The return of the sun

I snapped this picture the other morning while waiting at the bus stop:

The sun was rising over the Cascade Mountains and reflecting in such a lovely way on the clouds. My camera phone seriously does not do this image justice at all. But as I enjoyed the colors on clouds it made me so happy to see the sun returning to the Pacific Northwest. The bus ride over the West Seattle bridge was so beautiful that morning, with the view of Mt. Rainier and the Duwamish River on one side and Elliot Bay and the Seattle skyline on the other side.

I wish I could have snapped a few more pictures, but mornings like that make me feel good to take that ride into work.

Welcome back sun. I hope you're hear to stay for a while. We missed you.

Snow in Seattle!

The big snow storm that I'll admit I was totally skeptical would actually hit Seattle - did. And while it only dumped about 3 inches in Seattle, it completely shut down the city. Although I had to go to work. It only took me an hour to get to work - that was an easy commute compared to most.

Here are some pics I snapped with my cell camera during my big adventure into the snowy city:

On the street to my bus stop. My bus didn't actually stop for us (again). Another bus on a snow route stopped to pick us up. Someone at the stop asked the driver if she was going downtown. She replied, "Hopefully." It was good enough to me because it was really cold.

Here's a bench and the plaza at work. It was a little snowier downtown than at my house, a mere three miles away. Downtown Seattle was like a ghost town. This is how bad it was: at 10 am I trudged across the street to Starbucks and there was NO line.

Ah....public transportation

On a recent sunny and beautiful afternoon, I was waiting at my bus stop for my ride home. I wasn't on the phone, Ipod or reading my book. I was just simply soaking up the sun, waiting for my bus. So when it came, I hopped on at the back door (it was one of those long articulated buses) and found a seat. I pulled out the Ipod and book and quickly became engrossed in finishing my book. Soon I realized that the bus was going pretty fast for a neighborhood street. I looked up to figure out when my stop was coming along only too see a building address with "Aurora" in the name. Then, we were crossing the Aurora bridge. I was on the wrong damn bus. I had gotten on the express instead of the local. I could have sworn there wasn't an express sign, but apparently the sunlight was rather distracting.

So I calmly put away my Ipod and book, got my bus pass and decided to act cool. I hoped off at the first possible stop, trying to figure out just where the hell I was and how I was going to get home. But as I was trying to figure out my own situation, as couple came up to me who also got off the bus. The woman had a map and a very thick accent. They were foreign tourists who had made the same mistake I had. She was pointing to her map and to the roads. I basically told them to get back on another bus and head downtown and start over. Then I called Rebecca. She - luckily had taken the day off because she had just ran the Vancouver Half - she answered and I said:

Me: "You can totally make fun of me, but I need your help."
Her: "Ah.......yes?"
Me: "I got on the wrong bus and I need you to pick me."
Her: Hysterical laughter.

So once we figured out where I was (turned out, not that too far away from her place), she came and picked me up- still laughing. But then she confessed that she's done this too. I guess I am now a true bus commuter.