Hiking to Lake Serene

It was a beautiful September day for the Seattle area; highs were expected to be in the 80's.  That being said, Jared and Kristina decided it was time to hike into a mountain lake.  We love hiking into mountain lakes in Idaho, but we hadn't quite got the swing of things in Washington yet.  It seemed liked the first two summers we were here that by the time the lakes thawed out, it was already cold and wet again.  Which is why we took advantage of the weather.

Lake Serene came highly suggested to us, and we had tried to hike it once right after we moved here, but it was a complete zoo with people.  Based on the fact that we had Logan with us, that isn't always a good combination, so we opted out.  However, today when we arrived there were cars in the trail head parking lot, but it wasn't full by any means.  So we put on our day packs and headed UP.

Here's a shot of the trail head map.

The hike ended up being 7.2 miles round trip, and it had beautiful scenery -- and the scenery varied a bit.  Here is Kristina and Indy at the start of the hike -- we hadn't started going up yet.  :)

Here's a rock face pretty early into the hike.  We would like to come back again when it wetter because we are pretty sure that the water just cascades off of it.

Here's a shot of the Bridal Veil Falls through the trees.  If you wanted a very easy hike and a relatively short hike, you could have just hiked here and called it a day.  But you know us, that's NOT how we roll.

After you pass the falls, this is what you see...stairs going UP and UP and UP.  The trail has a 2000ft elevation gain, but most of that elevation gain is spread out over 2 miles.  So if you do the math, you see that we are serious when we say it goes UP.

Once you get up, the views are spectacular.  It is always so great to have views in every direction. 

And that Indy is one smart dog -- anytime she had an opportunity to "re-charge", she took full advantage of it.  Don't think she EVER gets tired, she literally pulled Jared all of the way to the top and back down again, but we think she can do that because she is very SMART about resting when she can. 

Lake Serene...it just thawed out in the middle of August.

Indy enjoying a dip in the lake.  She was thinking finally...submersion.  Ahhhhhh...  By the way, Kristina was looking towards the "lunch rock" -- it was swarming with people.

Our last shot of the lake before it was overtaken with people.   

It was a fun, but physically draining hike.  You can't go all of the way around the lake without doing some serious scrambling -- and that really isn't possible when you have a dog with you.  Since it is such a popular hike, it fills up quick if it is a nice day -- and it was a nice day.  So, we basically hiked up (it was a good hike up, we didn't see many people along the way, just a few here and there), ate our lunch, and hiked back down.  We should have stayed at the top more and rested up for the trip down, but there were people everywhere.  Once we got back down, we all climbed into the back of the truck and propped our feet up so the lactic acid could drain out before we drove home.  Of course, Indy just hung out in the back of the truck with us.  It was a good day...

Indy's New 'Do!

Well, it was that time of the year again...Indy needed to be groomed!  Indy goes to the doggie spa once every three months to get a bath, haircut, and her nails trimmed.  She had been looking a little shaggy (you can always tell because her elbows get very long) and she had been leaving tufts of black fur EVERYWHERE!  We vacuum every weekend, not because we want to, but because we have to -- thanks to Indy.  That has now been remedied...at least for a little while.  :)

Here she is post doggie spa...

Kristina likes this shot because she looks very regal!  ha!

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day...that glorious time of the year when we get an extra day off from work!  Jared and Kristina have both been fairly busy at work these days, so it was an easy going Labor Day Weekend.  Not a lot was done...just the normal chores and a few extra errands.  However, on Monday the daily walk was exchanged for a trip to our favorite river spot in Carnation, WA for a little bit of walking and some swimming for Indy.  

Indy is getting quite good a fetching sticks out of the river.  She actually has toys, but she still doesn't always bring back the stick, so we don't want to watch a toy float down the river.  Hence the sticks.  Here's a short video of her latest work...

And then of course, here are some still shots of her action...

This one she is intently looking at Jared and wanting her treat.  Look at that concentration.  Too bad we can't get her to concentrate that well when there isn't a treat involved.  :)

Jared and Indy posing on an old tree that was down along the river.  We will be interested to come back during the winter and check this out when the water is high again.

A nice serene shot of the Tolt River...at this point in the river, it is pretty much dumping into the Snoqualmie River.

The is a cool bridge that spans the Snoqualmie River.

After Indy was done swimming, we decided to hit another section of the Tolt River so Jared could try out his favorite thing...fishing.  Indy and Kristina sat patiently on the bank enjoying the day while Jared waded through the cold water...hoping to catch a fish.  He didn't end up catching anything, but he did get a few raises and was just happy to be out there.

Here's another shot down river from where Jared started out fishing...

And, here's Indy patiently waiting on the bank for Jared to finish.

It is BLACKBERRY season!

Most of the year, people that live in Washington State curse the blackberry bushes.  They are literally EVERYWHERE, they are thorny, and they are basically a weed that is impossible to control.  However, at the end of August and into September, there is a short period of time where you see people stopped along the road (in the most peculiar places) in search of the perfect blackberries and trying not to get injured (did we mention the thorns?).  It is now that time of year, and we are getting our fill of them whenever we can.

About once a week, we take along our little basket (see green basket below) when we go for our daily walk.  In order to pick blackberries, we have to walk UP the Tolt Pipeline Trail, but it is well worth it.  Because in the end we end up with about a quart of these "jewels".  They are perfectly ripe and just waiting to be picked and eaten.  Indy has even come to love them.  While we are picking the berries that are what we call "above pee height", she has all of the blackberries she can eat below that area (she is non-discriminate when it comes to things like that).  :)  It is quite interesting to watch her because she sniffs the berry and apparently can tell if it is ripe or not.  If it is not ripe, she leaves it on the bush -- if it is ripe, she gently pulls it off the bush and has herself a snack.

YUM...

Downtown Seattle on a Segway

Today we took a tour of downtown on a Segway.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to see downtown and get the highlights.  A guy Jared works with, Dan, and his girlfriend, Sara, arranged the tour and we were just along for the ride.

After a quick refresher course at the piers (we had taken a Segway Tour of Tucson a few years back), we were on our way.  First, we hit the waterfront and then headed up towards Pike's Market.  From there we went to Westlake, through Belltown, and eventually we hit the Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is).

There was a lot to see and take in, but a great tour.  Once we arrived at the Seattle Center we got to "play" around on the Segways while we waited for the fountain to start (see picture below).  Remember that we have been riding our Segways for an hour with helmets on, so it isn't the best picture in the world.  :)

Once we were done at the Seattle Center, we made our way back to where we started.  All was good until we hit all of the people attending HempFest (that's a whole other story).  Anyway, we made it back, had some lunch, and then headed back home.  They also have a tour for West Seattle -- we'll have to try that one next.  Oh, by the way, our tour guide was great...here's the company we went through for the tour.

Snoqualmie River Duvall, WA

Since Indy took the hit yesterday and stayed at home while we explored Friday Harbor, we decided to make it up to her a little bit by taking her to the river today.  Indy just loves the water and we figured that this would be a good way to wear her out a little bit.  Check out the video of her playing fetch...

We didn't spend too much time there, but enough for her to get soaked.  We followed up the playing fetch in the river with a walk (to dry her off a bit).  Doesn't she look happy?

Here we are on our walk (drying her off)...

And look, before you know it, it will be blackberry season...

Friday Harbor

As our summer starts to dwindle, we want to enjoy it as much as possible.  The weather forecast for the weekend was 80-85 degrees in Seattle, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to go visit Friday Harbor.  Friday Harbor is located on the island of San Juan.  San Juan Island is part of the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound.  Some of the other islands included in the San Juan Islands are Lopez Island, Shaw Island, and Orcas Island. 

To get to San Juan Island, we decided to "walk-on" the ferry at Anacortes, WA.  We wanted to "drive-on"  to the ferry so that we could take Indy.  However, after doing some research we found out that we might have to wait more than an hour to "drive-on", whereas if you "walk-on", you can always get on when you want.  Additionally, driving around Friday Harbor can be quite hectic since there are so many tourists walking around and riding bikes.  So, Indy had to take one for the team and stay home today (she was not happy about that).

The ride over on the ferry was approximately an 1 hr, so there was a lot of time for sightseeing on our way over to Friday Harbor.

Here's a shot of the sound with Mount Baker in the background (i.e., the snow covered object in the background). 

On our way over to Friday Harbor there was a weird bank of fog over the water. 

There was also a ton of sailboats out on the water (looking as if they were racing).  We had no idea what was going on, but enjoyed the colorful sails.

We did find out on our way back that there was indeed a sailboat race around Shaw Island today.  Look at all of those sailboats.

An interesting land mass in the sound.

After we arrived in Friday Harbor, we headed to have lunch first.  It was close to 1pm and we were both starving.  We chose Cask and Schooner.  It was a great local place that uses the "bounty" of the island for most of the items on the menu.  After a great lunch we shopped the downtown area.  There were tons of shops, art galleries, restaurants, and much more.  It was fun to have no agenda and just to wander around the town.  When we finished wandering downtown we headed down the marina to check it out.

There were tons of boats at the marina, every type, shape, and size.  Some were really enormous.

Here's a shot of a sea plane taking off.  Yes, you can get to Friday Harbor via sea plane too.

Time went quickly and before we knew it we were back on the ferry and headed back to the mainland.

It was a great day!