An Evening of Sailing

The Mechanical Engineering Manager at SonoSite has a sailboat, and he routinely invites groups of people out to go sailing.  Kristina has worked at SonoSite for almost three years now and she has been invited several times, but for whatever reason she had always had a conflict...until today.  Keith (captain) sent out an email on Tuesday asking about today, and she cleared her calendar so she could go. Luckily, Keith had extra room on the boat so Jared got to come along too!  And it was an evening to remember.

We left SonoSite around 4:30pm to head to the marina to meet Keith.  He had headed out early and was already there cooking dinner for us.  Jared and Kristina, along with two of Kristina's friends from work, hopped into the Juke and we made our way to meet Keith.  Once we were at the marina, we could all feel our blood pressures drop by 20 points.  It was an exquisite evening and the weather was perfect for sailing.

There were a total of 8 of us -- and it was a great group of people!  We started out by hanging out and grilling at the dock.  Keith made some great chicken fajitas with all of the fixin's and there were tons of munchies and drinks to go around for everyone.  Plus some sweets to keep us going well into the evening. After dinner, we headed out of the marina and into the sound.  The sun was absolutely perfect.

Jared definitely enjoyed the sail around the sound!

Perfectly clear, sunny, warm, with just enough wind to sail.  You can't get much better than that!  And the views of Mt. Rainier were great too!  Even with the sun beginning to set, it was all good.  We just put on our jackets and continued on our way.

Some shot of the sailboat.  It is a very nice boat and it fit all of us comfortably.  Keith and his family spend many days on the boat in the summer -- routinely taking vacation up in the San Juan Islands.

And Keith always gives everyone a shot at "driving".  It was a little less intuitive than you thought, but once you got the feel of it, it was a lot of fun. 

And one last shot of the sky as we were finishing up our evening...

Lake Twenty-Two -- Again!

As promised, we headed out to Lake Twenty-Two today -- and boy was it busy!  Note for the future, only go on weekdays and not weekends.  It was literally a zoo!  That's what happens when there is such a great trail so close to the city.  Regardless, we had a great time.  It was fairly cloudy in the lowlands, and we were happy to see that we could drive up a bit and get through the clouds.  Once we reached the trail, we experienced nothing but sunny, clear, and warm weather.  It was just about a perfect day!

As Jared said in the earlier post, the old growth forest is spectacular, as are the waterfalls!  You can put it all in prospective in the 4th picture...you can see Jared standing at/in the base of the tree!

And of course, once we reached the top, the lake was spectacular.  Just ask Indy...she immediately did her whole body submersion.  We joke that this is her ice bath!

Jared said that a lot of the snow had already melted since he was there earlier.  Crazy how a little sun can get go to town on melting the snow.  Regardless, there was still a lot of snow up there.  You can't tell from this picture, but it is actually quite deep in places.

And of course Indy had to do some swimming.  This is the best way for her to completely cool off.  We're not sure why, but she loves to fetch a stick in the water.  We also do this as a way to wear her out a bit.  It seems to help some, but she still has boundless energy.

On the way down, you could tell that the clouds at the lower level were just beginning to break up.  It was amazing that it took that long.  We were well into the afternoon.  Mother Nature's air conditioning was in full effect today.

And of course, the poser shot!  We had to get a snapshot of Jared and Indy on the way down.  Don't they both look happy!

Exploration Day (Lake Twenty-Two)

Jared decided to take the day off to do a little exploring. There is a lot of countryside around here to explore, and sometimes it can be a bit difficult to figure out where to go, the conditions of the area, closures, etc., so it's nice to have a day to just check out an area for future reference. So, today Jared targeted the southern half of the Mountain Loop Highway in the North Cascades.  The highway runs right along side the South Fork of the Stillaguamish river.  The road starts out passing by a lot of private little cabins and such, but quickly becomes National Forest, so there are a lot of great hiking and fishing opportunities!

Jared had done a little research and decided Indy and him were going to hike up to Lake Twenty-Two. Now, that doesn't sound like a very exciting lake, but as it turns out, this was one of the most beautiful hikes Jared has ever been on and that's saying something considering he is from Idaho!  It was 2.7 miles each way, and there is a 1.2 mile loop trail around the lake that they also took. Here's a few shots of the trip!

This shot is right after the trail started.  There were LOTS of really cool little bridges and stair steps on the hike up to the lake.  The trail was not overly steep as well, which was extra nice!

One of many waterfalls.  There were at least three other waterfalls that were very high (30+ feet), but each was shrouded in trees and Jared couldn't seem to get a very good picture of them, so Jared didn't add them here. Hike up there if you want to see them! :)

Ah, the lake!  This little bridge is the first thing you come to on the lake.  There is a really nice trail that goes either right or left around the lake.  Indy and Jared went right across this bridge and around the lake.

The below shot was taken while standing on the bridge looking towards the center of the lake (it was the lake outlet).  Be sure to enlarge... these are TROUT!  In fact, Jared hooked two trout with his fly rod while he was there... they both got off right as he was getting them near the bank, so he couldn't make a positive ID, but pretty sure these guys are Rainbow Trout.  The lake is 50 feet deep, so it is a great lake to house trout.

Here's the lake!  Unfortunately it doesn't really do it justice. That is Mount Pilchuck in the background, and on this side it is nearly a sheer cliff face.  This lake is accessible in the winter via snow shoeing, and they have a warning saying to stay away from the back of the lake due to enormous avalanches (in the winter)... pretty easy to see why in this photo.

Here's Indy taking her first dip.  She laid there the whole time Jared ate his lunch!

And here they are at the back of the lake (near the inlet). Lots of nice snow to cool off!  Amazingly enough, there were two ladies swimming in the lake just down from the snow here... in bikinis!

After Indy and Jared made it back to the truck, they headed across the street and into a day picnic area where Jared tried his hand at a few more fly casts.  It was getting a bit late, so he could only try for a few minutes and just tried one fly (grasshopper) with no luck.  However, the Stillaguamish River (or "Stilly" as they call it) was gorgeous!

That's it!  Now to head back there with Kristina and hopefully enjoy even more time in this area!

A Visit from Niki and Ethan!

Woohoo!  One of our closest friends from Phoenix was up visiting her parents in Bremerton for a few days, and she and her son, Ethan, were able to hop on the ferry and head our way for an afternoon!

We picked them up at the Seattle Pier around 11am.  Jared and Kristina hadn't ever picked anyone up at the Pier, so they arrived early to check things out -- and low and behold not soon after they arrived, Niki and Ethan had arrived!  Ethan had gotten so tall since the last time we saw him -- and Niki looked great as usual. After hopping into the Juke, we headed to Ballard to eat at Lil Woody's.  According to Kristina's Seattle Met Magazine, they have great burgers and great shakes.  We are happy to report that the burgers and ice cream were great!  We had a belated birthday lunch celebration for Kristina's birthday (when living in Phoenix, Kristina and Niki always celebrated birthdays with going out to lunch).

Since 520 was closed and 405 as well, we had to head back to the Eastside around the top of the lake.  It was a little bit out of the way, but not too bad, it gave us time to catch up on all of the happenings in each other's lives.

Once we arrived in Woodinville, we literally just hung out in the backyard all afternoon.  Ethan was entertained with rocks, water, fence golf, and bees -- while the adults chatted.  We all did play a game of fence gold with Niki and Kristina being the victorious team.

Time went too fast, and before we knew it, it was time to hop in the car and take them back to the Pier so they could head back over to Bremerton.  It was a good visit, but much too short!  Next time, we'll have to do an overnight-er and really have a good time!

Lord Hill Regional Park

Does this dog look ready to go hiking or what?  Indy "let" herself out of the house today while we were loading up the truck, and she promptly made herself at home.  It is as if she is saying, "Let's go -- there is no way you are leaving without ME!"

Today was one of those days...you start out with a plan or two, and neither one works or comes together, so you wing it and come up with a third plan.  That was us today!  We ended up hiking Lord Hill Regional Park in Snohomish County today.  It is a very nice park not to far from our house and there are tons of different hiking options.  We opted for the one that went down to the Snohomish River (Indy is so spoiled, she can't go hiking without going swimming!).  The round-trip hike was only 4.25 miles.  It was very scenic very well maintained.  Literally, you could hike as long as you wanted and the scenery was always good.  In addition to hikers, there were joggers, horses, and bikes.  The trailhead parking was full, but we didn't see many people at all on the trails that we chose.

Here's a great view of the river.  Kristina and Indy decided to hang out a bit and just enjoy the scenery.  The beach was actually quite sandy in spots and then a little rocky in other areas.

And of course, Indy had to take a dip.  She always fully submerses her body and then drinks simultaneously. It is quite entertaining, and you can tell she is in heaven.

A shot of up river...

A shot of down river...and yes there were people floating down in a drift boat and fishing!

Look at how clear the water was...

A very picturesque hike that was tree covered for the most part.  It was a perfect weather day...low to mid 80's, but it felt much cooler on the trail with all of the shade and greenery.

Jared and Indy striking a pose. 

And, a shot of a little walkway... 

A New Backyard Visitor

It has been interesting trying to catch a variety of backyard visitors.  The toughest thing is where to put the video camera (a sturdy position where it can easily sit all week).  Kristina tried out a new place this week and we got a shot of a new visitor that we hadn't seen before now.  Let's just say we had seen traces of this guy/gal in the past, but we hadn't got our eyes on him/her until now.  We can't believe how big he/she is. Wow!  If Indy got into a tangle with him/her, Indy would definitely come out the loser.

Yard Update

The yard is looking good and all of the plants are in full swing.  Here are Kristina's tomato plants and romaine lettuce.  We have eaten a couple of heads of the romaine lettuce, so that is thinning out, but look at those tomato plants.  They are literally growing like weeds.  We have added all sorts of support and are continuing to add more each week once they outgrow what we had in there.  The sungold plant on the right has a couple of "gold" ones ripening up nicely and tons of green ones still to mature.  The black cherry plant on the left has plenty of green tomatoes, but not "ripe" ones yet.  Kristina checks the plants each day to make sure they are doing ok.  She is anxious to pick her first ones.

In this shot, you can see some basil on the left and her bay plant on the right.  Lots of herbs to go into all of her summer cooking!

The basil plants in the next couple of pictures, she started from seeds in the house earlier in the spring, and they have really started to grow.  Once the rain stopped drowning them, they have really made some significant progress. 

Kristina created the pot on the left and all of the plants are blossoming.  This was a mix of plants that she got from the Woodinville Garden Club around Mother's Day and everything is doing well.  The plant on the right is a lily plant that Jared bought Kristina for her birthday.

These are our latest additions...trying to fill up a "bare" area.  We put some heliotropes, Gerber daisies, lupine, foxglove, petunias, and some miscellaneous ground cover.  Everything is doing very well, except that the deer keep eating all of the daisies and the petunias.  The flowers are completely gone, but they don't seem to bother the actual plants.  Oh well! 

And we call this picture, Indy's paradise.  There is nothing she likes better than to lay down in the grass and "watch" the yard.  What a spoiled little dog!

Happy 4th of July!

It is the 4th of July, and that means that we have already been experiencing fireworks going off since July 1st.  However, July 4th is by far the most active night.  You could just see the smoke in the air underneath the streetlights.  It literally sounded like bombs were going off in some instances.  We don’t know where people get some of these fireworks, but some of the big ones make us humans nervous – and these were just people’s personal  fireworks.  We hung out at home since it seems that everyone else in Woodinville bought them for us to enjoy as well.  :)

Luckily we had taken Indy on a walk earlier in the day, so we hung out with her inside the house most of the time.  Fireworks don’t cause her much concern, but we still don’t want her to be scared.  She is just a little dog.  :)  People were blasting off their fireworks until about 12:30am, so we finally made it to bed around then (this is an improvement over last year).  Jared always takes one last look around the house (outside) to make sure nothing is on fire.

Prior to fireworks, we had ribs for dinner – and Kristina did a spectacular job.  She smoked them in her smoker for 4  hours with pecan wood and a bottle of beer.  She didn't season them in any other way, and they were awesome!  Pull apart tender and a good smoked flavor.  After we took them out of the smoker we just put a little BBQ sauce on them and ate them with our baked potatoes (all of the fixings) and creamed spinach (YUM).  And then of course for dessert, BROWNIES!  It was a good evening.

During the day, it was good too…Kristina watched some Wimbledon, we played some fence golf, did some sitting out on the deck and ate out on the deck.  It was a perfect 70 degree day.

Happy 4th of July!

June Rain

June 2013 was by far the "strangest" June that we have experienced in Western Washington.  This June marks our 4th June here, and up until 2013, all of the months of June have been MISERABLE.  It usually rains nonstop and the June Gloom is just continuous.  People even routinely call June, June-uary -- because its weather is more like January.  However, we are please to report that this June was MUCH better.  Overall, we only had 2.87" of rain out on our deck!  Weather.com tells us that the average is 1.63" (not sure that we believe this number).  We started the month out pretty dry and then most of our rain came in the middle of the month -- we had one day where it rained an 1".  Otherwise, there was lots of sun and lots of warm weather.  Yippee!