The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

I finally made it to Crystal Mountain this year thanks to Keith and Lisl dragging me up there. After years of skiing in Washington state, I finally got a great sunny spring day with good snow, and even great snow in some spots of the mountain.

 

I’ve recently added some new Seattle Center photos.

It has been a few years since I put on my snowshoes and strapped my snowboard to my back, but thankfully I still remembered how. I drove to Hyak today and hiked to the top twice. All of the chairlifts are gone due to a mudslide that took them out before the ski season, so hiking is the only option. The first time up was nice – only a few drops of rain. But the 2nd time up completely drenched me. It takes about 45 minutes to hike up and only a couple of minutes to ride down, which makes me appreciate each turn that much more. Even in the rain.

As I was feeding bits of a paper bag to Milo, our friend Hayley thought it was hilarious and wanted to get in on the fun too. Here she is feeding him some paper and even though it looks like it, she did not lose any fingers in the process.

Yes, Milo likes to eat paper; among almost everything else.

That’s right, there is Milo in this picture. I took a short ride from South Lake Union out to Shilshole Bay since it was a perfect sunny day in Seattle. It had been far too long since I was near sailboats and the ocean. As you can see, there are a few sailboats in the photo and there were many more out there too. Now then, who can I meet who owns a sailboat around here?  

On day one of my new life as a US resident, I were lucky enough to see the excitement of Seattle: the Fremont bridge going up to let a sailboat pass by underneath.

Today is my last day in London and I write this blog entry from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in the BA lounge. I fly back to Seattle today (Lorie and Milo already moved back), but will forever remember the last 3 1/2 years fondly: the friends, adventures, experiences, theatre, public transportation, way of life, diversity, pubs, and proximity to so many other countries. I know I will visit London again, but I won’t be a resident. Our residency will now be in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, in the shadow of the Space Needle. 

What is Milosthinking? You’ll have to click on the link to find out what it is and why I just made up a new word.

For my last theatre experience as a resident of London, Megan and I went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the musical. For those of you who were at Lorie and my wedding almost 10 years ago, you may recall we walked down the isle together to “I will survive” by Gloria Gaynor. It is one of the big songs used in the play, and even gets repeated in bits a few times. That means I liked the music, and the play was fun – quite gay as you might guess from the 3 guys in drag pictured here, but it was fun. 

On Sunday I took some time off from work and met Geoff and Silvia in Chinatown for a Dim Sum brunch. Our timing was either poor or interesting depending on how you view it. That’s because it was Chinese New Year and the streets were closed (to cars) and packed with people. There were stands setup with stuff for sale, a couple of big screens, a band, dancing dragons, and probably a bunch of stuff I didn’t see. Thankfully, the wait for brunch was a normal 15 minutes or so and the food was good as always. While it was interesting, I didn’t hang out on the streets since it was a bit too crowded and I didn’t feel like dealing with it at the time. I’m glad I got to experience it though.