Summerland Hike

Mt. Rainier from Summerland

I went on another hike with my hiking group today. What a PERFECT day to go to Mt. Rainier. The sky was clear blue, it was beautiful. There were only four of us this time as well. The trail was 8.4 miles, 2200 foot elevation gain - an easy/moderate hike I would say. And very popular, there were lots of backpackers!

meadow

Mt. Rainier from Sunrise Point

After the hike we drove up to sunrise point to get another view. We also saw Mt. Adams from up there!

Blanca Lake hike

I went hiking this Saturday with my hiking group. We went to Blanca Lake and, as John Zilly said, it is "one badass lake"! We had lots of fun and worked hard to get there! 7.8 miles, 3500 cumulative elevation gain! it just went UP the whole way! I think truely WE are badass!


Evan, Cain, me and Emily at Blanca Lake

Here is the true milky geen color of the fabulous Blanca Lake

We did have a bit of a "troublesome" time however. 3 of the 4 of us got STUNG BY BEES! yikes. (I forgot how much those hurt)


when nature attacks

For more pictures of Blanca Lake, go to the right column to LINKS and click on the Blanca Lake link :)

not keeping in touch...and babies

NOT keeping in touch really makes it hard to be up on the news of your friends!

I suppose twon months on the road is a good excuse, but I really need to be better about calling friends. Why is it so hard?

Well, I found out today that my friend is expecting another baby girl in January. This is so wonderful. I have (sadly) seen baby #1 gros up, via Ofoto online - I say sadly because it is not as good as in person of course. The last time I saw her she wasn't walkin g yet, wasn't talking yet (much)... but was still so funny. She cracked me up. Now I see pictures pf her playing on the playground with friends. It is amazing what happens in a year!

I have two other special little babies that are in MY OWN family now, who I don't even know when I will meet. This is especialy killing me. Hopefully this winter break. Mikaela and Arianna. I did just send them souvenirs from my road trip, little soft stuffed horses. I hope they like them. My mom is realy my only way of seeing them grow up via pictures... but sadly I haven't seen any since birth. Argh.

Well, I really must make it a priority to call folks, but I always say that, and never maintain it. Of course, my freidns are the same... I rarely get calls too. Emails are easier, but even that - often I feel like my closest of friends shouldn't jsut get an email, they should get a phone call. So I never email them back, because I intend on calling. And then the calling gets postponed for some unknown reason. And then I just get to wishing that I still LIVED near them, so I could see them (and their babies) on a regular basis. But I can't live near all of them, as they live on opposite sides of the country. So, people, get with it - move to the best place in the country, the northwest, ALL of you, and then we won't have this problem! There, settled.

The nice thing is, all of my friends do seem to be the same way, so we all understand each other adn therefore can carryon a meaningful conversation for an hour or so after not talking for months. As if no time went by.

The beginning

I will be going to the Bellevue Community Band's first meeting on Tuesday the 6th with Bryan and my uncle! I hope I get my clarinet in the mail by then. I can't wait to be playing again!

Also, I finally went and got supplies to make a screen so I can start making recycled paper! I even began tearing up some of the junk mail from the last two months (that can get tiring fast though!).

And - I went to work today. I guess it wasn't too bad. :) But I left a message with someone who runs a social skills group, so let's keeo our fingers crossed!

And, I got rid of my old nasty bike and began new bike shopping, as well as new workout place shopping.

I think I am doing alright so far on that list!

back to reality

here I am, back in Seattle and back to the reality of going to work tomorrow. yucky. but i have lots of plans of things to do and learn. my trip around the country has difinitely inspired me. i have created a list of things, this is a sampling of what i want to do:

1. learn about horses adn riding
2. play the clarinet again in a wind symphony
3. learn how to create with wood
4. make paper and journals
5. scrapbook the trip
6. hike on a regular basis
7. go white water canoeing
8. have a party with my 30 new shotglasses
9. create rock crafts
10. write songs about the trip
11. volunteer
12. edit the video for this and other trips
13. find a book club
14. have cooking parties and learn how to cook more
15. call my friends and family more often
16. buy a house