Posts Tagged “Seasonal Summary”
This spring was a busy one, even by our standards. Together we made weekend trips to Los Angeles and in Washington State to Point Ruston, Alderbrook Lodge on Hood Canal, Bainbridge Island, Tacoma, Everett, Langley and Port Townsend. We also took a fabulous week-long cruise along the Danube River between Budapest and Bucharest. And James…
We traveled a lot this winter, both near and far. The first, and most major, trip was an unforgettable journey over New Year’s to Antarctica, where we flew on a DC-3 to stand at the geographic South Pole at altitude 9,301 ft (2,835m). As part of this adventure, we also made stops in dynamic Doha,…
In addition to more adventuring in the Pacific Northwest, this year we continued the “filling in the gaps” tour and visited several places that we either didn’t get to, or couldn’t reach, on our around-the world trip on Dirona. And we’re happy to report that Spitfire the wonder cat reached his 20th birthday this year,…
November brought winter weather to Seattle, with heavy rainfall and temperatures that brushed around freezing. We escaped the cold weather, but not the rain, on an Amazon River cruise later in the month. Temperatures there were in the high 90s F (32 C), with the sporadic downpours typical of the tropics. Preparing for the trip…
October is the height of fresh hop beer season in the Pacific Northwest. We didn’t plan a fresh hop tasting tour to Ballard this year, but ended up doing a small one with a tasting flight of fresh hop beers at Fremont Brewing in Ballard after a late Friday afternoon appointment nearby. While Ballard remains…
The Pacific Northwest often has wonderfully clear fall weather, with temperatures warm enough to eat outside, and this year was no exception. Except for a couple of days of heavy rain, we experienced September temperatures that often were above 70°F (21°C) and enjoyed many meals outside under a cloudless blue sky. And the wonderful weather…
August brought more warm and sunny weather to Seattle, and the return of NFL season. We attended two Seattle Seahawks preseason NFL games, and a couple of Seattle Mariners baseball games, all in T-shirt weather. And we had fabulous weather for a hiking trip to Washington’s North Cascades National Park, known as the American Alps…
July in the Pacific Northwest typically is wonderfully warm and sunny, and this year was no exception. We took advantage of the excellent weather with several outdoor activities, starting with a weekend of hiking in Whistler, Canada, and later a local hike and an overnight camping trip. At restaurants, we dined al fresco whenever possible….
After unseasonably warm and sunny May weather in Seattle, June was much cooler. But we got plenty of sunshine and high temperatures with a trip to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix at the beginning of the month, and inland to Hood River, Oregon near the end of June. In between, we made a weekend…
May brought unseasonably warm and sunny weather to the Pacific Northwest. We started the month on a cruise to Alaska, where the clear skies and moderate temperatures were notable for that time of year. We enjoyed warm weather for much of the rest of the month in Seattle, eating outside wherever possible. Following our presentation…
While Seattle did see plenty of rain that month, April travels was the dominant theme rather than April showers. We started the month with a weekend trip to Sagecliff resort in eastern Washington and ended it on a weekend trip to Vancouver BC. Of the three weekends in between, we spent one snowshoeing at Mt….
Spring arrived in Seattle in March, with daffodils in bloom, and weather warm enough to eat outside. But winter was definitely still in force in the Cascade Mountains, where we made a couple of snowshoe trips and enjoyed the snowy scenery. James made several business trips this month, starting off in Denver, then to the…
February was even colder than January, with Seattle setting a record low temperature for Feb 24th of 22°F (-5.5°C) and fountains and ponds freezing up throughout the city. We started the month at the Seattle Boat Show, where we presented a seminar on our the trip around the world and checked out some of the…
January was unseasonably cold for Seattle. The temperature fell as low as 27°F (-2.7° C), about 10°F (5.4°C) below average for this time of year, and several winter storms passed through. Except for a quick long weekend in Honolulu, we spent much of the month closer to home trying new restaurants and returning to old…
While the previous two years certainly had more big and unexpected plan changes for us, our first full year of living back on land was surprising in the new hobbies and activities we participated in, most that we’d not even considered six months earlier. Another very nice surprise for us was that Spitfire the “wonder…
The summer weather in Seattle continued from September into October, with a high of 81°F (27° C) on October 15th, 20 degrees F (11 C) above the average for this time of year. The dry weather resulted in many burning forest fires and Seattle’s smoke-filled skies made the city among the worst in the nation…
September was warmer than usual for Seattle, with the temperature frequently above 80°F (27° C) even late in the month, more than 10 degrees above average. The warm, clear, and dry weather was ideal for camping and we made two multi-night trips. The first was a three-night stop in Gifford Pinchot National Forest with a…
With generally clear skies, warm weather, and wildflowers in bloom, August is an excellent month to hike in the Cascade Mountains. And hike we did. Early in the month, we returned to Mt. Rainier for three fabulous days of summer hiking. The trails were bursting in color during the short wildflower season and “The Mountain”…