Adventure: Roadtrip to Seattle

Safeco Field

In thinking out loud I mentioned I would like to see the Twins play in Seattle while I was living in Oregon. So Chantel pulled up the schedule and they just happened to be playing there the next weekend. The tickets on the Mariners website were a bit more than we were willing to pay so I looked them up on StubHub and found them as low as $4.85. But needing a group of 5 we had to settle for the $8.99 plus a transaction fee and online printing fee. So all and all we paid $11 apiece to sit in the centerfield bleachers, which I must say were not bad seats!

We then took our roadtrip, Chantel and 2 friends from North Dakota, Natalie and me. It was a pretty easy 3 hour drive to Safeco, finding parking also was not bad and only cost $5. The game itself was a bit boring due to lack of hits, but the Twins won 1-0, so I was happy!

Seattle Space Needle
With the opportunity of being in Seattle we couldn’t pass up the chance to visit the Space Needle. We found parking a ways from the Needle and walked through a park with a large amount of green space and a cool fountain. Then around the children’s science center and finally found the Needle. While none of us felt the need to go up, it was neat seeing the site in person.

Pikes Place Pier
Again another opportunity presented itself while we were driving through Seattle and that was to visit Pikes Place Market and Pier. The market was an open air market, with fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers and of course fish. The fish part wasn’t too appealing to me, but it’s popular there and we stopped at the original market place.
After walking around the market we continued walking down on the pier and had to stop for seafood. I must say I was a bit apprehensive about eat any seafood, but tried baby shrimp. I can’t say I was amazed, but it was edible.

Church Round 2

That Sunday we tried another church, this time in Tigard. Which is even further than eastern Hillsboro! The church was huge and chaotic! We went into the sanctuary and there were no seats left and I feel like no ushers present either. So we continued on to their ‘viewing room’ which is a live TV broadcast of their sermon. Not a fan of the unorganized control of the church members or having to watch it on a TV. It made the shorter ‘long’ drive to the Hillsboro church more appealing for the smaller church size. We will have to try out another, but Westport in Hillsboro is looking good. This church however had a picnic after church and I got to have a salmon burger and this I can say I was impressed by!

Adventure: Into the City

The first weekend of living in our new house lead to an adventure into the city.

Portland Saturday Market

This was an adventure day sparked by Chantel, because of the plans of having to meet with some relatives for supper. So we headed downtown Portland. After circling several blocks we found some street parking. We then walked along the river observing the view and the different people along the route. Then we stumbled across the Saturday Market, I guess it was kind of hard to miss.

There were tents of vendors. We walked through it all looking at random items and the different kinds of foods that were served. We then continued on and walked around Pioneer Square and through stores on our way back to the parking spot. Along the way we found an area with neat little waterfall fountains, where the photographers in us all took over and we took pictures and just enjoyed sitting for a while.

Rose Garden
After the stop downtown we decided to visit the rose garden. It was incredibly busy, finding parking was very stressing. Once we found a spot and made our way to the garden we discovered about three wedding parties have pictures taken in various parts of the garden as we wandered. Chantel and her friend Jess were all about getting pictures, but having been there once before I just walked and enjoyed the view and took in the scene. I find it calming to just sit in an area with green plants and observe and think.

Finding a Church

We tried a church in eastern Hillsboro on Sunday. I enjoyed it and the sermon hit an important point. ‘Families are imperfect, but they are families.’ We need to love our families because they are what God gave us. He loves us despite our imperfections and sins. We should be able to do that with our family, nothing should create a wound so deep it cannot be forgiven or worked out.The downside of this church was the distances was a bit long, especially once the soccer season starts and I have to cover games on Sundays. It will make getting there and back before the games start impossible. So we will be trying a couple more and maybe hitting this one when possible.