Walk with us in Sequim

Dear Sequim visitors and residents,
With the lovely sunny weather having arrived, everybody is trying to get out of the house into our beautiful nature in Sequim and area...for a first hike in the Olympic Mountains, an invigorating bike-ride on the Olympic Discovery Trail or just a relaxing walk starting at the Railroad Bridge at Dungeness River.

Guess what you won't be alone. There are different walking and biking events coming this June, for all those who want to enjoy some company. June 1st the First Friday Art Walk Sequim will take place, inspired by Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night painting. Just as van Gogh's painting has brought inspiration to many artists, this walk welcomes visitors to enjoy warm star-filled evenings in Sequim. The July 6 First Friday Art Walk's theme By the Lavendula Luna will get get us in the mood for the Lavender Festival. The free guided art walk is open to people of all ages. Visit the Sequim Art Walk website for more information.

Get out your walking and bikes shoes for the first walk-bike-a-thon in Sequim on the Olympic Discovery Trail on June 3rd. The walk or bike ride will begin at at 1pm at Railroad Bridge, east side of the Dungeness River. The donations will be used to support the upkeep of the Railroad Bridge Park and the Dungeness River Audubon Center. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and bring water or juice to stay hydrated. The 3-hour, 4-mile course ends at 4pm but participants can turn around whenever they want to.

We love our walks and bike rides on the Olympic Discovery Trail. It will all depend how much energy we will have after moving into our new Sequim home, which is supposed to happen this weekend, when things go according to schedule. We'll try to be there. Greetings from sunny Sequim
p.s.
We just added the new photos to our Carrie Blake Park post. Please, enjoy.

Thank you to our dear friends Steve and June from Hawaii for visiting us in Sequim on their vacation on the Olympic Peninsula. We enjoyed a nice relaxing walk starting at the Railroad Bridge leading along on the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Tags: Olympic Discovery Trail, Sequim, vacation, travel

Bus service from Sequim to Seattle, and SeaTac Airport

Guess what you don't always need to take your own car when going to Seattle, SeaTac Airport, hospitals or doctors visits. Especially when going on a trip from Sequim, it saves you the extra costs for daily parking fees in Seattle.

The daily bus service serving Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Discovery Bay, Kingston, Edmonds, Seatac Airport, Seattle Hospitals, Greyhound and Amtrak is convenient, comfortable and affordable.

We had told our friend about this great service who had to drop his moving van in Kingston and after that he was supposed to drop his son at Seattle Airport for his flight back to California. We gave him all the information about Olympic bus lines and things worked out perfect...the son got on the bus to Seattle and our friend took his car back home to Sequim. It saved him a lot of additional driving plus the expenses for the extra gas.

Advance reservations are recommended. Passengers may board without reservations if space is available. For reservations or information, including fares, luggage restrictions and connection, you may call Olympic Bus Lines 8am - 6pm at 360-417-0700. If you have a late night or early morning flight, you may even ask for special Seattle hotel rates!

With our next flight from Seattle Airport, we will make use of this great bus service on the Olympic Peninsula. Seems like the perfect way to start a vacation. We will let you know how it went. If you have used the bus service, please, share your experience with our Sequim blog visitors. Have a great extended weekend. The Sequimers
p.s.
Carrie Blake Park photos coming soon. Sorry with the delay but there was a further delay with moving into our new Sequim house as the carpet had some flaws and had to be sent back. Luckily, we enjoy living in our downstairs apartment but who can blame us that we long to move into the upstairs quarters after a house building time of over 6 months now.

Tags: Sequim Bus service, Olympic Peninsula Bus service

Sequim Carrie Blake Park

Dear fellow Sequimers and dear Sequim vacationers,

Most of you know that the Sequim Open Air Market is worthwhile a visit on Saturdays, whether you live in Sequim or just come annually for your Sequim vacation.

Today, we'd like to mention another place we'd warmly recommend to residents and visitors. First things first. We finally moved into our new house three days ago but only into the downstairs because upstairs is not ready yet. But to tell you the truth we are so happy to be here, not only because we are in our new Sequim Home but more so because it's peace all around us. Towards the end of our stay at the Sequim West Inn, the noise level from the Laundromat and car wash right behind our rental 'cottage' was getting unbearable. Remember what we said in one of our previous post...when renting one of the cottages, rent one on the left side, if you can.

As our new Sequim house is very close to Carrie Blake Park, we went for a walk to the Park, when the blue hole was there and the sun peeked though the clouds. We were pleasantly surprised. When we lived in our house in Sun Meadows (off West Sequim Bay Rd towards the Sequim Marina), we'd get on our bikes and bike through the Park and from there we mostly followed the Discovery Trail . We never paid much attention to detail, we just biked, enjoying the big picture. Well, this time we were on foot and were able to admire all the little details and the love which Sequim residents put into this wonderful park.


Most amazing was the Japanese Garden, which got developed in teamwork with our Japanese sister town. There are 11 blooming cherry trees and lots of other beautiful plants and bushes, a lantern island in the middle of the duck pond, a beautiful wooden Japanese gate and much more. What do realtors say? You must see to appreciate! Carrie Blake Park has a big stage for summer performances, a playground for kids and its most recent addition, a playground for dogs where dogs can play with each other without being on a leash. It was fun to watch! Obviously Sequim dog owners and the dogs, big and small, enjoyed their time in the open. Oops , I nearly forgot the fishing pond where children are allowed to fish. That's much more fun than a video game!

With the next sunshine, we will be out taking photos of wonderful Carrie Blake Park for our Sequimtownblog . See you in the park. The Sequimers

p.s.

Our post on Sequim Environmental Issues is still open for discussion. We thank Sequimers Jason and Patricia for their comments on our Sequim environment blog post. Thanks also to the editor of Sequim This Week for publishing our letter to the editor.

5/30/07:

As you noticed, the Carrie Blake Park photos are here. Enjoy a walk through the park in sunny Sequim.

Tags: Vacation in Sequim, Sequim Sights, Olympic Peninsula

Sequim Open Air Market

Dear fellow Sequimers,
Here is a short update on our initiative to make everybody aware of Sequim town environmental issues. We emailed our 'Letter to the Editor' of the Sequim This Week yesterday and hope it will be published with next week's issue. We also included the link to our Sequim Town Blog as a reference for starting a discussion what Sequimers think. We don't know whether the editor will include this link but we are quite sure they will include our email address and expect to get feedback through that.

The Sequim Irrigation Festival is in full swing by now. Sequim weather cooperates with its best sunny side. Welcome to sunny Sequim! Looks like it will last the entire week, so we all will enjoy a wonderful Grand Parade on Saturday. Best place to be to watch the parade is Washington St, in front of Hurricane Coffee company. We'll see you there. We will take our bikes!

Here are the next exciting news for happenings and fun events in Sequim this week. Saturday May 12 the the new season for the Sequim Open Air Market starts. It will take place every Saturday from May 12 through October 13th in downtown Sequim on Cedar Street between Sequim Avenue and 2nd Avenue. Market hours are 9am - 3pm.

From Sequim and the Dungeness Valley come fresh fruits, organic veggies, plants and cut flowers. We were impressed by the big variety of lavender products: soaps, lotions and much more, which make great gifts when on a Sequim vacation. Sequim visitors and residents alike can find a wide variety of arts and crafts, from fine photography to metalwork to woodwork to paintings. Live musicians entertain on-site starting mostly at 11 AM and continuing until 2 PM on the Professional Real Estate Music Stage. About 25 to 50 vendors are usually present at the Sequim Open Air Market. Enjoy spring in Sequim. The Sequimers

Tags: Life in Sequim, Sequim, Sequim Events, vacation, travel

Sequim Town Environmental Issues

Dear Sequimers and Sequim visitors,

Whether Global Warming is a myth or not, we all can and should do something for our Sequim town environment. When we chose Sequim as 'our' best US town for retirement, we were impressed by its cleanliness and well taken care store fronts and Sequim house fronts. We were impressed by little things like the beautiful flowering hanging baskets in Washington St and the bird sounds at traffic light crossings to let blind people know when they can walk...

Having lived in Sequim now for about 1 1/2 years, we became aware that each of us can actually do a better job to contribute to an even better, cleaner environment in our hometown Sequim. We don't know whether there are environmental groups who already pursue these issues. If so, we would like to hear from them and join efforts with all environment concerned people.

The fairly new Sequim weekly newspaper SequimThisWeek is a great addition to the Sequim Gazette. We welcome that Sequim This Week recently started letters to the editors. We intend to write a letter about Sequim and its environment issues. Just a few ideas. One cannot write a lot with the allowed 250 words but we think its a start.

Here are a few ideas how we think we can make Sequim a town of environment awareness.

1. Ride your Bike or Walk in Sequim

Lucky us that there is no industrial pollution in Sequim but what about all the car traffic. Do we really need to drive our car everywhere or wouldn't it be so much better to ride our bikes or walk?! We could kill two birds with one stone...do something good for our health and reduce the CO2 emission. With gas prices steadily rising, this will become a consideration and hopefully a healthy choice for more and more Sequimers.

We need: more bike lanes (Discovery Trail is nice but this is leisure!) and more bike racks in front of stores! The only store where to find a bike rack (for 5 bikes!!!!) is Sequim Safeway. This is pretty bad. Guess what there are already quite a number of Sequimers who regularly bike. So, we need the help of Sequim town authorities to make at least the big markets add bike racks in front. Of course, the motivated biker will find lots of bike racks in front of Sequim's bike shop Mike's Bikes and not only that. These guys help you find the right bike for your age and your needs. Give them a try.

2. Save a Bag when shopping at Sequim markets

Having grown up in Germany and the idea of recycling, I get really upset when people don't pay any attention to the waste we daily 'produce' and what happens with it. Why not take your own shopping bag or basket to the store instead of coming home from your shopping with 3 or more plastic bags each time which end up in the garbage because you forget to dispose them at Safeway (other Sequim markets don't even have a disposal for plastic bags)?! In Germany or other European countries, the shopper has to pay 25 Euro cents when they want/need a plastic bag. Believe me you don't forget your shopping bag too often. Bring your own bag to the store and help reduce waste 'production'!

3. Make efforts to Recycle your waste

I know easier said than done in Sequim. When we first set up our garbage pick-up with Waste Management of Sequim, we noticed that recycling was becoming an expensive issue. More than we wanted to spend on it. It took us quite some time to find out from neighbors that there is a free recycling place for glass, plastic, paper & cardboard and at Blue Mountain outside from Sequim off Hwy 101. We collect all our recyclable materials and drop them 1x a month at the recycle place. Why not join efforts with neighbors and share the car pooling?

We ask our Sequim town authorities to 'advertise' this possibility for new Sequim residents in our Sequim newspapers regularly. Especially since opening hours are 'just' Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let Sequimers know when they can recycle for free! Better still make recycling a Sequim town concern!

We are looking forward to hearing from many Sequimers. Please, make use of the blog feature to leave a comment...click 'post a comment, sign in with 'other' (not google), add your name and URL (if you have any) and write what you think about our Sequim environment post. Enjoy the Sequim Irrigation Festival and the just opening boat season in Sequim Bay Marina. The Sequimers

Tags: Retire in Sequim, Life in Sequim, Olympic Peninsula