Mt. Ranier in Macro

We've been to Mt Rainer a few times before so instead of taking my normal lens I brought along my macro (when I say my I mean my dad's that I borrowed and now claim) to the hike with Joshua and his mom. And man o man it was a great day to do it- we saw so many animals. My macro allowed me to actually get some cute close photos of them.

 

Also how stellar are those clouds whisking their way around the mountain!

 

 

These cuties are marmots. This one's name is Zac. They are the ones that make "meep" noises, so hubs and I call them meepers and like to mimic them (it's fun you'd do it too) There were so many out that day and some would only be a few feet from you chomping on flowers.

 

We also saw quite a few chipmunks and baby chipmunks (melt my heart) and got lucky and saw a deer at the very end.

 

The flowers were past their peak but we still got to see quite a few. Loved these pink ones!
It was really fun to head back to someplace we've been before but look at it in a new way. Joshua offered to carry the monster lens (heavy) around on more hike because he really liked the way the pictures were turning out. He's quite good with a camera and knowing which settings to use so hope to take the lens out with us again soon.

Finally made it to the Needle

 

So far since living in Seattle we've kind of avoided the Space Needle. We didn't really have a huge desire to hurry to get to the top. We knew when someone visited us the occasion would arise naturally. This was that time. We finally went up...

It was actually more fun than the two of us had anticipated it would be. There were tons of people and shops around the needle which just created a fun lively atmosphere. Luckily it was a clear day and we could see some very pretty views from up top. (we had dinner there so the viewing area above was free)

Since we had dinner there as the sun was setting we took a quick look back from the observation deck before we left to check out the city lights. Looking back at the needle as we walked to the car it looked pretty majestic too. I think I like it more now :)

 

O and the restaurant rotates! It took me awhile to get used to it actually. I remember my mom saying when her and my dad went to the rotating restaurant in Cincinnati people would leave things on the edge to rotate back to it so we put our wine cork on the edge and happily we made it back around to it and someone added a "hello"!! Have to say it kind of made my night we found it again. As we spun we started coming across other people leaving things like coasters, tic tacs and someone put another cork on next to ours. I think it's pretty fun! It takes about 45 minutes to go around, we did 2 rotations.

It was fun to look at our city from a vantage point we haven't been to yet.

 

Berry Pickin'

 

It was a really nice day and we decided to go blackberry picking. It's something we had meant to do but never had the time and it was a great day for it. We hauled in about a gallon of blackberries. Josh's mom was here and I knew they used to go picking with his grandpa so Joshua & I thought it would be fun to go do it all together at Discovery Park.

Joshua ate most of the ones he picked for awhile there :)

I loved all the holes in the bushes where you could see that

people had been picking and leaning in there

I had ducked under some branches at one point and couldn't reverse back out so Joshua had to untangle me. Made it out with only a few thorn scratches though & tons of berries, the important part!

 

Flowering Plants

The other day when I went to water my air plants for the first time in awhile I saw that one had turned red and flowered. I was so excited!

They don't apparently do it that often because a lot has to go right but it was so neat! Little purple flowers were shooting up from the center of the red leaves! It was a sweet little discovery. I made sure Joshua saw that I've not only kept them alive for a year and a half but actually had it flower, he was obviously super interested and very proud!

This one's name is Sienna- she's all cute in dressy reds and purples

It's the little things :)

(also although my huckleberry plant didn't produce this year I just looked and a few tiny berries did form, gives me hope for next year!)

Easy Raw Cashew Cheesecake

This is the other dessert I made for our Bike MS Bake Sale. I wanted to make something gluten free and raw people could eat (It could be vegan SUPER easy if you can find vegan cream cheese)

Little did I know it would be ridiculously good and one of the easiest desserts to assemble. Winner for sure! Also no baking required which is always a win in the summer!

crust:
1 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup dates; pitted
1 tbs coconut oil
pinch of salt

1   beat ingredients in food processor
2   mash the crust into a lightly oiled tart tint along the bottom and up the sides
    and place in freezer

filling:
1 1/2 cup cashews; soaked overnight or for at least 3 hours
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup coconut cream
3 tbs agave
2 tbs honey
1/4 tsp vanilla

1   place all ingredients in food processor and beat until smooth
2   pour into tart shell
3   cover with plastic wrap and let set in fridge for at least an hour
top with white chocolate shavings and pistachio!

Car Camping Day Hiking Losers

So we have gone camping a few times this summer and people always ask how my weekend was at work
I say: good we went camping and did lots of hiking
they say: o backpacking or car camping
me: car
them: o just car, ok

that's when we first realized maybe we weren't doing something northwesty quite right

then on the hike this Sunday we were saying hi to other hikers coming down the mountain and
they said: hi
we said: hi
they said: how's it going? Just going on a little day hike?
us: yes
us after they left: little day hike, we're doing 10 miles in an afternoon up a mountain, dang it are we hiking wrong too? we hiked yesterday too?

so that's when we realized we also hike wrong. Guess we'll have to get backpacking equipment to stay relevant out here :) It became a fun joke as more people passed us we'd look to each other after they were gone and say- o ya know we're lame just on a little day hike.

Haha, we weren't gloomy about it, promise, mostly just thought it was funny because we had no idea that our version of camping and hiking and still going the same amount of miles would be viewed as lame. Too bad we love it our way and we're cheap!

so Sunday we day hiked Hannegan's Peak

We got a later start so that the clouds would burn off and we could see the 360 view of mountains that's so great about hiking in Mt Baker area. The craggly ones off in the distance are our favorite and the bugs weren't so bad on this hike so we had a really great time and lounged a bit.

 

Also love that the wildflowers here bloom in August so there was still a healthy dose of them welcoming us up our hike. We hung out at the top for awhile and enjoyed the views and random doses of sunshine as the clouds shifted.

he told me not to put this one up, so I put it up

That night I was making pizza so hubs ran to the video store to rent Mulan (I needed to sing to it so bad!) Sadly it was rented out but instead of coming back without it he found it on sale and bought me a copy (best guy ever!) So we finished off our tiring weekend with Mulan and singing "Be a Man" (he's only seen the movie twice now, both times with me, so we're working on him knowing the words still. I'll get him there, then maybe we'll add dance moves)

Skyline Divide

 

4 am Saturday morning Hubs & I woke up to drive up to Mt. Baker. It's our favorite place to hike and we have these few weekend days sandwiched in between people visiting us so we wanted to jump on the opportunity to run around the mountain together. We've been wanting to do an early morning hike before the sun beats down on us for awhile & we had a housewarming party to go to that night so it was a great time to get up super early and head out.

 

There's something so beautiful about hiking up into a mountain that is in the clouds. They swirled around us and what we could and couldn't view was always shifting and showing new openings. The clouds were romantic and moody and the greenery was so intense and pure. Ah we walked slower and talked quieter up there and it was so beautiful. Hung in the clouds that were hugging into the peaks and whispering through the flowers.

We were hoping we could stay until the clouds then burned off but the bugs were so bad we couldn't stop moving :) So we stopped for lattes and took the long drive back home lounging in our peaceful state.

 

It was perfection in a Saturday morning & we loved it so much

we drove the 3 hours back out the next day :)

 

meeper!!! We named him Felix (he's a marmot)