I shot Tyler and Aubrey's engagement photos this week and they rock. Look for the full set shortly!
The commution solution
(Yes, I made up the word "commution," but it works!) Where have I been post-wedding? Figuring out my new job, remembering names and faces and exploring how to find the New World that is Bellevue - just like Christopher Columbus did! Like his trip, there have been casualties and other people have made the trip to the New World before me, but I'm taking credit for it.
My previous commute was a straight shot from Tacoma to Bellevue on the Sounder train. Yes, it took an hour, but I had all of the amenties of the train, including comfortable, spacious seating, tables with electrical outlets and (usually) WiFi. It was nice. Here's what it looked like:
When I started at Eddie Bauer, I had to hop off the train early at Kent to catch a bus from Kent up 167, through downtown Renton and up 405 to get to Bellevue. This basically sucked. Because of the not-always-perfect bus and train times, I was looking at 1 hour, 20 minutes at best and 1 hour, 50 minutes at worst - EACH WAY. Further, the bus doesn't have WiFi, so there goes your blog posts.
Alas, who could save me from this commute dilemma? My wife, of course.
Amanda scored a job with her former employers again in Seattle, so now we drive together and she drops me off in South Seattle to catch a bus across the pond to Bellevue, and we reverse the route on the way back. The drive is a lot faster than the train because we have the carpool lane, and we're getting back nearly two hours to spend together during the commute each day. It's especially nice to catch up in the evenings at 5:30 p.m. compared to 6:30 or 7 p.m. Amanda drives in the mornings and I drive in the afternoon, which REALLY works for my need to zone out in the morning, like I did on the train. We've only seen one major accident so far, which happened the first day we started commuting together. Amanda cried, but once we got past that it's been smooth sailing.
So there you have it, the commution solution. Regardless of how I was getting to work and back home, I have two moments each day that made it all worth it - when I get to my new job, which is just fantastic and exciting. The lunch options around Bellevue ain't bad either. That other moment is when I got home. I love my house and family. It's not much more complicated than that. This must be adulthood.
Happy birthday and Father's Day, Senior!
Finally, honeymoon photos!
It's been a time-constraining transition back to normalcy, but more on that later. I finally got through the honeymoon photos! Without further adieu...
We stayed our first night at Casa Bella Rita, ranked the #10 top bed and breakfast in the world. It's true.
From there we went straight to La Fortuna, near Arenal volcano. Did I mention we stayed at the 5-star Tabacon resort? It included unlimited access to its world-renown hot springs, which naturally flow at a comfortable 100+ degrees.
You don't need to see this one, but it's my blog so deal with it.
After a couple days there we traveled to the other side of the volcano to Monteverde. Those kids can bike over there.
That last picture was of the only paved road in Monteverde. Our hotel wasn't on it.
Monteverde is where all of the great Costa Rican coffee is grown, so we went on a tour to learn all about it.
This is a ripe coffee bean (before all of its layers are removed).
Amanda loved all of the wildlife in Costa Rica, including this little lizard.
The thing to do in Monteverde is ziplining. We signed up for three hours and 18 platforms of ziplining in the rainforest. This concerned me initially.
Amanda demonstrates the proper ziplining form.
And there she goes! Our last run was over 1,100 feet and several hundred feet in the air. It was insane!
We ran into a little problem on the way out of Monteverde - We missed our bus! So, we paid a local to drive us three hours to the coast. This is what rush hour looks like in Costa Rica.
Thanks for the ride, Mario!
We made it!
The weather was amazing our first day at the Gulf of Papagayo and after we explored our Hilton grounds, we hopped into our rental Kia Sportage to find the nearby beach towns. Our favorite was Playa del Coco.
UNFORTUNATELY it rained for the next five days.
This made me very, very sad.
So we hit the road to explore.
We found the surfing town of Tamarindo.
We drank a lot of these.
And, to save money, did some grocery shopping.
We did eat at some amazing restaurants, too.
FINALLY, the sun came out!
Amanda felt inspired to do some cartwheels.
We spent our last day on the coast at our favorite beach, Playa Flamingo.
There's my wife and one massive beach!
You can right-click to save this as your wallpaper.
We took a little plane from the coast back to San Jose.
We were the only ones on the plane!
The views were fantastic.
We spent our last night back at Casa Bella Rita.
We had such a relaxing, memorable honeymoon, and by the end of it we were excited to be home and start our married life together.
Foto Friday: Honeymoon preview
This is what paradise looks like... or a Corona commercial without the beer.
It's also a lovely portrait of our toes. More to come. Happy Friday!