Enchantments Pt. 2

 

 

After our break we walked between a few of the lakes with names like Tranquility & Perfection.(they could've done better) A few of the descent areas were covered in snow and quite steep so a few people were butt sliding down the hill. We decided to zig zag down with our axes which worked fine and saved us from being cold from the waist down all day. Hopping over rocks, finding lookouts, eating dehydrated fruit (I made it) and reading Harry Potter on a sunny rock all made for a spectacular afternoon.

 

 Once we had descended a few steep snowy areas we were down among the lakes watching the sun make the mountaintops glow and the ice luminescent around it's small pools of unfrozen water. I haven't mentioned one of my favorite parts though, the mountain goats. There are quite a few of them all over. You'll turn a corner or peak around a rock and bam goat starring right at ya. They didn't mind us at all and mostly looked at you and went back to licking something. The two cuties below were kids and were bleating like crazy which was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, resisting snuggling was torture.

 After about 11 miles of wandering around the core enchantments and all the lakes we started the rocky, hard on your knees, makes all your muscles mad descent down to Snow Lake & eventually Nada Lake where we camped for the night. Long fast waterfalls snaked down the rocks beside us. Eventually we hit a gradual grade in the trail and found a camping spot and sunny rock to dry our shoes out on, no luck they were to far gone very very wet shoes.

Step 1 of descent get to that lake all the way down there.

 

Step 2 Nada Lake then get down to that one

We are both so glad we went, there weren't too many people and the weather was on our side we had views for miles. Mostly words won't describe it so I'll stop trying. We finished the 18 mile hike and Joshua hitchhiked multiple rides back to the other trailhead we started at & we were finished.

The Monday off was well spent hiking back out from Nada lake that morning, getting pizza & beer, eating milkshakes for dinner, laying on the couch trying to convince the other one it was their turn to get up, and hubs putting candles in cookies for me at midnight to blow out for my birthday. Sometimes a weekend is only full of the good feelings, this was one of those :)

Birthday : 27

birthday necklace, shirt & flowers

 

This year on the 26th I turned 27. This one kind of snuck up on me, I didn't have any strong feelings about it or many expectations. But this year it was on a Tuesday, instead of Memorial Day weekend! Weekday birthdays are always my favorite!

At midnight after our hike Joshua put candles in cookies sang to me. The next morning I got donuts & coffee. Went to lunch with my coworkers and had a cute happy birthday banner hung up by another. Little cards & chocolate bars delivered. I got to talk to my whole family in one day, favorite part. Got my necklaces from Joshua we picked out in Barcelona. Hubs stood at the bottom of the stairs after I got all dressed up and cheesy grinned at me while holding orange flowers. We went to dinner and got warm bread and wine with dinner where I read a very long love letter he wrote me, and teared up at the table which we followed with a pitcher of sangria at a favorite spot.

All little things, all simple but it was my best birthday in awhile. I felt seen and loved and remembered. Thank you! It's so uplifting when a day feels that way and I'm so appreciative of it. I want to remember that, remember that even if only 2 of those small things had happened Tuesday I would have felt special & loved, I want to remember that I can easily do those simple things for other people any day. Thank you all for the beautiful day, I hope I can learn from you.

Enchantments Pt. 1

For Memorial Day weekend we grabbed our backpacks and headed to near Leavenworth to hike the Enchantment Lakes Loop. This area requires a permit starting June 15 so we wanted to sneak in beforehand. Since we didn't get a ton of snow this winter the timing and weather and snow levels were perfect! We honestly couldn't have gotten any luckier on this hike and on top of that it was beautiful! We hiked up to Colchuck Lake on Saturday afternoon and found a cute campsite tucked into a cliff. Made some food for dinner and sat on a rock looking over the lake at Aasgard Pass which we had to climb up the next day.

 

The photo above shows Aasgard Pass. The orange line is our route. We woke up at about 6:30am, packed up, and started our ascent. It is about a 1,900 ft elevation gain in less than a mile, so steep! Luckily though our family members have gifted us ice axes and crampons so we got to take the snow up which was way easier and faster than the rocky route which had you sliding all over the place. Since we got up early we beat the sun hitting the snow so it was the perfect texture and no ice for our ascent. It took us a little under 2 hours to climb it with lots of peaks back down at where we'd come from, it always impresses us what our legs can do, so neat.

 

 

 

Coming up over the Pass we were now in the Core Enchantments. Up here there are alpine lakes flanked by large rock landscapes and draped in snow. The lakes for the most part were still blanketed in a little snow but where it had melted through their beautiful blue tone was amazing. In the Core Enchantments as you weave among the lakes it feels like you've escaped everything. Another world surrounds you with landscape that you had to work hard to get to be a part of. We smiled a lot up there.

 

Once we ooo'ed and aww'ed a bunch we sat on a sunny rock, melted some snow, and shared some mac&cheese before working our way through all the lakes. We wanted to take our time in the core and soak in the sunshine and actually very warm weather before we descended to the lake we were camping at that night. So up next, the core :)

 

Seattle lately

 

Lately life has felt normal. As in we've celebrated friend's birthdays, biked all over Seattle, met friends for free tater tot Tuesday and played games, biked to a friends ordered pizza made a frozen cookie dough run and played games, lots of biking to work, walked to the bars in our neighborhood and eaten dinner with a beer on a picnic table, met up with some college friends visiting for a sushi picnic, spending a week in Vancouver, BC for work, dinner and walking date with a friend...

Nothing fancy but also not nothing. Seattle doesn't feel like a crazy new city where everything is new and every corner is something we haven't experienced. It feels like a place, most of the time, where we are comfortable. A place we spontaneously meet up with people and know where to go on a Thursday to grab a beer with no line. A place we don't have to look up directions for every time we want to wander.

 

 

It has been almost 4 years in Seattle for us, 4 years!
Seattle has no timeline or certainty for us but it does feel like something we can be comfortable in our day to day life in. Experiences we used to photograph seem silly to do so now because it's just life at this point. It's nice, it's just nice ya know!
(very boring posts though :)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Madre!

I wish I was there to eat these muffins with you! I feel like it is almost meaner to post the photos of them seeing as you don't have any, but I wanted to make something in honor of you even if I'm not in the same physical space as you. Just want to say I love you and think you're pretty amazing! Thank you for the way you love me and for the way your love has grown to include Joshua. You mean the world to me and I'll save all the other mushy words for the card I hope gets to you on time. Hope you have an amazing day!

Roasted Rhubarb & Strawberry Muffins with Pistachio Crumble:
from here

2-3 stalks rhubarb; cut into 1/2" pieces
1 pint strawberries; remove stems & cut in quarters
2 tbs cane sugar
1 cup coconut milk; or whatever milk you have on hand
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 banana; riper the better
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

for the crumble:
1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup pistachios
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs coconut oil; or cold butter

1   preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the rhubarb and strawberries onto sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake fruit for 15-20 minutes, strawberries should start oozing. Remove from oven and let cool, lower oven temperature to 350 degrees F
2   line a muffin pan with 12 liners. In a small bowl combine milk and vinegar, stir and set aside.
3   in a large bowl mix together flour, soda, salt, sugar and lemon zest.
4   in another small bowl beat together olive oil, maple syrup, banana, egg, and vanilla.
5   make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. With a wooden spoon mix together the batter only until incorporated, do not overmix.
6   then stir in the roasted rhubarb and strawberries
7   pour about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup
8   in a food processor lightly blend together all the ingredients for the crumble. Top each muffin with the crumble mixture and bake muffins for 15-20 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean
9   eat immediately or store in fridge for 3-5 days

Trail Forgers!

 

Saturday we headed out about 3 hours outside of Seattle. We like driving together, opening the windows, reading Harry Potter (currently on year 4, I know you were wondering), splitting a frappuccino and just having space and time to talk. Bonus the end of it has mountains. Joshua spent awhile looking for hikes and came up with this one, apparently it is not called Miner's Ridge but the creek is called Miner's Creek = we never found the right hike.

 

 

We think we found a trailhead, a post in the ground, and started hiking. Very quickly we realized we couldn't see any kind of trail, so we pulled out google maps saw the topography ended with a little ridge and just started forging our own trail. The beginning portion is a lot of downed trees so we played "floor is lava" for about half a mile. I made it about 15 minutes without touching the ground, so so much fun!

 

 Eventually we popped onto the ridge and got some pretty views, the day was really warm and clear. We think this was a hike just not a maintained trail but since we were only walking up we couldn't get lost so it was very enjoyable to meander through all the trees and hop log to log and not really know what our view would be.

 Also Richard got to get nice and dirty on a long road :)