also HUGE! We arrived Tuesday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and thought we'd take a nice short stroll along the river Seine - I guess because it's nearly all flat, the city just seems to go on and on. Highlights of Paris - yeah, the Louvre is cool, and we spent a LONG time inside, but Cathedral Notre Dame, in my opinion, is better! Seriously, it's beautiful. Sunset atop the Eiffel tower - again, spectacular. Incredibly windy, but spectacular. After nightfall, every hour on the hour, they have a series of flash bulbs that go off all over it. We caught an elevator down just in time to catch it. Our final indulgence in Paris was a dinner cruise along the Seine. Nice views, great food, spectacular wine, and my absolute most favorite person to share it with. Once in a lifetime...

We ended Paris with a walk around the Montmarte district, using the Rick Steves Paris guide. There are travel books, and there are Rick Steves guides. Don't bother with anything else, seriously. Caught the evening Eurostar back to London. Loved every minute of the journey.

(shout out to the Paris Metro system - I don't speak ANY French, and it took me two rides to figure out how it works - all other subways should be designed this way)

The next day we spent relaxing with Isabel and Peyton in Pinner (Uncle Geoff needs his rest when he travels). The following days were spent exploring London - Discovered a great chain restaurant called "Wagamama," toured Westminster Abbey (no pictures?) saw Big Ben, the Tower of London (held a crossbow), the Crown Jewels (again, no pictures? They're BEAUTIFUL!) , took a bus tour (great way to get acquainted with the city, but no good for deep insight) "Which way's North?"

saw the Rosetta stone at the British Museum (history, awesome!) drank lots of English beer, ate fish and chips (no skin, please!) and had a generally great time.

On our last full day, Tina, Isabel, and Peyton joined us to check out the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. The ceremony is cool and all, but the highlight for me was actually getting to see the Queen. Granted, she was cruising out in her Rolls Royce limo, but still, she waived at the crowd. Otherwise, I'd say Buckingham Palace was a bit of a yawn. Afterward we grabbed some lunch, and then took the kids on a boat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich. We spent some time in the very cool National Maritime museum, then headed uphill to the Royal Observatory to "see" the Prime Meridian. It was unfortunate that we were all a little weary, and there was a GIANT group of French school kids there. If I make it back to London, I'll have to go check it out again. In fact, by the end of the trip, I was TOTALLY over groups of French schoolkids...




It seemed like we had just gotten comfortable when it was time to head home again. We spent one VERY long day (including a 5 hour layover in Chicago) getting home, and rolled in around midnight. We cannot thank Tina and Ryan enough for hosting us - they provided us their house and made it possible for us to be able to stay for 10 days, otherwise it never would have happened. Everyone asks me what my favorite part of the trip was...and sappy as it may be, it was getting to spend so much time with my niece and nephew.

Here's a link to the Shutterfly album.

So, the other big news is that two days before we left for Europe, we put an offer in on a house in Issaquah. There was lots of emailing and signing and scanning while we were in London, but we got it done. We're in escrow this week - and planning on closing on Thursday or Friday. I'll just include a link to the Windermere listing - it's a GREAT house, in a nice neighborhood, and it HAS A GARAGE!!!! Yeah, we're moving to the suburbs - deal with it ;) We'll still come to West Seattle for Bakery Nouveau, Easy Street Records, Kokoras, and Beveridge Place. Plus, we have so many great friends here.


Nearly a year ago, when we turned in our airline miles to get our London tickets, we didn't plan for everything to come together at once. Who knew the week before we left we'd find our perfect house. Besides - if we got an offer in before April 30th (we left May 1st) we were still eligible for the first time Home Buyers tax credit. Score! Then - when the Sportwagen started leaking again in February, how were we supposed to know that it's replacement would show up while we were traveling (thanks, bro, for taking such good care of the Tiguan "Tigger" while we were gone). Did I mention someone who may or may not be my wife might be leaving her 20s behind on Saturday? Did I mention someone who may or may not be her Husband will be doing the same in two weeks? Holy Crap...seriously.

One more thing - I've been promoted at Nordstrom. My friend Deke is leaving for a different department - I'll be taking over his role as the Knowledge Base administrator, and separately from that, I've been promoted to our "Escalation" team. Things are starting to move in the right direction, and it feels nice to be acknowledged for it. I start all of that June 1st.

So, that's May...god only knows what's in store for the rest of the year. I hope everyone is doing well. If we haven't talked in a while, you can understand why?

If you're in Seattle, and free on June 5th...well, we might be moving that day ;) Free beer?

-Geoff