Savoring My Summer’s Moments of Gold

With everything we’ve had going on this year, much of 2019 feels like a blur. Still, we’ve managed to claim a few precious moments to enjoy time with friends and family. And all the things going on the day I wrote this post remind me how important it is to pause and treasure those good memories.

I often ask myself the point of working hard if you never have a free moment to enjoy life. When life gets difficult and you don’t have a spare moment, fond memories is one of life’s best balms.

I’m so glad we took a few weeks over the summer to enjoy ourselves amidst the hassle of buying a house. It kept us from overthinking things when our brains were in hyper overdrive and gave us chances to relax and catch our breaths when we needed them most.

And while I pen this, the memories of those good moments are topping up a fuel tank running on fumes.

Moments of Discovery

I mentioned our last trip to Pike Place while we were visiting friends in Washington. During the same trip, we discovered the Poulsbo waterfront. Poulsbo is a small city founded in the 1880’s by Norwegian immigrants. Today, the downtown section maintains its Scandinavian theme to honor its early immigrant history. Even before you reach the main street, the Scandinavian influence is evident in the brightly colored houses lining the residential streets.

Poulsbo has a magical small-town charm enhanced by the unique qualities of the shops that line the main street. We spent about two hours wandering the local shops. My favorite was probably the Away with Words bookshop. They sell books and bath bombs – not a combination I’ve ever seen before!

Away with Words turned out to be the most magical stop of the afternoon. Not only did they have books and bathbombs, they also had bookish teas! It was hard to resist the urge to buy the whole stock – and only the fact that we had to cross the border really stopped me. But I didn’t walk away empty-handed; I found myself the perfect shirt!

When we finished fully exploring all downtown had to offer, we grabbed some super sweet treats from the local bakery and headed home for a movie marathon!

Moments of Challenge

Before we departed for that particular trip, my friend Rowena mentioned a local trivia game. She and her husband had a grand time participating with some friends. So they invited us to join them for a Sunday night session. I’m rubbish with trivia. But my husband is great at it. And it sounded like a fun time. So we agreed.

Things got off to a rough start when the first question was write your most presidential dad joke. Instant panic set in. None of us could think of anything to write! But I channeled my inner love for Sorted (dad jokes every Sunday!) and we managed to get our points. There were a few other moments of panic. Like when we saved our ten point allotment for a sports question when not a single one of us watches sports. But overall, a good time was had by all.

In fact, we had so much fun, we went out of our way to attend two other trivia sessions. We didn’t really care about winning. But we did try to top ourselves each time. Our second go was probably the best. Though our score the final night was something of a mystery. (We lost track of scoring for one of the multiple answer questions.)

There were a few heated team arguments over which year certain events took place. (Which may have been the most fun of all). But we all agreed we’d love to do more events in the future.

Moments of Awe

We also indulged in some activities closer to home. While we had visitors with us, we finally took advantage of the nearby Myra Canyon Trestle trails. This gorgeous hiking trial occupies a former rail line. The trestles are bridges that the train used to cross gaps in the mountain passes. There are also two tunnels and a few rock cuts to pass through. But the most impressive thing about the trails is the view.

My husband had hiked this particular trail a few years ago, but this summer was my first time getting to experience it. The look out over the city we live in from afar certainly made it worth the terror of the switch-backing road that leads up the mountain.

The first time we took the trails, we decided to bike. That allowed us to make it all the way to the end of the trail and back in about three hours. It was a rainy day, and we did get caught in a small squall. But by the time we got back to the parking lot, the mountain sun dried us off.

The second time, we took the trail on foot. It meant we didn’t get as far, but it also meant we got to pause at more of the lookout areas. Not to mention spending more time with the friendly squirrels that line the path (looking for food from tourists, of course)!

Moments That Made Us Laugh

The last summer activity worthy of highlight features an escape room. We’ve done a few of these. The most notable one involved a mystery surrounding Houdini’s ghost that we did in Tacoma a few years back. That one featured an actor who spent the whole hour in the room with us and occasionally provided hints.

This summer, we decided to give Nathan’s parents their first escape room experience. After scrolling the available options, we chose The Potion Master – a wizard themed escape room. The basic gist was that we needed to brew a potion so that we could get into the Potion Master’s office.

Of course, I don’t want to give away anything about the puzzles, but I will say we had a good time. The hardest part turned out to be finding all the ingredients we needed to brew the potion. Even though we scanned all the labels on the jars about ten times, there were three we just couldn’t find until we burned a hint.

Of course, one component of escape rooms is the ticking clock. There’s always this moment of panic when you get into single digit minutes left, and logic is the first thing to go. But we managed to get out. Nathan’s parents were thrilled and I think they’d like to try another room with us next time they visit!

All in all, it was a pretty epic summer with lots of moments to treasure. I hope everyone reading this can say the same!