Islands + Boats = Good Ole Fashion Trisler Fun

This past weekend we had our first out of town visitors: Mom and Dad Trisler! We had been looking forward to this visit so much; brooke was counting down the days like a little boy waiting for Christmas!


we had a weekend full of fun and adventure. from fridays evenings visit to Pike Place Market and the REI Flagship Store to saturdays romp around the Puget Sound's islands and ferries, we couldn't get our fill of 'visitin'.' we even spent some quality time walking along the Cedar River spotting out sockeye salmon and looking at all 514 floating homes on Lake Union... somehow we even managed to score a tour!

saturday's road trip itinerary.
growing up brooke's parents would pack the car,
load the brothers, and see how many miles they could
drive in one weekend. he vaguely remembers one
childhood weekend that included fish-n-chips and
10ooo miles of driving.
he decided it was payback time!


the only two ladies in the current Trisler Family;
and what ladies they are!

the first stop on our whirlwind-of-a-day was Langley
on Whidbey Island. this town has everything a person
could dream of: a tiny harbor with sea stars, a little
town with just the necessities, and an amazing coffee shop:
useless bay coffee. the above is right on the harbor and was
called the boat yard inn. i think the family will stay
here on their next visit!

Mom and Dad Trisler at the Historic Coupeville
Wharf.

someday, this will also be a Mom and Dad Trisler.

while in coupeville, on whidbey island, andrea had a
mission to find 'the one that got away.' we looked at the
above cottage, when planning our move west, but
unfortunately someone else snatched it from us!
we found it...and it was more awesome then the photos!

on saturday we rode three different ferries. while onboard
one of them, we found a newspaper that reported of a guy
who rode all of the washington state ferries in one day!
the above is our second, the klickitat. Mom got a kick that
we were taking the klickitat to kitsap.

it was a beautiful day to walk around our favorite town:
port townsend.
we stopped at Pygmy Boats to show Dad their selection
of wooden kayaks...he was quite impressed. their shop is in
this cool little harbor next to a boat yard; so naturally we had
to have a look. in our family, his Dad is infamous with
finding many things, but two worthy of noting here are cool
boat yards and bakeries. to this day i'm not quite sure how he
does it. he'll say, "turn down here son." and low-and-behold,
there's something sweet! i guess it's a "Dad" trick.

on the peir in port townsend, washington before we
hit up another boat yard on the way down to
bainbridge island.

on the last ferry boat ride of the day from bainbridge island
to downtown seattle. 6.5 seconds worth of exposure time +
a windy boat ride home ≠ good pictures...
although i know it will end up on justin's desktop!

on sunday we decided to take it a little easier. we started our
morning with a stroll along the Cedar River in the rain to catch
a peek at the sockeye salamon 'doing you know what.' actually,
most of them were dead by now, but there were still a few fightin'
to the bitter end. Mom and Dad marveled a the size and colors
of these guys. Mom couldn't get over their behavior and Dad kept
moving down the river to see more and more.

Although there is no picture evidence, later we drove up to lake union to look at all the floating homes. Much to our surprise we were able to tour one that was for sale.

All and all it was a great weekend and look forward to seeing more of these characters over Christmas! Thanks for stopping out our way!

blue skies to full moons

It's always hard to stay inside when you look outside to a beautiful blue-sky day. So as soon as we got home from work last Tuesday we made sure to take advantage of it. We jumped in the car and drove up to Columbia City to grab some Jones' BBQ to go, then to Seward Park, which sits on a peninsula on Lake Washington.
We missed most of the sunset (it goes down so quickly this time of year) but were able to enjoy the soft glows of pinks and oranges as the sun faded into night.

Mt. Rainier rising so eloquently on the horizon over Lake Washington


Brooke, taking some quiet out of a busy day to enjoy God's serene creation


I love every minute spent with this man...


It's always a good day when BBQ is involved!


Grubbin' hard on some Jones'


A perfect 70F day for a kayaker to be cruising by at the base of Mt. Rainier


The alpenglow of the mountain....awesome


After the sun set, we took a night hike/walk through the park. Much of Seward Park is Rainforested, and has many hiking trails that take you throughout the park. The nearly-full moon lit most of the surrounding landscape, and created a beautiful glow upon the lake.

Run Like Hell / Portland

this past weekend we headed down to portland, oregon. andrea found a half marathon [13.1 miles] that sounded like fun. every year portland puts on the 'run like hell halloween marathon.' costumes were encouraged, though seldom were seen. as andrea ran, brooke rode his bike around this beautiful city to cheer on the runner in the family. once again, andrea conquered the pavement and finished ahead of her 2:30:00 goal by finishing in 2:11:54. CONGRATULATIONS wonderful wife!

leaves on the ground, crisp air, good running weather.

sporting the marathon bling!

look at the smile. still upbeat after 13 miles!


run like hell scott ryan...run like hell.

we spent the day before the marathon checking out the city. portland is a nice town with colorful flavor. we could have spent longer after our recent finds!

while in pioneer square, we rounded the corner to find people hanging
out of this building and yelling. hip-hop was blaring which could
mean only one thing... i snowboarding contest in downtown portland!
brooke searched the crowd vigorously for mike weyer; sensing that he
would be present at a downtown snowboarding competition. mike,
were you there?

this is what downtown portland and snowboarding have in common.
there was a little ski shop that threw up some jumps and covered them
with snow behind their building. very entertaining....very portland.

we even saw some "Benson Bubblers." installed during the logging-era by
timber king Simon Benson to keep loggers away from the 'evils of whiskey.'

brooke found two new friends.

and another friend who likes salmon almost as much!

she said she wanted a family of river otters.

three of a kind. [still sporting the marathon bling.]

after we got cleaned up from running and biking, we headed over to
the 'hawthorne district' to meet up with brooke's friend josh who has also
recently relocated to the northwest to intern for portland fellowship. brooke
and josh went to college together and were both involved in campus crusade.
it was great getting reacquainted over brunch at 'jam on hawthorne.' we
hope to be seeing a lot more of josh in the days to come...what a quality dude!

a great end to a great weekend!

salmon and skateparks

when you live in the midwest, the seasons are told by the changing in the leaves' colors. from green to red, the weather begins to settle in around you and lower temperatures shove you deeper into your jacket. the chill in the air, the crunch of the leaves beneath your feet let you know that fall is indeed here to stay for a while.

the pacific northwest is much the same...although they don't gauge the season's change by the leaves [although there are plenty of leaves to crunch]. they chart the season's change by the salmon run. what a beautiful display of tragedy. on a four year cycle, hundreds of salmon return up stream to their birthplace to mate, lay eggs, and die. we are lucky enough to live three blocks away from the cedar river. sockeye salmon were transplanted to the cedar river about eighty years ago and have flourished.

how cool is the renton public library?

the view up the cedar river from the renton public library.

from the salmon lookout at the renton library.

as we walked the bike path up and down the river we could see the
sockeye salmon's display of purpose.

these salmon were about 24 inches long.

my beautiful wife!

as we began the trek back home, i couldn't help but notice that the renton city skatepark was in our path. i love sitting and watching folks of all ages and ethnicity skating and biking among the mounds of concrete. note: if you are on a city council, do your neighborhood a favor and build a skatepark for the kids/adults!

right.

center.

left.

i feel the sentiment. i always wanted to make a sign with this same
message and hang it at the put-in-bay ferry dock.

we've seen forty year old guys riding the bowl reliving their california
glory days all the way down to six year olds showing off for their moms.

these guys were smooth!
i could've watched for way longer than an hour!

this guy makes we want to buy another skateboard and learn to ride again.

my lovely wife playing in the leaves on the way home!
one of her favorite fall activities!