Seattle: AJ's Day out in Green Lake

These days, my job has me scurrying all over the city of Seattle to attend gigs, so I've been getting a lot of time behind the wheel exploring quite a lot of the city's streets. One day I might be out in SoDo working at an LGBTQ+ automotive shop, the next I might be working in a small bungalow in the heart of the university district. I'm not complaining one bit, because what better way to get to know a new city than by traversing it on a day to day basis? Sometimes I even find myself way out in Kirkland or making a special trip into the heart of Occidental Square. Driving through the city has given me the opportunity to witness protests in action, sea-planes gliding into the city, countless squirrels scampering and given me a glimpse into the inner workings of businesses I might never have set foot in otherwise. It's absolutely fascinating, and while I can't divulge too much about any particular place I work in, the surrounding neighborhoods themselves have endless surprises to offer. Given the nature of my work, flexibility is a major plus, and thankfully I consider that to be one of my strengths. Antho, too, has needed to be quite flexible these past few months as we've been sharing the van due to my Volvo being in the shop. After the drive from Vegas, and years spent living in the dehydrated den of sin where temps above 110 degrees Fahrenheit are normal during the summers, and her only form of tending coming from drunk questionably qualified friends of the family, the old girl was in need of some serious TLC. In fact, after getting into her transmission my trusted mechanic informed me that my situation was primarily caused and then exacerbated by the misguided efforts of the drunken sailors who'd poked around the engine prior. The poor mechanic sprained his back and given that he's a one-man operation, that slowed his progress on repairing the old girl quite a bit... Thus, our shared vehicle situation has extended on and on, a fair bit longer than we'd initially intended or hoped, but being flexible is a strength in this life we live.  

When you're always on the go, days can rapidly bleed into each other, a procession of driving along seemingly countless winding little roads, navigating parking in new corners of the city, and cloudy sunrises and sunsets all melting together. Every so often, though, Antho's day off will align well with a gig of mine, allowing him to escort me to my work and then explore a new area. His work keeps him closer to home, after all, so I've seen much more of the city, and I like to try to re-balance the scales when the opportunity arises. I had to spend a few hours working in the Green Lake area, so he dropped me off and went exploring at the nearby parks. He found a Japanese confectionary, squirrels galore, fall foliage in fiery shades of red and orange, and so much more! We hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes of our adventures. 

Washington: Mukilteo Lighthouse Park

Mukilteo, a hard (for us) to pronounce but lovely community North of Seattle, is home to a gorgeous beachfront park and a busy ferry route. During one of our free afternoons of exploration, we decided to head up North and see what all the fuss was about! We're glad we went for it, as we had an absolutely lovely time strolling through the park and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the area. Well, more smells for Antho than there were for me, given that my sniffer is pretty weak and bordering on full-on anosmia, but I digress. As the sun began to slowly lower itself in the sky, we were able to enjoy the brisk air and beautiful light for a good while. The weather being as it is up here, meaning a strong tending towards grey, drizzly days for an extensive portion of the year, we were not alone in our appreciation of a somewhat rare nice day. I'm not complaining about the company, though, as we were able to see a few super cute pooches and proto-humans galavanting about, which always makes our hearts warm. There were couples having a romantic picnic, families lounging on blankets or gathering around a particularly comfortable piece of driftwood, and the casual neighbors out walking their pups. While part of the park was closed on the day of our visit due to a wedding, we couldn't even be grumpy about that because there were still so many other things to enjoy! From the open, expansive grassy fields where people and their pups were happily playing, to the beachfront views offering unhindered sunset scenes and ferry-viewing, to the paved walkways leading to the nearby piers. Antho and I both thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and I look forward to the next trip so we can check out the lighthouse close-up! Unless, of course, there's another wedding, in which case we'll wander elsewhere!

These days, we're both gainfully employed and don't find as much free time available to go out and explore. Even so, it's awesome having so many options available to us here! Not only does Seattle proper have an outstanding number of parks, but each neighborhood, each suburb, has its own public spaces worth exploring. I'm so excited for the upcoming spring and summer months! There's always going to be an adjustment period where money and time feel tight when you move to a new place, but we both have secured jobs with room to grow and advance along with benefits and decent pay. In time, we should be able to breathe a little easier and make more time for exploration again. 

Korea: Yangjae Citizen's Forest part two

Not only is the Yangjae Citizen's Forest park a beautiful place to take a stroll or have a (boozy-optional) picnic and forget about your worries for awhile, but there's a lot more to the location than that. There are historically significant statutes commemorating brave Koreans of yonder years, exhibits, tennis courts, bicycle rentals, playgrounds, a small shop selling snacks, even a public library box! The Yangjae river connects this area to the Yangjae River Neighborhood Park so if you like feeding the fish or aquatic settings that's a lovely spot nearby to check out. I spent a fair bit of time there feeding the fish! I love watching them squirm about gulping for food as they get whirled up into a feeding frenzy. I'm also keen on areas with lots of water, having been a swimmer for much of my childhood. Here in the Vegas desert, we have to rely on swimming pools or our man-made lakes, or drive out for the Colorado river...or we can take an even longer road trip out to the ocean, 4+ hours away. My love of water made living in Japan, and then Korea, especially wonderful because rivers or the beach were never too far away... and as much as people love to complain about the rainy seasons, I absolutely adore them! It's always a novelty for me, this concept of water falling from the sky. It's pretty rare in my hometown, and when it does it's usually a brief downpour that floods the streets then recedes quickly. Being near the oceans, I loved seeing all the seafood in the markets and exploring coastlines and tide pools whenever possible!  

All this hydration in the environment also translates to lush greenery and foliage, and a bounty of living creatures thriving among it. You could almost forget that you're in the middle of the capital city. 

I watched squirrels spazzing through the leaves in their hyper-active acrobatics, birds sassing humans on the tennis courts, and several other humans enjoying this park in my visit. It was a beautiful day with glorious weather and I'm so grateful I went out and took this trek. It was much needed and I felt more at ease and at peace. Funny how nature can do that, even when it's confined to a plot of land in the city. Thanks, nature, for always, uh, finding a way.

More photos after the cut!

Korea: Yangjae-river Neighborhood Park

Seoul is a city that puts a lot of consideration into the creation of and maintenance of shared public spaces. The city as a whole is one of the most easily traveled I've been to with an extensive network of subways, trains, buses, and taxis connecting every corner of the city along with rideshare services taking the streets...all on top of being an exceptionally walkable place... but all that vehicular transportation would still fall short if there weren't places actually worth going to! Luckily for any visitor or resident to the city, Seoul has no shortage of things to do during the day. At night your options might constrict slightly due to trains stopping in the early morning, but you still have plenty of options for getting around. Most neighborhoods are so well stocked with convenience stores and restaurants that you wouldn't need to go far to find food or beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.  Drinking in public is perfectly legal, too, so long as you aren't an ass about it, so feel free to pick up a beer and have yourself a lovely little picnic while out strolling! On a warm day like this one it would certainly be a refreshing idea. I opted for an iced coffee this time through. 

The Yangjae-river neighborhood park is quite close to the Citizen's Forest park, though I believe they're separate entities. There's a train station that will deposit you directly in front of the park, but that would have required changing train lines and looping out of the way and back around from my particular angle of approach, so I got out about a mile away or so and walked. I certainly needed the exercise and the day was so lovely out that it would have been a waste to not take the stroll and soak up some sunshine. There's always something of interest to see! I was able to find my way to the park with little difficulty and took plenty of photos on the way and after arrival. 

I found my way to the Yangjae river, where I sat upon a stone as the water rushed by. I was talking to Antho, able to connect over Facebook messenger using my portable wi-fi egg to get my phone online. I'd send him photos spontaneously and we'd talk about our days, trying to stay connected as best we could despite the oceans between us. It wasn't always easy, and I remember being particularly distraught during this conversation, but that's life. No one ever said that a long-distance relationship would be easy, and a disturbing number of our acquaintances had dismal condolences and lackluster predictions for our success. We made it, of course, and are still going strong years later! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, though Antho is determined to never let us be separated like this again. He'll be with me next time. So for those of you who might think that a LDR isn't worth it,  or can't survive, you're really underselling yourself. Have some faith in yourself! We did, and here we are. I'm able to share my adventures with you all and get a foot rub and snuggles from the guy who's been there for me the whole time. That's pretty fantastic. We even pledged our loyalty in front of the Dark Knight, so you know we're not kidding around. 😉 

More photos after the cut!

Korea: Ilsan Lake Park Fall 2016

Ilsan Lake Park is a residential park a relatively short-ish trip out from Seoul city proper. It's only one or two stops past Hwajeong on the line 3 trains (get off at Jeongbalsan, exit 2) and is a really pleasant place to spend an afternoon or even a full day. During my visit the weather was splendid, sunny and warm without being overwhelmingly humid or sweaty, perfect for a leisurely hike. After lounging around a bit to let my lunch digest and then checking out the animal exhibit nearby, I continued my exploration of the park. It's a pretty big place, and I could spend countless hours here! During this visit I had to mind the angle of the sun as I had quite a long walk ahead for myself and wanted to have some light left near the end of it if possible. There's a lot to see and do inside the park itself, though, like checking out the toilet museum or the various different gardens... if you're more into running or biking there are tracks looping around the park specifically for those purposes! If you'd prefer to relax and watch the birds there are plenty of benches and bird houses to enjoy. It's truly a lovely park and something I was happy to have so close to where I was staying. I didn't get to visit the park as much as I'd have liked, but these things happen. Seoul is such an active and lively city it's really hard to fit everything there is to do into any visit, even one that's 6 months! The seasonal changes here are quite pronounced, too, so it's well worth it to see the different destinations in their different stages throughout the year. This visit having been towards the middle-end of summer or early fall, it was still lovely out and the foliage lush and green. I imagine it's a bit more toned down during the winter, then gorgeous come spring. Perhaps in the future someday Antho and I will get to find out. We have some plans for future travel and living abroad, but they're still just in the planning stage yet. You know I'm not going to let that opportunity go to waste, though! 💗

For now, enjoy the photos!

More photos below!

Korea: Ilsan Lake Park Animal Exhibits

Ilsan lake park is a large park surrounding a lake just outside of Seoul proper. At over 990,000 Square meters it's one of the largest man-made parks in Asia! It's a beautiful and relaxing destination, open year round. If you're taking the subway, take line 3 to Jeongbalsan station and it's a roughly 5 minute walk from exit 2. My first visit here was spontaneous on my part, as my friend and housemate Yonie invited me to go to lunch with her in the town surrounding the park on a day I hadn't any other plans yet. There's also a large shopping mall with tons of entertainment and food options along with all the fashion and cosmetics you could want. Since it's a bit outside the city proper it's cheaper to shop out here, too~! On our first trip out Yonie helped me pick out some skincare at Apieu and espoused their affordability and quality, and had some tasty grub. I ended up at the park because she had a meeting to attend, and since I didn't need to be directly involved (especially given my non-existent Korean speaking skills) she suggested I explore the park for a bit. 

Something came up and she had to leave, at which point I ended up finding my own way home without taking the subway- Hwajeong is the next town over, and though it's a 10 minute drive it was quite a walk. I'm not complaining, though, believe it or not- I was quite thrilled with how far I'd trekked! I didn't have wi-fi or any reliable cellular usage that first time through (all those websites bragging about universal free wi-fi throughout Korea aren't considering the rural / suburban areas so much) and I wanted to get a measure of the feat, so I returned with tools, and camera, ready to recreate my journey. Of course, the walk was for the return home, and I still had some sunlight left with which to enjoy the park grounds. There's a LOT to do here! I'd love to go back and spend more time exploring the park, hopefully with Antho there by my side. The juxtaposition of modern apartment blocks jutting into the sky around the park is in stark contrast to all the lush green gardens, animals and flowers within. I had a wonderful time strolling the grounds! There were many couples and families out enjoying the lovely weather, too. 

Ilsan lake park is definitely a nice destination for a relaxing day near Seoul if you find yourself in the city for any length of time! The photos in this post will be primarily focusing on the animal exhibits, so as to keep from bombarding you with too many all at once. 

Enjoy the photos!

More below!

Korea: Spicy jjampong on the way to Ilsan lake park

Oh, jjampong, what a delightful dish!

It's a spicy soup with seafood and crisp vegetables atop springy, chewy noodles. Served with pickled radish and savoury brown sauce here, it was a warming lunch indeed. This restaurant advertises their flare for spice with these cute posters adorning their walls; 

I mean, look how satisfied he looks despite the sweats! What spice level would you dare? I tried to order the level 3 but the two people I talked to advised against it, and when the cook himself comes out of the kitchen to try to admonish you about your food choices it's probably time to sit back and listen. In the end my soup was plenty spicy, just enough to make my nose and eyes water without being inedible, so I was able to eat the entire bowl with little problem. I do remember my lips burning for a little while afterwards, but that's a reasonable price to pay for the thrill of the heat. I wonder what a level three would have been like...someday I hope to try it, but until then it was a good meal and I enjoyed myself. It gave me plenty energy for the afternoon hike around Ilsan lake park that was to come, and then the ambitious hike back to Hwajeong after that. If you've never had jjampong, I highly recommend it! You can find it in a lot of Korean restaurants in the US, like Island Style or at the food court of Greenland Market here in Las vegas, along with countless restaurants in most large cities. Tiny restaurants like these are all over the place through any suburban area of Seoul and they're one of my favourite things, so I'm always happy when I find places back home that remind me of that experience. It's a special kind of nostalgia, the kind that leaves your lips tingling and your belly full and satisfied. One of the best things about living in South Korea is how affordable the food is- this big bowl of goodness and all the side dishes were only 6,000₩, or roughly 6$US (give or take, depending on exchange rate) with no need for a tip. It was a fully satiating meal and had lots of fresh colourful vegetables and seafood so I'd consider it reasonably nutritious...I mean, it's a lot of carbs and likely a lot of oils too, but probably not the unhealthiest thing you could eat for that sort of value. Most fast food orders cost more than that, after all, and how many veggies are you getting in that typically that aren't deep fried? Suffice to say, I love and miss meals like this, and try to replicate them when I can. So good!

After lunch I made my way to Ilsan lake park, which was only one or two trainstops away from where I was staying at the time. During my first week living there I'd walked back from there to the apartment where I was staying after my guide had to leave for other matters. We'd ridden to the area in her vehicle, so i'd been able to watch the roadside landmarks as we passed through and was able to use those to guide myself back. It was a long walk, over 10 miles, but it felt good and this trip was taken with the intent to recreate that original trek. This time I had a pedometer and map with wifi so I was better equipped than the first time through...yet in the end I found myself getting rather lost... so it's quite a good thing I fueled up with a hearty bowl of jjampong before striking out on my adventure! Ilsan park is beautiful and I highly recommend giving it a visit at any time of year, as it's charms change and evolve with the seasons. There's even a toilet museum. How can you resist that?!

More photos below!

Japan: Inokashira park with Yuka-chan 2012-11-15

Inokashira park is a beautiful open park in Tokyo. It was a bit of a commute from my side of town, but well worth the trip! On this particular day, Yuka-chan and I met up at a mid-way point then carried on for a day of adventure!