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Snow and freezing cold in Seattle! Temperatures more than 20 degrees below those in Ithaca and in NYC warmer than in LA!

Food is good in Seattle

Needless to say coffee is amazing in Seattle! We have already found our two favorite independent coffee houses - one for the daily drip which I pick up on the way to work and the other for a latte to sip in peace on weekend mornings. We first found Cafe Ladro in Capitol Hill neighborhood during our visit in August and their Cafe Medici just swept me off my feet. This wonderful dessert-esque drink, a rich mocha with an orange twist dropped in (real orange peel not sugary syrup mind you!) was simply divine! There are a few more locations in Seattle including one a block from the Convention Center, where I get highly anticipated cup of morning coffee, and another one three blocks from our house in lower Queen Anne, which we occasionally visit. On weekends, for variety, we pay a visit to the nearby Uptown Espresso and enjoy a wonderful double tall latte and munch on delicious pastries (Kiki really looks forward to this!). They don't call it "home of the velvet foam" for nothing!

We also found a number of good restaurants within blocks of our apartment including Tum Tim Thai (delicious and quick Thai food), Pagliacci Pizza (yummy pizza with fast delivery), Dick's (amazing hamburgers, real potato fries, tasty shakes made the old-fahioned way in a local establishment that offers its employees not only higher than minimum wage pay but also employer paid health benefits and tuition/childcare assistance!). A day after Thanksgiving, while wondering around lower Queen Anne we found Perche No, a lovely little Italian restaurant, only to find out that they will be closing that particular (their original) location after fourteen years. We will surely have to visit their recently opened Perche No Pasta & Vino further north. And as a special treat we enjoyed an over-the-top dinner with a few friends at El Gaucho, considered by many the best steakhouse in Seattle and counted among "top 12 best steakhouses in the Nation" - a truly amazing dining experience!

Thanksgiving at home away from "home"

This is our first Thanksgiving in Seattle. In the past although we lived away from Ithaca for many years, we would always make it back for a huge Thanksgiving feast. This time we are a bit further away so we decided to stay put and instead invite over a friend, who also originally hails from the East Coast. We did cook but it was on a smaller scale - Cornish game hens instead of a big turkey but still plenty of dishes, including yams, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing and a wonderful (don't mind if I say so myself!) home made apple strussel, made by yours truly. All this with a wonderful bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau.

The day after the big meal we enjoyed a much needed walk in Discovery Park in Seattle's Magnolia neigborhood. It is a wonderful secluded and tranquil space and although our adventure started off breezy and cloudy, while we were walking over the meadow lands and along the magnificant sea cliffs with bluffs overlooking the Puget Sound, the clouds parted providing a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountain range in the distance. We descended down to the beach through the forest groves and walked along the water's edge, thorugh the sand dunes, out to the tip of the little penninsula with a charming lighthouse, then circling around the other end and back up the steep cliffs with lush vegetation.

Amazing hiking spots are withing miles of Seattle

Our second weekend in Seattle we decided to go hiking up to the Rattlesnake Ledge, a 4 mile - 1,175 feet climb. Someone had mentioned it at work, and just days before we discovered REI, a phenomental outdoor gear store and the largest customer cooperative with more than 2 million members, now including the two of us. There we found a wonderful book 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle, which for the last few weeks has been our resource for short weekend excursions. The Rettlesnake Ledge trail starts on a gradual climb through a forest of moss-covered trees and fern, with the occassional boulder or stump along the way. ... The well-worn trail continues to gain altitude as it leads through a series of broad switchbacks up the slope.

Considered the eastern terminus of the Issaquah Alps, the rocky ledge has a commanding view of almost 270 degrees, including the entire lower Snoqualmie Valley. Rattlesnake Lake and distnat Chester Morse Lake sparkle below Cedar Butte and Mount Washington. (60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Seattle)

This weekend we visited Cougar Mountain and hiked along the peaceful Wilderness Creek Trail, which climbs approximately 4 mile - 1100 feet to the park's summit. However, since Cougar Mountain does not have a discernible central crest but rather a broad, even middle, more like a plateau. Shortly past the trailhead there is a pretty little footbridge that crosses Wilderness Creek, which splashes down through mossy boulders and logs. The trail continues to climb along the creek with water flowing withing the earshot, eventually passing through a forest of Douglas firs, including some very large and old trees, and endless number of ferns covering the forest floor. We decided to take the steeper Wilderness Cliffs trail up to the summit then loop back via the Wilderness Peak and Wilderness Creek trail. On the way back we saw more Douglas firs, followed by huge boulders on the side of the path, some even in a flatter marshy area with wooden planks winding between them.

Fall in Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum

We have discovered the Washington Park Arboretum. During our first visit and week-long stay in August, we visited the Japanese Garden, which is next to the Arboretum. The garden was very beautiful and meticulously maintained and the stroll through it was a very relaxing and pleasant experience. So going back was only a matter of time!

On Saturday, October 21, after a few days of almost continuous rain, we had a glorious warm and sunny day, and what better way to celebrate the sun than by going for a relaxing stroll through the many paths that make up a big, long loop at the Arboretum. On Sunday, November 5, we returned for another visit and a walk on the trail along the shoreline of Lake Washington's Union Bay. Parts were very secluded and walking through all the heavy vegetation and on the boardwalk over the wetlands was great fun. Kiki enjoyed it as well in spite of the occasional struggle on the metal-grid covered walkways over water.

A bright sunny day in the middle of the record rainy season

My feeling of happiness and content is holding well! I am liking Seattle in spite of the fact that we are now well into the rainy season (and a record one at that!) and even though almost all my account work is still on New York office based accounts. :-)

It now rains almost every day, although on most days here that means a light shower rather than the kind of rain we got used to on the East Coast. I completely got a kick out of the fact that today is a gorgeous, clear and sunny day in Seattle and in New York it's miserable, cold and raining! I made it a point to mention this in a particularly cheerful voice to all the friends and colleagues from New York with whom I spoke today, especially the ones who have a habit of calling and asking "Is it raining now? Is it raining now?"

The Emerald City vs. The Big Apple (and I do like fruit!)

We have been in Seattle for about a month now and we are very, very happy! The city is smaller, greener, friendlier and the atmosphere is amazing. My commute consists of a 2-mile/half-an-hour walk (by choice and I am loving it!), passing the Seattle Center and the Space Needle on the way. We have a park near our apartment building, in a quiet residential neighborhood of lower Queen Ann, yet a number of good local restaurants and coffee shops are just a few blocks away. The air is very clean and crisp (on clear days I can see the moon still up in the sky as the day dawns while I walk Kiki before work) and the mornings are refreshingly cool so the walk to the office is very invigorating. The time difference is working to my advantage still and I am getting used to a more normal sleeping schedule (I used to be such a night owl). It's amazing to be at work a little after 8am and out most days by 5:30-6pm. In so many ways this is such a change from NYC. We do miss our friends and family members in the East but Seattle makes me smile every morning as I wake up.

I would be lying if I didn't say that the primary reason for our move was a lifestyle change. We had been in NYC Metro area for the last six years and for a while we felt it was time for a major change. Ever since we arrived in Seattle I feel like I am a different person. I am much less stressed out and hence more productive at work (although I am still in the transitional period and almost exclusively work on the Eastern Region accounts), and much more relaxed and happier in general. For the first time after a long while I actually wake up with smile on my face, happy to embrace the day. It is not that I particularly dislike NYC, in fact when we originally moved and for a long time afterwards in spite of the initial difficulties we faced (it is a very expensive area to live in, especially for those just starting out and on their own), I liked the area and did not mind the commute (it actually gave me a chance to read on the train). Many people have a love-and-hate relationship with New York City. In the end I was certainly one of them (Hoon was one even earlier than I)! A friend of mine who is curiously no longer living in NYC as well used to say "this city just sucks the life right out of you!" When I try to think back and figure out exactly when that happened for us I cannot really put my finger on it. I suppose the manic pace of life, long commuting time and ever increasing stress level in professional life, constantly rising cost of living and financial (in)security would certainly help bring you there fast! And I guess it creeps up slowly, for a while to fight it, then you tolerate it, until in the end "the cup overrunneth!" New York City certainly has her charms but living in the area compared to visiting is a completely different experience! Then again, that can be said for any city.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 7 – Saturday, October 7

The last day we continued through the rest of Montana, Idaho (which in northern part is narrower but no less beautiful) and finally our new home state of Washington. A few hours after crossing the state line we arrived into our new home city of Seattle. In Idaho we also crossed into PST zone and gained the final additional hour. At this point we were already excited about being close to Seattle so we decided to stop only once for a quick stroll and a glance at the Columbia River gorge alongside Rt. 90. As we drove further west we passed through the Cascade Mountains, the northern part of a chain of volcanoes that stretches along the West Coast. During our brief visit in August we had visited the beautiful Mt. Rainier, which is often visible from Seattle, especially on a clear day as the sun sets over the Puget Sound. It’s almost hard to believe that after less than half an hour of driving from such a beautiful natural setting we arrived into the city. But that is one of the major reasons for our move!

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip

Day 6 – Friday, October 6

The next morning upon exiting from the hotel we saw more elk – groups of females and solitary males scattered all around the big clearing, but this time surrounded by glorious beauty of nature – rolling hills, rich old woods and vast grasslands all at the height of autumn in full splendor of a gorgeous summer day! A person standing there, surrounded by such dazzling natural beauty, feels so small and insignificant yet at the same time also a part of something immense, sacred and cosmic. At times you almost feel your heart ache as you are surprised and overwhelmed by strong emotions and as you let out a sigh and take a deep breath your lungs fill with crisp mountain air permeated with a fresh scent of wet grass, evergreens and mountain streams. Such experiences always fill me with determination that we must safeguard natural wonders for future generations, because I simply cannot imagine that I should have to explain to my children why they cannot see them in person but only in photographs.

Even though we originally planned to spend only the first half of the day visiting Yellowstone, we quickly decided to extend the visit for as long as possible. We were fortunate to have a chance to see numerous herds of elk, bison, bighorn sheep, and even one solitary wolf. While driving through the park we also crossed the Continental Divide of North America, a topographic ridgeline that bisects the continent between Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean water drainages. We also visited the Old Faithful, possibly the most famous geyser in the world, whose eruption can shoot 3,700–8,400 gallons (14,000–32,000 l) of boiling water to a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m) lasting from 1.5–5 minutes. Intervals between eruptions range from 65–92 minutes, and it just so happened that we had just missed an eruption so we decided to have a nice relaxed lunch at the Old Faithful Inn in the meantime.

The same afternoon on the way back to Rt.90 we crossed from Wyoming to Montana and drove through a little town called Belgrade, MN. :-) We decided to spend the night in Missoula, MN and continue the more challenging part drive through the more mountainous part of Montana the following day.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 5 – Thursday, October 5

The fourth day we continued on through the rest of South Dakota and into Wyoming. In the early evening we arrived at the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park not only in the US but in the world and covers 3,470 square miles (8,980 km²). Yellowstone was the site of three major volcanic eruption events in the last 2.2 million years with the last event occurring approximately 640,000 years ago, which are the largest known to have occurred on Earth in that period and drastically affected the global climate. The eruptions formed Yellowstone Caldera, 43 miles by 18 miles (70 km by 30 km), atop a huge magma chamber. Preserved within Yellowstone are many geothermal features, including and some 10,000 hot springs and geysers (more than half of the planet's known total). The superheated water that sustains these features also sustains life - the bright colors in the spring are created by mats of bacteria growing in the warm, mineral rich water. The park is widely considered to be the finest mega-fauna wildlife habitat in the continental US and among others is home to grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of herds of American bison and elk. There are at least 600 species of trees and plants found in the park, some of which are found nowhere else.

We spent the night in the park and stayed at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Because the needs of animals should be given priority over the needs of humans in a place like this, we drove very carefully from the eastern park entrance to the hotel as evening twilight gave way to a dark night. On the way we saw a lonely bison grazing by the side of the road, and later on we had to stop in order to let a small herd of elk run across the road. People who live in the cities can often forget how wild nature can be! On the way from the parking lot to the hotel entrance, a distance of barely a few hundred feet, all three of us were surprised by a very sudden and loud elk call and followed by a beat of hooves a few steps away – for a split second we caught a glimpse of a silhouette of a majestic bull-elk with large antlers and then he disappeared into the night! I especially liked the fact that all park accommodations are non-smoking and reflect the natural surroundings of Yellowstone, i.e. televisions, radios, air conditioning, and Internet hook-ups are not available! It was wonderful to be lost to civilization (no cell phones either!) and fall asleep while hearing elk calls and wolves’ howling in the distance.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 4 – Wednesday, October 4

The next day we continued on and in Mitchell, SD we stopped for a visit to the Corn Palace, a building decorated with murals and designs made from corn and other grains. Each year the exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals, designed by local artists, are created using thousands of bushels of corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw and wheat. In addition to being a local tourist attraction, the Corn Palace also serves the local community as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events. We also visited Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, a National Historic Landmark and an archeological site, which more than a thousand years ago was a thriving Native American village. In the Boehnen Museum we saw a number of exhibits including pottery, tools, spear points and a fully reconstructed earth lodge, one of nearly 70 believed to be buried at the site. Particularly interesting was the Thomsen Center Archeodome, which covers the open archeology dig, encloses two full lodges on its exposed earthen floor and is open to the public. In the gift shop I was tempted by many unique pieces of art and crafts made by South Dakota Native artists and indulged myself with a beautiful silver and turquoise dream catcher necklace.

Sometime later we arrived at Badlands National Park located in southwestern South Dakota. The Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. In spite of their uninviting name, these unusual landforms are a masterpiece of water and wind sculpture. Unusual shapes are etched into a plateau of soft sediments and volcanic ash, revealing colorful bands of flat-lying strata. The stratification adds immeasurably to the beauty of each scene, binding together all of its diverse parts. Viewed horizontally, individual beds are traceable from pinnacle to pinnacle, mound to mound, ridge to ridge, across the intervening ravines. Viewed from above, the bands curve in and out of the valley like contour lines on a topographic map. A geologic story is written in the rocks of Badlands National Park, every bit as fascinating and colorful as their outward appearance. It is an account of 75 million years of accumulation with intermittent periods of erosion. Over 11,000 years of human history pales to the eons old paleontological resources. Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. The evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros and pig can be studied in the Badlands formations.

Late in the evening we arrived at our last destination in South Dakota, the base of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. On the way we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone and gained another hour but decided to turn in for the night in the nearby Keystone, SD and visit the monument early next morning. Mt. Rushmore, a United States Presidential Memorial also known as America’s Shrine to Democracy, represents the first 150 years of the history of the United States of America with the 60-foot sculptures of former U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The entire memorial covers 1,278 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level. The memorial attracts around 2 million people annually. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum chose this mountain due to its height, the soft grainy consistency of the granite, and the fact that it catches the sun for the greatest part of the day. The presidents were selected on the basis of what each symbolized: George Washington represents the struggle for independence, Thomas Jefferson the idea of government by the people, Abraham Lincoln for his ideas on equality and the permanent union of the states, and Theodore Roosevelt for the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs. On the one had this is quite a feat of engineering but as much as I was amazed by its size I could not shake the feeling that on the other hand, this is also an example of supremely arrogant human behavior, for one to choose to permanently scar a beautiful, sacred natural place and blast off an entire side of lush wood covered mountain only to carve into it the likings of its leaders for the purpose of political and nationalistic propaganda. Coupled with the less popular and well know facts, including that sculptor Borglum was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and prior to this project was involved in sculpting a massive bas-relief memorial to Confederate Leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia. And more importantly, that Mt. Rushmore, sacred to the Lakota and known as Six Grandfathers, is controversial among Native Americans because the United States seized the area from the Lakota tribe after the Black Hills War in 1876–77 in spite of the fact that the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) had previously granted the Black Hills to the Lakota in perpetuity.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 3 – Tuesday, October 3

Third day we proceeded to another long day of driving without excursions. We drove through the remaining parts of Illinois and continued on through Wisconsin, Minnesota and into South Dakota. Someone once said that a person who has never seen American prairie does not now what vastness is. During our long drive throughout the day we enjoyed amazing views of endless prairie checkered with flower filled meadows and golden fields. Late in the evening, just after crossing into South Dakota we stopped for the night. Unfortunately, the hotel in question did not allow dogs so we had to smuggle Kiki because it was too cold to sleep in the car, but we were lucky and she was well behaved to our little scheme was not discovered.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 2 – Monday, October 2

The second day we decided to take it easy and so a shorter tour. We drove trough the remaining parts of Indiana and into Illinois until we made it to Chicago. Near the state border we passed into the Central Standard Time zone and gained an hour.

In Chicago we visited our friends Aditi and Subhayu, who were gracious hosts and made sure that we had a good time. Subhayu and I are good friends and until recently were also colleagues in New York. We were delayed and instead of Sunday arrived mid-day Monday but as luck would have it Aditi’s flight to Cleveland (where her current consulting assignment is) was canceled and she welcomed us with a wonderful assortment of home-cooked Indian dishes for lunch. In the afternoon we strolled from W Huron to Subhayu’s office downtown then on to the Millenium Park and along the shore of Lake Michigan up to Navy Pier for a quick tour of many points of interest. For dinner all four of us enjoyed a great local specialty, Chicago style deep dish stuffed pizza at Giordano’s. This light day gave us a chance to rest up for another long day of driving.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip
Day 1 – Sunday, October 1

The first day we had no planned excursions so we decided to cover maximum distance possible and drove through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and part of Indiana. We stopped for the night in Elkhart, IN. From Cleveland, OH on we traveled on interstate Rt. 90 which would take us all the way to Seattle, WA. For excursions along the way we would exit off the highway and travel on local roads but afterwards we would always find our way back to Rt. 90. And it is exactly along those local roads that we were able to see magnificent change of scenery, both in geographic and cultural terms. Experiences like these always remind me that although to those from far away Americans might appear to be “like this” or “like that” one need look just a little closer to catch a glimpse of various cultural, ethnic, religious, and social groups that make up the mosaic that is the United States of America.

Jersey City to Seattle Roadtrip

Our road trip from Jersey City to Seattle was very interesting. All three of us enjoyed it in spite of long daily drives, at times as much as 700-800 miles. We were happy that this time we could also take Kiki along with us. At first she was confused because to her a car ride meant one of two things, either going to Liberty State Park to chase a ball (a short ride) or going upstate to visit Ithaca (a longer ride). The second day of the trip she realized that this was something new so she paid continued attention to every detail trying to decipher where we are going, but by the end of the day she gave up and from then on she would nap in my lap only perking up her head when we stopped for a break.

Altogether we drove over 3000 miles and the trip took us through 12 states – New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and finally Washington. We started out somewhat later than originally planned, midday on Sunday, October 1st, instead of early Saturday but we eventually made up the lost time and still arrived in Seattle the following Saturday afternoon, October 7th.