Bits & Pieces

 

A few leftover photos from friend adventures lately:

 

 

With Nate & Stephanie we also ran around and did a few touristy things (Steph has never been to Seattle) We caught a good view of the city, did the market, the troll, kayaked at Golden Gardens. The weather was a little gray but we snuck in plenty of good stuff. One night we had fancy tapas and eventually capped it off with cheap wings & euchre.

 

 

Snuck in one last summer floating session at Justin's house boat. Water was colder but still a lovely amazingly relaxing time. This time we came prepared with more snacks.

 

We also got to celebrate our friend Jessica's birthday. Love her style- we started the night dressed up and then ended the night with a galette, wine and sweatpants.

This weekend was our first weekend in 3 weekends without visitors. We spent it mostly napping, reading, and binge watching. We also finally went to the grocery store! Spent a night out with some friends and added in brunch and lazy pizza/movie dinner to get in a little human interaction.

Weekend of All the Things

photo by James

 

Our friend Katy was our 3rd and final visitor. She got in on Thursday so of course we had happy hour margaritas and then made a pizza to take to our favorite brewery. She bummed around Golden Gardens the next day until we grabbed her to get tatchos (tater tot nachos) and met up with our friend James. The night ended with chicken wings and Katy and I karaokeing to K-Ci and JoJo's All My Life. Ergo- we were off to a good start.

Katy's first lead climb outdoors!

Joshua crushing his 5.10 lead climb!

Me failing to get to the third clip on my lead climb, ha

We headed out early the next morning to go climbing. The weather was amazing and sunny and Mt. Rainier was out and had a cute little cloud hat. We had a fabulous day climbing and I got to give Katy her a catch- apparently in Ohio you say catch not ride, for her first lead belay. The day was glorious and I loved getting to just hang out with Katy all day. Also loved getting to climb with her. We both independently of one another got into climbing at about the same time on opposite sides of the country so I loved getting to do it WITH her!

That night James also join us, Joshua, Katy, Nick & I for fires, Rainiers, sausages and FIREWORKS. We've had the fireworks since 4th of July so I was very excited to set them off. Katy and I had never held roman candles and shot them off into the air before either. We screamed a lot and ran around pretending they were wands and we were real wizards, of course. (Mom, Dad- we were safe no one pointed any fireworks at each other)

 

 

 

The next morning we popped some champagne and made mango mimosas garnished with fresh picked huckleberries. We also had bacon which the boys wrapped around hot dogs- it was actually quite good.

  

Then we got to the shotguns. We set up our cans and half of a watermelon rind and lined em upon on a hill. I'm not entirely sure Katy and I really hit anything but we looked good trying.

 Sadly then Joshua's truck wouldn't start, we got it going but then James's car wouldn't start so eventually we had to get a tow truck to come up the dirt mountain road and tow him down. This of course was a very long task so we got mountain roadside burgers and shakes, took car naps, lounged in the back of the truck and picked huckleberries while waiting. The tow truck guy said it was the farthest into the mountain roads he'd ever gone, ha.

 

We did however end the night on a high note with a homemade huckleberry pie from our cache that morning. Overall I really loved Katy's visit and the randomness that it included suited us and our friendship perfectly!

 

photo by Katy

Awesome Visitors Backpacking

 

Two weekends ago our friends Nate & Stephanie came to visit from Cincinnati. Luckily took us up on the offer to go backpacking. We headed to Teanaway Peak, east, to avoid the rain that seemed to be eminent everywhere. Sadly we didn't quite escape it. Our hike in was drizzly, wet, and cloudy. We decided to camp in the forest, tree protection, and our visitors brought tea so we all hung out and tried to warm up. Alas, the rain finally stopped and the clouds cleared so we set up our tents and even went on a mini hike to the top of a hill.

 

Spent the night huddled around a fire passing around 5 types of liquor, apparently we all brought a bunch of flasks. The stars came out and I slept okay but some of the guys said they heard a bunch of animal noises all night. The next morning we scrambled to the top of Teanaway peak. Not sure Nate & Stephanie knew what they were in for but they were troopers! At the top we heard a bunch of coyotes howling and then a giant crack of thunder. We hurried down to avoid scrambling on wet rocks but luckily the rain held off.

I think we found the tree of wisdom, it was so
beautiful and felt like a wise old man.

I love how the red rock and grey rock streak next to one another

Rounded off the trip with burgers & shakes. Nate took it further than any of us previously did with a triple bacon burger. Turned out to be a fabulous last minute planned trip!

Parents Hiking Adventure Pt. 2

 

 

After our long high elevation gain hike they wanted a more chill outdoor experience. It was also still supposed to be cloudy. My mom found a great hike flipping through a book in our cabin that morning so we drove over near Baker Lake. The trail was Baker River Trail and snaked along the water through a gorgeous forest, possibly old growth. There were enormous trees caked in bright green moss, ferns, leaves bigger than your head, and almost no bugs. It was about a 4 mile hike with minimal elevation gain that ended at an opening onto Baker River and a view at the backside of Mt. Shuksan. 

 

The temperature was lovely, the hike was chill with good snacks, bridges, logs to cross, and lovely company. We also gave ourselves lichen facial hair.

At the end, driving back to Seattle, Mt. Baker finally popped from behind the clouds and we got to show off his snowy peak.