Friday, August 23, 2013

Good bye Seattle

After almost 2 months in Seattle, Sarah is heading back to Austria. I'm missing her already.

Loading the plane and boarding passengers.
Pushing the plane off the gate. 17 hours of travel ahead.
16.5 hours later at Vienna International Airport, united with Sandy and on the phone with Peter in Seattle.  Only a short 45 minutes drive home left to go.


Last evening in Seattle

Can't leave Seattle without a famous burger at the RAM.  Cheers!


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Audobon Teen Trekker Nature Camp

I was from August the 5th to August the 9th on a Nature camp. We were four boys and four girls. Here are the names of the other children: Tristan, Trenton, Sten, Mason, Emily, Desivie and Gwen. 

Monday, 5th 2013

Today I met the other children. First we had to make a little book by our self. It was really fun because nobody told us, how to do it. When Sara was there, we played a little game. Everyone could get four different snacks. A fruit snack, carrots, nuts and Annie's brunch. You could take one of each or four from one of the snacks. For each of this snacks you have to say something about your self.

  • Fruit snack:  ( I can't remember)
  • Annie's Brunch: Something crazy that happend to you
  • Carrots; about your family/pets
  • Nuts:  favorite hobbies
Outside we played a game on wooden planks. One of us was blind and we had to tell him, what he should do.  The goal was to go on the other side of the place were we started.  In the beginning it was a bit hard but in the end there were no problems. 
We also met Sara's snake Draco. It is a small snake and it is three years old. In a park we ate our Lunch. Later, we walked to a place, were we sat at the water.  After that, we walked back and played games.

Tuesday, 6th 2013

Today we made a list, where we can write our names next to a job for the camping trip ahead of us.  We also looked for things, what we need for the trip to the North Cascades NP.  It was a lot of work to find the right things.
We also went on a hike with the other children. I think, we drove 45 minutes to the place were we went on the hike. There we played a game about knowing the names of the other children.  Then we set up the tents. Sara asked us who was born in January, February or March and these people had to set up a tent. Then people from April, May or June had to set up another tent and so on.  After that we ate our Lunch. When we were ready, we took down the tents.  It didn't take us too long, so we went on a hike. We had to answer questions about nature on a paper, too.  It was very interesting.

Wednesday, 7th 2013

Today we drove to North Cascades National Park with a big car. It took us two hours.  When we arrived there we had to set up the tents. (The boys were faster then the girls - of course!)  Then we ate our Lunch. Sara asked us if someone wants to go for a little hike.  Gwen, Mason, Tristan and I said "Yes".  The other children and Ambar stayed at the camp site.  Before we returned from our hike the others began to cook Dinner.  We had Burgers and Veggie Burgers.  At night we played "BS", a fun game of cards.

Thursday, 8th 2013

Emily and Desivie woke us up in the morning.  For Breakfast we had chicken links, hashed browns and scrambled eggs. (Yummy :D)  After that we went for another hike of two hours.  It was amazing!  On the way back, I played with Sara and Sten "Two trues and one lie".  You had to tell three stories from you.  One of them should be lie but the others had to guess which one is the lie.
For Lunch we made Grilled Cheese and Quesadillas.  I helped Gwen because she was the only one who had signed up for "cooking Lunch" and for me this was not fair if she would have had to cook alone.  When we were done we walked with Sara and Amber to a place where we were allowed to go into the water.  It was cold but comfortable :D.  Sten and Tristan were very wet!
Sara had to buy fire wood and Gwen, Mason and Desivie went with her. Emily and I began to cook Dinner. We made Spaghetti with Alfredo sauce and fly :).  Fly because Emily mixed the Alfredo sauce and after a while she said: "Oh, a fly!" She stopped for a second.  Then she said: "Oh well" and mixed the fly in the Alfredo sauce. The name of the fly was Gilbert. It was really fun. :D
At night we looked for stars. There were lots of stars. It was also cold but we weren't too long there.

Friday, 9th 2013

Gwen and I had to wake up the others. Sara said the night before that we can make the hot cocoa before we wake up the others. Gwen had a good idea. She took a cup with hot cocoa without water and showed the cup to the boys.  She said: "Hey Guys, we have hot cocoa."  Tristan and Trenton jumped out of the tent and wanted the hot cocoa, despite Tristan telling us the early in the week that it is very hard to get him out of bed.  Once everybody was out of bed, we had cereal with almond milk and coconut milk.  Then we had to take down the tents (This time, the girls were faster then the boys) and load our stuff into the car. Sara wanted to go for another hike with us but most children wanted to go to the water instead. We spent only five minutes at the water.
When driving home, we took a little break  There Tristan found a dead finch on a car from Texas. He dug a whole for the bird and all children helped him. Then we took pictures of the grave and after that we drove home.  We arrived back home one and a half hours late because of the traffic. When we arrived, we helped Sara and Amber to put all stuff out of the car. 

It was really great!!!!


Monday, August 19, 2013

Update on my state quarter collection

Thanks to many friends helping me find state quarters, I have a full set of 50 state quarters, DC, and 5 territories. 


Thanks everyone!!!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

River Rafting on the Wenatchee river (Eastern Washington)

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

First time river rafting for Sarah!  And it started by getting out of bed early :(  However, we made it, packed up swimwear and dry clothes for the way home and headed out toward Monroe, following Highway 2 over Steven's Pass into Eastern Washington all the way to Cashmere, WA.  Leaving the cloudy sky behind in Western Washington, the eastern side of the Cascades greeted us with a 90 degrees sunny day - 90 degrees Fahrenheit that is (leaving you with a little puzzle on how to convert that into degrees C).

The drive was about 2:30 hours long and we arrived at Cashmere, WA, just in time to get a sandwich for lunch and get changed for the trip.  Everybody grabs a life vest and a paddle and jumps on the school bus that carries paddlers up the river to the launch site.  A quick safety briefing, a few practice turns in calm waters, and down the river we go in a small boat that holds six people.  Five more boats follow in our group, but we are in the lead boat and get to explore every bump, every wave, every eddy before the others get there.  The water is cold when it splashes at us, but it is even colder when we attack another boat during a calm stretch of the river and soak them with river water :)

This isn't our boat but it is on the same stretch of the river that we were on - so much fun.

The trip goes for about 2:30 hours on the river and we enjoy several rapids, go underneath bridges, watch Ospreys in their nest, see one Bold Eagle sitting in the trees, and take a break at a beach to take a swim.  Peter is soaking Sarah in the cold river to compensate for skipping a shower that day.  The trip ends after some really tricky but most fun rapids.  Dinner is served by the rafting team in form of grilled steak and tasty sweet corn - yum.

Every fun day comes to an end and ours closes by the long drive home, this time using HW 97 and Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle.  The only sad part of the day was saying good bye to Sarah's favorite pair of Jeans who eventually burst at the seams and are beyond repair :(

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Visit to Woodland Park Zoo

On July 28th, we visited the Woodland Zoo.

Peter and I spent five hours at the Zoo.  There we saw lots of animals, for example a sloth bear or two Komodo dragons.  

In some parts of the Zoo we had to pass a forest or a glasshouse.  The sloth bears, the lions and the Jaguars had got babies.  At the sloth bear we saw two cubs, at the lions three youngsters and at the Jaguars we saw one little one. They all were so cute!!!

There were lot of animals and we visited most of them.  I think, the best animal was the Komodo Dragon.  I had never heard about this animal and in the first moment I thought it was a real dragon with wings but it hasn't got wings :(.  The head looked a little bit like a dragon but its body was like a big lizard.

Peter wanted to show me the Grizzly Bears.  He said, that it can kill people. At the enclosure we saw two full-grown Grizzly Bears.

This are the animals, which we saw at  Woodland Park Zoo:
  • Flamingo
  • Lemur
  • Gorilla
  • Tree Kangaroo
  • Kangoroo
  • Penguin
  • Sloth Bear
  • Snow Leobard
  • Emu
  • Wallaby
  • Snow Owl
  • Grizzly Bear
  • Steller's Sea Eagle
  • Elk
  • Wolf
  • Meerkat
  • Orangutan
  • Siamang
  • Tapir
  • Komodo Dragons
  • Warthog
  • Indian and African Elephants
  • Lion
  • Patas Monkey
  • Giraffe
  • Visayan Warty Pig
  • Hippo
  • Rattlesnake
  • King Cobra
  • Python
  • Two-headed lizard
  • Sloth
  • Flying Fox
  • Gila Monster
  • Tucan
I had never seen these animals:
  • Steller Sea Eagle (they are bigger than a Bolt Eagle)
  • Rattlesnakes and King Cobra ( they are really venomous)
  • Two-headed lizard that I could touch ...
It was a great day in the Zoo because in the Zoo there were lots of animals and also one, which I didn't know before :D.
At the visitor center:  the next movie in the series :)

Summer course "Demystifying Computers" at the University of Washington

From  29th of July through the 2nd of August I took a computer class at the University of Washington.



In this class there were 14 girls in the age of 13 to 19 years old.  We learned about how computers think. There was one group leader, Mike, and also seven teaching assistants who could help us, if we had a problem.

I spent three hours a day in this class. In the middle of the three hours we made a little break. During the break we were able to take a snack if we wanted. We could either take a small bag with crispy gold fish or a bag with fruit gummies.  Today we were allowed to take both of them :)

We played an educational computer game called "Gidget". In this game you have to clearly tell the computer what you want from it = programming. We had to play in groups and our group was called "green-yellow" which are mine and Shira's favorite colors.

We had to write our own code solution and figure out which one of the possible right one's.  All levels were different. For all levels, the playing field is a grid.  Sometimes it is larger than in the other, and some times smaller.  In the first level, for example, you have to make "Gidget" go to a puppy.  The grid is 3x3 squares. The Gidget starts in the middle ([1,1]), the puppy stands on an underlying ([2,1]). Next to the grid there is a display where we could enter our code.  It started with an example written "left" but we had to go "down". You can replace the word "left" by "down 1".  The Gidget will go "down 1" because I wrote the word into the display, where the code will be standing.

Some levels were more difficult, but once you understand the commands, then they become easy.  In this game you learn playfully how computers think.  If you have played all the levels, you can also design your own levels with your own objects, sounds and backgrounds but it is much more difficult for program a level than playing them all together.

It was a really great week, because I now understand a bit more than before. :)

Saturday, July 27, 2013

State quarter collection

This is a map of the United States of America designed to organize my collection of state quarters.  So far, I collected 47 states, the District of Columbia, and three Territories.

States and Territories that I have so far

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

District of Columbia
Guam
Northern Mariana Island
American Samoa
Puerto Rico (from national park series)

Still Missing

Florida
Illinois
Michigan

Puerto Rico (state series)
U.S. Virgin Islands

Deception Pass

Stopping at Deception Pass on the way home from a week with Pam's dogs.  We walked down to the beach to verify that the water was cold, VERY COLD.

Deception Pass Bridge from the beach
"SAUKALT!"
View of the San Juan Islands.  This is where we went whale watching just a couple weeks back.
We drove all across Whidbey Island and took the ferry back to the main land late night.  Sleeping in the next morning :)



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Adventure with the dogs

July, 22, 2013

Today I'm allowed to drive to Pam. Pam has Mia and Foster and six other dogs. Their names are:  Dash, Ian, Sedi, Josi, Max and Asa.  All dogs are so cute!! Dash, Sedi and Asa do agility competitions.  Pam wants to teach me, how to teach Sandy some tricks and how to walk her since Sandy is too strong for me to go with her alone.  I'm there from Monday (July 22) to Friday (July 27).  Peter said, that he will sleep from Friday to Saturday by Pam, too. But I'm not sure if that's right.

July 23, 2013

I woke up earlier than normal.  I had to feed Mia, Foster, Eddie and Tax.  They were all hungry.  After breakfast we played with the dogs in the garden most of the time.  They loved it very much!  At lunch we drove to Applebees. The food was so yummy but so much that we could not eat it all, so we took some food home.  At 7:30 pm two people arrived here and Pam talked to them about dog training.  There were an 18 months old dog and a five years old dog.

At 10 o'clock p.m. another friend of Pam came and she brought her two months old puppy.  This dog is a baby of Dash.  The women hasn't got a name for the puppy so we are allowed to give it a name.

July 24, 2013

Throughout the night the little dog was very loud, because it wanted to get out of her crate.

At breakfast we met Barb, a friend of Pam.  She knew a good name for the puppy: Dancer.  So now the puppy is call Dancer and it comes sometimes when you call the name. I played with all dogs but I had to play with Dancer alone, because she is too small.  Now the dogs are lying on the ground and some are sleeping.  Mia, Foster, Eddie and Tax are outside in their kennel and I think they are sleeping now.




Monday, July 22, 2013

Weekend at Mt Baker

Sarah at Nooksack Falls, Mt Baker National Forest

Our company: Max, Dash, Asa, Josi, Sadie, Ian, Foster, Mia


Friday, July 19, 2013

Dog day weekend


Visiting Foster and Mia for the weekend. Mia doesn't like the crowd and takes a break - the rest of the pack is gathering around Sarah. 


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Movie Night

Today we went to the movies and saw Star Trek Into Darkness.
It reminds me a bit of Star Wars but it is much ..... Cooler!!!!
I would highly recommend seeing this movie.
Check out the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ec_rPApKCA  


Monday, July 15, 2013

Olympic National Park

July 13th, 2013

Today we were driving to the Olympic National Park. Before we arrived there, we were at a Indians Shop. This is a different shop, that you know in Austria.


When we were at the Olympic National Park, we saw lots of deer very close to us. We also made lots of pictures. The ranger, that we met, told us that bears were in the area. Mom and I were a little bit scared but we didn't see a bear.
During the return hike we saw a marmot mother with three children. They were so cute but they weren't close to us. :(
At the end of our trip we watched some deer, which went on the street and were near the cars but nothing happened.  

Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98866839@N08/sets/72157634653607508/

Exploring Victoria, BC, Canada





In the morning of July 9th, 2013 we sailed with the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, BC, in Canada. We were sitting in the first row down stairs. Clouds were at the sky and the ship was very fast. We needed three hours to Victoria. I thought, in Victoria were also some clouds, but this was not true. The sun was shining but there were some winds. When we arrived Victoria, we walked to our hotel, the Harbor Tower Hotel. We had the room 412 and the room had two Queen beds. Queen Beds are large beds were two people could sleep in one of it. Then, while on the way to the harbor, we stopped at a street booth and booked a city tour on an open-roof bus. The Sightseeing Tour of Victoria ( Hop On-Hop Off Stops) tour took one and a half hour around Victoria. It stopped at 23 points were you could left the bus or went in a bus. At the coast it was very cold and windy. In the afternoon we made a "Ghostly Walks". We heard about famous ghosts and what they have done in hotels or in some other houses. I couldn't sleep at the second night because of the story's.

July, 10th


At this day we were at the Butchart Gardens. It is a beautiful garden with lots of flowers. There was also a beautiful fountain, called Ross Fountain. We were there for two hours. There was a Japanese Garden, Italian Garden, Rose Garden and a Sunken Garden. If you ever go to Butchart Garden, take plenty of time more time, because two hours are a little bit to short. After the trip we visited Thunderbird Park. There were many totem poles and there are very tall and they were painted with beautiful colors. Closed to it there were the Beacon Hill Park. On a rock we made a little break. The Park is very big and we can't see the hole Park. In the Park there is a little Pond where ducks and geese are swimming. I stood under a tree and took a picture of a squirrel, suddenly mom said quietly: "Look, there is a peacock!" On the tree sat really a peacock. After a while we saw on a tree three bolt eagles. Two children and the mother.

For dinner we ate Lassagne in "The old Spagetti Factory". It was really yummy!

July 11th

Today we had to check out in the hotel but before that we ate Breakfast. i ate muesli and Mom ate toast.
After check out we walked to the Fisherman's Wharf. It is a big Harbor with fun house boats. We saw a pirate ship but we didn't see captain Jack Sparrow. Near the Fisherman's Wharf we saw a raccoon and I also made pictures of it.
We walked a little bit more and their we saw a big cruse ship. It was really big. Then we walked back to the Harbor.
Then we had Lunch in a good restaurant by the pier. We were watching Artists.
Before we said "Good by Victoria" and drove back to Seattle with Victoria Clipper Ferry. The crossing was calmer than last Tuesdays.


Links to Pictures


Saturday, July 13, 2013

Trip to the Olympic National Park


Today we visited the Olympic National park.  The day started with a ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island.  From there the trip led us across the Hood Canal bridge, one of only 4 floating bridges in existence. We stopped at a Native American art store and got a couple of dream catchers and these sterling silver ear rings:

            

From there we went through Sequim and Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge visitor center in the Olympic national park.  We left the car and went for a short hike.  Right at the start, we've seen several deer from very close.  A little climb later, a park ranger warned us about multiple bear sightings earlier today.  We hiked for almost one hour but did not see a bear.  However, on the way back we found a marmot mother with three babies and watched it for a while.  Back at the visitor center, there were at least 5 or 6 deer that allowed us to get as close as 10 feet (3 m) to get amazing pictures.
The way back went agin through Sequim and a stop at a lavender field before taking the ferry back from Bainbridge Island to Seattle.  Visibility was a great and we did see Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, the Olympics and the Seattle skyline from the ferry.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Independence Day fireworks

On Independence Day, we were watching the fireworks from Gasworks Park on Lake Union. The fireworks were fired from a boat floating on Lake Union and lasted for about 25 minutes.  Here are a few of Peter's firework pictures (click here) .

Monday, July 8, 2013

Whale watching in Anacortes, WA

This past Friday we went to Anacortes, WA, for a whale watching trip through the San Juan islands.  We saw one humpback whale and three orcas, seeing the humpback whale again on the way back to port.  Here are a few impressions from that trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackenziehelnwein/sets/72157634546220657/

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Picnic at Martha Lake

Lucky, the Schnoodle going for a swim

The Beach. Lousia and I were the only ones of us five who went into the cold water.

I with Lucky. He is also old.

Lucky, shaking his tongue ;)

In the morning we ate breakfast. Mum and I ate bread with strawberry jam. Peter ate bread with scrambled eggs. Than we made fruit salad for the picnic. Before we drove to Martha Lake we were at a sport shop, because Peter needed something. But in the end, mum bought also some summer clothes. 
At Martha Lake we had a good time and I liked the beach very much. Virginia brought  a small Kayak, were mum and I were allowed to paddle on the Lake with it. It was really fun and my jeans were wett. Dogs were allowed to go into the water, too. Lucky was swimming with his life vest in the deep water. He is an old dog but he can swim very well.




Saturday, July 6, 2013

Grill Evening

        
For Dinner we will have BBQ. This is a gas grill...
... and the food. Steak, yellow squash and mushrooms. 
At this table we will have dinner in a moment.
The Chef, but I think he doesn't know what he is cooking.  We will be surprised!

Hmm! Yummy, the food is ready!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

University of Washington

July 2nd, 2013
We visited the University of Washington. The whole University is bigger than the whole HTL Mödling! There is also a flower garden, the Red Square with George Washington Statue, a Fountain, Redwood trees,  museums, students have lessons outside and a huge library.

July 3rd, 2013
Today in the evening, mom was impossible to get out of the stores at the University village - boring shopping. 

Trying new food

So far I've tried smoked salmon kebab, crab tip, clam chowder (in a bread bowl), burritos, quesadillas, and latest Vietnamese food.  The pictures show me eating a large bowl of pho :)

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Duck Tour through Seattle

Today we rode the Duck through Seattle
Quack, quack

View of downtown Seattle from the Space Needle

And this is the Space Needle from below

Our Duck for the tour


Monday, July 1, 2013

Fun at Mt Rainier National Park


Pictures, pictures, and more pictures

Sarah was using Peter's SLR (Spiegelreflexcamera) for the last couple of days and made MANY pictures.  You can see everything here:


WARNING: these pictures are unedited - so a lot of bad ones in there as well ;)

June 27 - Arrival in Seattle, WA

Thursday, June 27 at 12:40 pm pacific time: touch down at Seattle-Tacoma international airport.

1:45 pm - done with customs and united with uncle Peter.  Transfer to Lynnwood for a brief break before taking the dogs to the dog park at the beach - bark, bark!  Afterwards a quick early dinner at the waterfront when a Bold Eagle flies by and lands close by on a wave breaker - cool.

Sitting on the waterfront

Welcome committee was lead by Foster


June 30 - Visit to Mt Rainier National Park



Seattle Temperature broke through the 90-barrier today.  We tried to escape to higher elevation and found plenty of snow at Mt. Rainier NP. Easy hiking off Paradise :)


Saturday, June 29, 2013

June 29 - At pike place market

Say hi to Rachel the pig - she is the mascot of Seattle's famous Pike Place Market

At the gum wall - years and years of accumulated yucky stuff