#83 / Pacific Daydream
Welcome to a special mid-week edition of the newsletter! It’s been a busy couple weeks of traveling and hosting family and friends, and we’ve got another trip coming up this weekend, to Door County in Wisconsin, so I thought I’d sneak this into your inbox a little early.
A couple weeks ago we flew to Seattle for my cousin Noah’s bar mitzvah. On our first visit, for one of Ashley’s pharmacy conferences a few years ago, we fell in love with the city, and we go back every chance we get. (It’s great to have family all up and down the West Coast—I highly recommend it!)
Seattle is an aquatic city, and accordingly, the weekend’s three events all took place beside different bodies of water. The weather did us a solid and allowed us to enjoy them free from any serious bouts of cold or rain (the San Diego folks’ mileage may vary).
Friday: Lake Union
Our hotel was in the perfect spot on the south edge of Lake Union, which is right in the middle of the city. We were super tired after waking up at 2:45 AM Seattle time for our flight; after a quick nap, we spent a while just hanging out at this rock beach.
That guy in the center in the inflatable kayak was practicing his rolls, which is when you deliberately capsize yourself and twist your body around to bring yourself back upright. He'd arrived at the beach with nothing but a large pack on his back, and he proceeded to pull out the kayak, all its accessories, and a waterproof jacket.
The guy on the right swam in the lake for at least half an hour. Keep in mind that it wasn't much more than 50 degrees out; when we waded into Lake Michigan a couple months ago on a 90-degree day, the water was still incredibly cold, so I can only imagine what this dude was feeling. People in Seattle are not messing around.
Friday: Lake Washington
A beautiful Shabbat evening with Mount Rainier shimmering in the distance, followed by a lovely dinner and a Marx Brothers movie. Pure bliss.
Saturday: Puget Sound
After the bar mitzvah service in the Golden Gardens Park, we watched an incredible sunset break out over Puget Sound.
Sunday: Lake Union
We were back at Lake Union for brunch on Sunday morning. What you don't see in this picture is that it was raining not much earlier, with ominous skies to the north, just out of frame.
The best part about being on Lake Union is all the birds! Lots of sea gulls, mallards and other ducks, and crows. Crows might be my favorite—they are a numinous bird for me. Something about hearing a crow call immediately focuses my attention and reminds me to be present, while simultaneously placing me in touch with all the other times in my life which I can remember crows being present for.
They had roosting trees within sight of our hotel room window, right next to the spot at the beach where we hung out on Friday afternoon. And on Sunday morning some of the crows came to check out what we had to offer. Ashley started feeding them some cheese crackers from our incredible Washington-themed gift bags. They were very into it.
I promise we saved most of the crackers for ourselves! Really, it was a delightfully thoughtful gift bag. We felt welcomed and loved throughout the weekend, and we are so excited for the next set of family events in 2022.