Summer has officially arrived in Seattle! While we've had a few hot summery days already, it never quite feels like summer here until the 4th of July. This year, the 4th fell on a Wednesday, making for a strange work week. Since Andy decided to work for part of the day on the 4th, we had a low-key holiday, and with the heat I was pretty happy to spend the day inside in the comparative cool. Our official 4th of July celebration wasn't until Saturday, when we spent the day on Whidbey Island. Even on the hottest days, the deck at the cabin on Whidbey is a wonderful spot, with a cool breeze coming off Puget Sound. We only stayed for the day, and our short visit had Andy and I itching to get back for a longer stay. Every summer, we talk about how nice it would be to spend a full week on Whidbey Island, but we can never seem to find the time. Somehow there's never enough time in the summer!
Read moreLife: Week 26
On vacation in Oregon, Andy and I decided to start the week off with a hike, so we headed an hour north for Smith Rock State Park, which came highly recommended by several of my friends. After a lovely hike through what felt like a tiny piece of Utah transplanted to Oregon (I'll be writing more about it soon!), we stopped in Bend for beer and lunch. Sadly, since I'd left my wallet back at the rental house I had to make do with iced tea, but according to Andy I wasn't missing much. While their food was smoky and delicious, Goodlife turned out to be his least favorite brewery of the trip. On our last day in Sunriver, we decided to make a trip to the nearby High Desert Museum which turned out to be much larger than we'd expected - almost like a hybrid museum and zoo. Their wildlife exhibits were everyone's favorite, and I was especially excited to see an adorable burrowing owl and an stunning golden eagle. Soon it was time to pack up the car and head home, and after a short work week, Andy and I were signed up for a full weekend of trailwork. After our lovely day spent working with Alpine Trails Book Club (read about that here!), we returned for a second day of trail maintenance in considerably wetter weather. As usual, even with the rain we still had a fantastic time!
Read moreSnoqualmie Lake - WTA Work Party
It was a cool and misty morning when our group of 10 met up at the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead to join a larger crew for some trailwork with the Washington Trails Association - perfect weather for working outdoors. After reading Dirt Work, Christine Byl's memoir about her 16 years working in trail maintenance, I could think of nothing better than hitting the trail for some dirt work of our own. I was beyond excited that so many other women from Alpine Trails Book Club agreed, and chose to spend a Saturday volunteering for hard work in the woods. Several in our group were even out for their first time!
Read moreLife: Week 25
Woah, I have so much catching up to do around here! I went off on vacation and seriously fell behind, but worry not - someday I'll get caught up! This week, after another quiet week at work, we took off a little early for our family trip to Sunriver. We got an early start Friday morning for the drive south to Central Oregon. After a long day in the car, we made it to Sunriver just in time for dinner and a short walk before bedtime. Over the next several days, we biked, we hiked, we drove in to Bend to spend a day drinking coffee and beer, and we spent many nights staying up late playing my favorite board game - Camel Up - which I'd highly recommend to anyone looking to entertain a group of 3-5 people. With the kids around, there were plenty of books to read and games to play. Our year-and-a-half old nephew turned out to be a great fan of both ping pong and foosball, especially after we swapped the traditional ball for the foosball table with a beach ball. I've never been much of a foosball player, but I have to admit, even I found it amusing with an oversized beach ball bouncing around unpredictably!
Read moreIngalls Creek
Each year, by the time spring rolls around, I find myself struggling against a desperation to break out my backpacking gear, stashed away since the previous fall. After the darkness and rain of winter, I'm itching to spend the night camped out on some wild and peaceful trail. There are always many problems with this desire; spring is a busy time for me at work, and I have several family birthdays to celebrate, so a free weekend before summer is in full swing is a rare thing indeed. The past few years, I've even had a particular trail in mind when dreaming of my early-season backpacking trips — Ingalls Creek. While many other trails in the area are still heaped with a mess of rapidly melting snow, this meandering trail in Teanaway is typically snow free for at least the first several miles. In the spring, like many other trails in the area, Ingalls Creek is decorated with a colorful blanket of wildflowers.
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