Weekend on the Sound

Does something count as a tradition if you've done it two years in a row? I'm going to say yes, because I hope it continues as such.


Last weekend we shirked all responsibility and headed West, to the water. Friday night Matt & I met up with L&V downtown at the ferry terminal. After a long journey, we arrived at Lance's parents place on Hood Canal. We were celebrating a few family birthdays, and had a delicious dinner as is par for the course at the Chisum's. Their place on the water is beautiful, and the boys decided that since we hadn't found mussels at the store the day before they would head outside and hack a few off the dock for dinner the next night. Why not?

 Val pic

 Val pic

After more delicious food the next morning we were off to Olalla. It was wonderful seeing Greg, Joann, and Ryan again and getting to catch up. Olalla is where tradition comes in. Winter is one of the few times a year when all of our friends are in one place for more than a few days at time. Last year we managed to scrounge up most of the crew and spent a weekend at my parents place in Olalla, feasting on some amazing paella courtesy of the Chisums. You can read about our non-adventures here.

This year we were able to gather even more people. The four of us set about chopping, arranging, and scrounging up 'beds' for ELEVEN people! Thanks Mom & Dad for sharing your home and being so trusting!

The paella was once again amazing, we took beach walks, played card games, read, lounged, had big fires, napped, danced, and caught up. There are some newer significant others (who we love), but many of us have known each other for eight years now. I'm so thankful to have such a fun, enduring group of friends who know each other so well and can come together to make a weekend like this happen! I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic

 Val pic 

Before leaving Sunday we made the Olalla area rounds and got in visits with some of our favorite family/family friends - Hobie, Jim & Phebe, and Lynn & David. Hooray!

Throwing Yourself Down a Mountain..

Two weekends ago our weekend was - well, busy. With boring homework, house stuff, a sweet engagement party, and life. But we needed some fresh air so Sunday morning we headed east with the Chisums and our snowshoes. Goal: back by 12:30.

12:30 doesn't really leave a lot of room for climbing mountains so we parked at Commonwealth Basin and decided to see where the wind took us. Last time Matt & I did that we ended up on top of Guye Peak - which was amazing, but took all day. This morning we took a different trail, and when we found some cool icicles high up a slope and couldn't get a good enough pictue we decided the solution was to get closer.

And then the fog rolled in..

Cute

Vals pic!

Val snapped me leading up

It was steeper than it looked and a good little workout. When we neared the bottom again we still had a bit of time left, and knew we weren't going to arrive anywhere spectacular another half mile down the trail so we....practiced self arrest!

This is how you do it wrong (aka, a somersault)

Gettin ready for near death experience...not really

(All Vals pics below!)

Val's got it DOWN! 

And we all manage to clean up o.k.

Self arrest is using your ice axe to stop yourself when you fall on a steep slope and find yourself careening down the mountain. It had been a while since any real practice and there's all sorts of moves to master: feet first on your back, head first on your stomach, and the scariest of all head first on your back. We amused ourselves for 45 minutes with throwing ourselves down the mountain. We even got a spectator taking pictures and saying ' I love watching people practice self arrest. It's hilarious.'


With some added mountain confidence we bounded back to the car, took a record breaking fast shower, hit up some wine tasting in Woodinville with Jarrett, and were off to the engagement party! Congrats Josh & Lindsay!

Snowshoe: Granite Mountain, Mt Washingtion, & Sunrise Heights

Snow is probably the only thing that keeps me sane through the Seattle winters. (Aside from the occasional sunbreak, and/or escape from the state). Being able to head out to the mountains and ski or snowshoe makes things (sort of) worth it. Here's the latest adventures.

A few weeks ago, it snowed all over Seattle. We had a good 6+ inches at our house, Matt worked from home for four days, and we didn't leave the house except for a little snowshoeing. They weren't necessary per se, but it seemed like fun. We cuddled up, built fires, and found a great recipe for hot buttered rum (the secret is all in the vanilla ice cream).

The next weekend we went snowshoeing again with Devon & Noah. We were headed to Talapus or Olallie Lake (they're on the same trail) but somehow got off course (again!) and ended up on Granite Mountain. It was snowy and windy and while we were enjoying ourselves while in the trees, we turned back when we got to the wind blown avalanche chute about 2/3rds of the way up. We'd all been to the top before, and valued our lives. On a bright note, we did encounter a sweet waterfall on our stray from the trail.

Last weekend we had a breath of spring air, and it was sunny and warm all weekend! Catherine and I headed out the I-90 Corridor on Sunday with all our gear and no plan. We ended up at the Mt Washington trailhead, which WTA says is a 4 mile round trip trail with great mountain views. What they don't say is that two miles only gets you to a bench part-way up the mountain. Apparently it's actually 12 roundtrip to get to the top. All Catherine and I knew was that we had gone a lot more than two miles, the top was still a ways off, we were hungry, and there were some darn good views where we were sitting. So who knows, we probably only went 2/3rds again. We were content to bask in the sunshine.

Are you appalled at the fact that we haven't slept somewhere other than our own cozy bed in a month?! Don't worry, the adventures shall resume soon. This year is shaping up quite nicely!