I suppose I might as well start at the begining - on Friday, June 4th, Dad, Mom, Ellie, and I left home with a 17' U-Haul truck filled to capacity and my trusty Alero to begin the ~1800 mile journey. We took four days to make the drive, and had some good times along the way. Here are a few pictures from our roadtrip:
Shakes at Kroll's in Fargo (after arriving in Fargo around 11:30pm...never too late for shakes!)
Driving across the great state of North Dakota
Staying classy in Montana :)
Feeling a little goofy in Idaho (or was this Montana? I forget.)
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho = beautiful
Welcome to eastern Washington!
We arrived in Seattle on Monday, June 7th, and had the U-Haul unloaded and returned in less than an hour and a half. How's that for efficient?! Apparently the Korstens are moving machines :)
Luckily, I have my own private entrance along the street, which made hauling furniture and boxes in very easy.
Mom in the U-Haul, still mostly full even after taking out the Queen size mattress set
Not too much later, all we had was an empty truck!
After a lot of driving and unloading, we spent the next four days touring Seattle. Mom, Dad, & Ellie didn't fly home until that Friday, which meant we had lots of time for sightseeing!
Space Needle in Seattle Center
Top of the Space Needle
Base of the Space Needle
Pike's Place Market
Original Starbucks
Original Seattle's Best
Elliot Bay - part of the Puget Sound, downtown Seattle (nice bangs, Ellie)
Washington coast
Sometimes we're a little weird. I suppose that's a Korsten trait :) Here Ellie and I are pretending to be ferocious predators. I think we succeeded.
Dinner one night at the Rusty Tractor in a small town on the way back from the coast. One of the appetizers they served was rattlesnake eggs. Here we are sitting on the rusty tractors parked outside.
Troll under the Fremont Bridge - he's got a VW Beetle clutched in his left hand. Very neat creature.
Gasworks Park on Lake Union. To the right of the Needle is where Queen Anne is located (my neighborhood!)
After my family members flew back to MN, I devoted most of my time to studying for pharmacy board exams. Luckily, all of my studying paid off, because I'm now a licensed pharmacist in the state of Washington!
I have also spent some quality time unpacking, decorating, and making my apartment feel like home. Here's a virtual tour of my new place:
Welcome to APT 10! (private street entrance)
View from street entrance - living room with huge walk-in storage closet, also looking into kitchen
Living room/study area as seen from kitchen
Dining table in kitchen space
Kitchen
Living room as seen from study area
Study area - notice the door behind the chair that is my entrance to the rest of the apartment building. I've also got a door for magical little creatures that may want to visit sometime.
My house plant - I've kept it alive for two whole weeks now! 
Looking down the hallway off the living room - bedroom is the only door on the left, walk-in hallway closet is the first door on the right, bathroom is the second door on the right, and a nice linen closet is at the end of the hallway
Hallway walk-in closet - plenty of room for clothes, shoes, and accessories :)
Bedroom
Another closet - this one in the bedroom
All of the doors have glass doorknobs - I love the classic touches that the apartment building has
Bathroom - love the tile in here!
So now that you've seen my new place, I suppose I should tell you all of some of my wonderful adventures in the Pacific NW. Here's a very brief summary of some of the things I've done...
June:
*Hiking in the Snoqualamie Pass to Lodge Lake with Justin and his friend, Anna
*Phil and Annalicia Niemela stopped by to visit on their way home to MN after a year living and teaching in Taiwan - so great to catch up with them!
*June also brought with it a newfound love for happy hour food at a restaurant called the Matador in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Amazing nachos for only four bucks, washed down with an ice cold Dos Equis Amber served with a slice of lime...yummy!July:
*Spent of the Fourth of July holiday on a boat on Lake Union with some wonderful people (Justin and his parents, parents' friends (the boat owners), our friends Nikki and Mike, and myself). While it was a drizzly holiday during the day, we still had a great time. Cruising in the boat, we passed the famous 'Sleepless in Seattle' house, Chahuly's glass blowing studio (the artist that made the crazy hanging chandeliers at Mayo Clinic), and Bill Gates' home along Lake Washington. We all enjoyed ourselves playing games, eating lots of great food, and enjoying the fireworks from a great place on the water. Luckily, the skies had cleared up by the time the firworks began, and we were able to view the show from the bow of the boat while cozzied up in blankets and sipping wine. Fantastic evening.
*Lots and lots of time was spent cramming for exams...so glad that stress is over!
*Hiking with high school friend, Kyra, at Ollalie State Park/Twin Falls in the Snoqualmie Pass, with a stop at Snowqualmie Falls on our way home
*Ferry trip across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island, where a friend of Justin's hosted a bonfire. Yummy smores, good friends, and fantastic views made for a fantastic evening.
(Justin, myself, and Nikki on the ferry, with Seattle in the background)
*Every day, I find something new that I love about the area. Just a couple of blocks from my apartment, I have an incredible view of Seattle. Here's what I get to see from Kerry Park...
August:
*Toured the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, WA (about a half-hour drive away)
*Spent an evening enjoying the sunset over the Olympic Mountain Range from the top of the Space Needle
*Spent four days working at a Safeway on Bainbridge Island, where Safeway put me up in a hotel so that I wouldn't have to commute via the ferry every day. It was absolutely wonderful - spent my mornings enjoying breakfast out on the hotel patio, sipped coffee from a great local coffeshop located on a marina, took in views of the water from two different state parks on the island, enjoyed a short hike before work one morning, and spent 40 hours working at an incredibly busy store*After my stint on Bainbridge, I had a four-day weekend to enjoy. I decided to take a roadtrip, and drove down to southern Oregon to visit my good friend, Steve, who is a fellow NDSU pharmacy grad. We had a great time catching up on life (Steve recently proposed to his sweetheart, Suzy, who said YES! So excited for that wedding next summer!), and Steve did a great job as tourguide.
Walking up RoxyAnn hill (mountain? not sure...but it offered a great view of Medford!)
Troon Vineyards/wine tasting in the Applegate Valley
Oregon Caves National Monument
Forests of northern California - we went to visit the redwoods, and spent some time enjoying the great outdoors. Oh, and this is Steve's new ride - pretty sweet, if you ask me! I thoroughly enjoyed my time as passenger in this vehicle :)
Hiking through California redwoods
California coast!
We even spotted this guy, who most likely is a pirate (who else looks out to sea using binoculars with a parrot on his shoulder?!)
Steve and I - pharmacist friends!
*After I arrived in Medford, I found out that I wasn't scheduled to work the following Monday or Tuesday...which gave me a six day weekend - practically a vacation! So I decided to take my time driving back to Seattle. Upon leaving Medford, OR, I headed northeast to visit Crater Lake (a 5-6 mile wide lake that was formed after an ancient volcano collapsed into itself and filled with water...it was incredible!) I then went west until I reached the coast, and headed north along Highway 101. I spent two days driving home, stopping many times along the way to enjoy the views, watch a sunset, take a morning stroll along the beach, do some outlet mall shopping, eat ice cream and squeaky cheese curds at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and walk out to a lighthouse. It was a great spontaneous vacation!
Crater Lake (Oregon)
Sea Lion Caves, just north of Florence, OR
Oregon Coast
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean, on a beach between Newport and Lincoln City, OR
Morning stroll on the beach in Lincoln City, OR
Oregon Coast
Haystack Rock - Cannon Beach, OR
Walking out to the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment (Washington)
Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment (WA)
And that just about sums up my summer as a Seattleite! While I do miss home and family/friends back in MN, I've been enjoying myself out in WA. Here's a brief summary (definitely not all-inclusive) of some of my favorite things about Seattle that I've discovered thus far:
*Lights twinkling on the water at night
*Mountains everywhere in the distance
*El Diablo espresso cafe
*The dueling piano bar at the bottom of Queen Anne
*A fabulous view of downtown Seattle/Elliott Bay from Kerry Park, two blocks away from my apartment
*The sight of Mount Rainier on crystal clear days
*Viewing sunsets from the Needle
*Apt 10 :)
*Late night meals at the 5 Spot
*Never being more than a block or two from a coffee shop
*Pike's Place
*Watching the glass blowers at the studio on the corner of 5th & Bell
*Browsing through the music selection at Easy Street Records
