Christmas 2009: San Juan Islands

So the whole family (meaning with Snoopy) took a brief vacation to the San Juan Islands over Christmas.  We stayed at the Lakedale Resort, renting a log cabin.  It was quiet, scenic (it was sunny every day!), and thoroughly relaxing.

Our plan to play tons of PS3 (a household present this holiday season) was foiled by the television in the cabin being too old for the PS3.  However we did find open wifi from a neighboring house so that was a pleasant surprise.

We took a bunch of pictures, available here:
http://www.thearyafamily.com/v/sanjuanislands.

Below are some of the choice images:

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Hiking Wallace Falls, Snoopy’s First Hike

Hiking Wallace Falls with Snoopy and Sunil.  Was a great hike, Snoopy loves hiking, as we expected.  It was raining through the first half of the hike, but the weather improved through the afternoon.

Click here to see all the pictures, some of them are below:

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Our New Addition: Snoopy

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We adopted and brought home a two year old rescue beagle yesterday.  His name is Snoopy.  We are attached to this guy from the first time we met him a couple weeks ago.  We are still getting to know each other but his disposition works with us completely.

So welcome Snoopy along with us.  Come and visit us and you too get to meet him.  He got a great grooming session today and is in the midst of changing his diet and getting used to our house and living in Seattle.  His foster family was in Tacoma where he had huge fields to run in.  So far he’s doing great and so are we.

Below are some of the pictures, the rest are available here:

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Swaranjali Recital 2009

Quick post from visiting Portland last weekend to watch my mom’s recital from her singing group.  Shaily and I had a great time from the event – Nisha aunty’s students never cease to amaze us.  I think Shaily and I were the only children there supporting parents but it was a great time for everyone.

Find out more about Swaranjali Academy here.

The pictures are below, also available here:

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Hiking Twin Falls Trail

Hiked Twin Falls Trail on May 30th with Bishal. Easy to moderate trail and very close to Seattle. Was a beautiful day and the trail was well-maintained and busy.  We had a great time.

Here are the pictures from the hike, and you can grab them from here as well:

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Hiking Rattlesnake Ridge

Shaily and I hiked Rattlesnake Ridge over Memorial Day weekend. It was the perfect way to start the hiking season this summer, and it was Shaily’s first hike in the northwest. We had a great time though the trail was more crowded than I had ever seen it.

Our pictures from the hike are below, or here:

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Townhouse in Seattle

outsideIn March Shaily and I moved into our first home together. We bought a townhouse near downtown Seattle, next to University of Washington.  We love the house we live in now and are slowly getting ourselves settled in.  There are still a few things we would like to get to finish the furniture part of setting up the place.  After that we’ll move onto artwork/decoration/etc but so far we are having a great time.

You should come and visit us or catch us on Skype and we’ll walk you around on webcam.

Some pictures are below and some more are here.

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Pictures from Sledding in Capitol Hill

Pictures from all of us sledding during the snow storm in Seattle in December 2008.

Had a great time with Cam, Lyset, Brian, Amy, Shanti, Isaac and Ferdinand. Cam convinced me try some thrilling cardboard sledding using the boxes we had from moving in. Turned out to be a great time.

Some of the pictures are below, the rest are here.

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Road Trip 2008 – Pictures Online

In November 2008 Shaily and myself drove cross country from Arlington VA to Seattle WA.  The trip took us slightly over four weeks.  We started on Thursday October 30, 2008 and arrived in Seattle on Sunday November 29, 2008.

Along the way we saw and stayed with friends and relatives.  After we ran out of friends and relatives we stayed at numerous Days Inn hotels (I can still taste the free breakfast) and one EconoLodge (wouldn’t recommend it).

We drove and drove, here is a rough map of our route:

View Rajat and Shaily’s Roadtrip 2008 in a larger map

The cities we covered are all marked on the map, but here they are in order: Philadelphia PA, New York City NY, Zanesville OH, Kent State OH, Ann Arbor MI, Chicago IL, Minneapolis MN, Bend SD (Badlands National Park), Mount Rushmore SD, Chugwater WY, Cheyenne WY, Park City UT, Portland OR, Seattle WA.

We stayed with friends or family in: Philadelphia, Zanesville, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Portland, Seattle.

Here are some of the pictures, the rest can be found in the Photo Gallery.

Road Trip 2008 - Washington DC to Seattle
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It Lives!

Give us some time to get some content on the site – but Shaily and I are thrilled to get this site off the ground.  We have lots of stories, travels, and other musings to share.

Check back soon!