Some Firsts

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take the ferry home from Silverdale (where Rob's parents live - it's across the water from Seattle) instead of drive home like we usually do. It was a really nice day and I wanted cute pictures of Henry's first ferry ride!

And then he slept the whole time.

 Oh well.

Here's a cute one of us instead.

 

Beautiful.

We had checked the weather report on a Sunday which forecasted sunny skies for the following day. Perfect for a hike - Henry's first! The forecast ended up being a sham, and when the payoff for a hike that is uphill the whole way is supposed to be a view at the top, it can be a little disappointing when it's completely foggy. But, as always, still fun, and I still felt good after the hard work.

Here's the view. At the top is a launch for paragliding. The place is called "Poo Poo Point." Really. And yes, Henry took the name literally. No pictures of that, though.

 

 Me, feeding the baby. It was rainy and cold. It sounds like I'm complaining, but it wasn't bad.

 

Rob and The Boy.

I don't know what this is for.

 

 Henry, asleep on the way down. It's such hard work being carried four miles in a baby carrier.

The last "First"...

Mommy's first hickey.

Lime Kiln

A few weeks ago we had our Ward Campout. While the campout was really fun, I didn't take any pictures of it. I did, however, take some pictures of the hike that we took the next day.

On the Saturday after the hike we headed up past Granite Falls to the Lime Kiln Trail. The trail follows an old railroad grade and then ends up at a big kiln where they used to cook up limestone or something.

I really love old artifacty type things, and considering that the area used to be the site of an old mining town, there was a lot of random old knick knacks strewn throughout the woods.

Overall, it was a pretty cool hike and a nice one to end the summer season with. Oh, and thanks to the Van Leeuwens for coming along with us!

Rattlesnake Ledge

On Wednesday, Steph and I went on a hike that I had been hearing good things about: Rattlesnake Ledge. It is pretty close to Little Si and Twin Falls, two hikes that we did last summer. The hike is pretty short, but it has a nice steady climb, and some pretty impressive views.

From the bottom:

From the top:

After the hike we went to Isadora's, which is a little cafe in Snoqualmie that one of my students made a video about. After seeing the Tuna Melt in his video, I knew that I wanted to try one.

It took a little while to get our food. So the waiting room sign was appropriate.

The tuna melt was worth the trip. A good amount of dill and some nuts. MMM.

Mt. Rainier

Check this beauty out!

Rob and I drove to Mt. Rainier last week to go on a hike. The picture above is one of a only a few that we have where you can actually see the mountain. The fog rolled in shortly after, so we could only assume the mountain was still there as we hiked at it's base.

There are SO many hikes in the National Park (I somehow didn't know this prior to the trip). We chose the Skyline Loop (at Paradise) which is a really popular hike, but because it was my first time hiking around the mountain we wanted the best views (a description of the hike says, "The Skyline Trail above Paradise takes you quickly to nearly 7,000 feet-about as high as you can get in a short hike from the car anywhere in Washington state. The loop trip is spectacular on clear days, with views to the Rainier summit above, wildflowers all around and a view south as far as Mount Hood below.").

It is a little strange to hike on a busy trail, I felt like I was in the middle of a pilgrimage at times, climbing stairs in a line with other hikers. But it really was beautiful and obvious why it's so popular.


The hike turned out to be a little more than we bargained for, just because there was a lot of snow on the trail. Something about me and hiking: going down steep trails freaks me out - I see visions of myself sliding or stumbling to the depths below - but during this hike I learned a new fear: hiking in snow (especially when it's combined with a downward slope).

For example: (yep, we did this)

I survived, there were actually only about five stretches of snow and Rob held my hand (literally - I'm a wuss, I tell you!) through the stretch that was the scariest...

...this one. Just kidding.

Us on the trail Skyline Loop (wherever you see fog, just picture a 14,411 foot mountain):


The bathroom on the trail was cool. I pretended we were actually climbing the mtn and this was basecamp.

We had to take the trail slow because of all the people and the snow. It was taking longer than we had time for, so we saved a mile by cutting through the trail via the Golden Gate Trail, which is still 1.5 miles long (we had come 2.5 miles already).

I don't know what the second half of the loop looked like, but the Golden Gate trail was so so beautiful:

What a great hike! Hopefully we'll spend more time at the National Park in the future!

Summer Hikes (so far)

We had a slow start with a bunch of stuff happening this summer, but in the past couple of weeks Steph and I have made a concerted effort to catch up on our summer hike quota.

Last week, we ventured up Highway 2 to hit Bridle Veil Falls. The hike was a slow and steady climb, with a bunch of stairs. Bridle Veil Falls is on the trail to Lake Serene, but we had read that the trail to Lake Serene was pretty brutal, so we decided to stick with the easier hike. The hike had a nice payoff in the end however:


On Wednesday, we left early in the morning and drove up past Granite Falls to hit a hike on the Mountain loop highway: Heather Lake. Steph wanted to revisit the hike after doing it as a 2nd year at girls camp. She told me that at the time she thought the end of the hike was one of the prettiest places that she had ever seen -- she wasn't lying:


Once you get up to the lake, there is a nice half-mile loop around the lake.

Here is my swatting stick to combat all of the spider webs.
This photo is by Steph who is well on her way to becoming a renowned nature photographer.

Hopefully we'll get a few more hikes in before the summer ends. Let us know if you want to tag along!