Mt. Rainier

We had so much fun!

I haven’t been up to Mt Rainier since I was a kid… I had forgotten what a magical place it is.

When you can see it, of course.  The first day up there, the mountain was completely covered in clouds.  Visibility was, well, like this:

Not very August-like.

Justin was a bit skeptical, thinking this whole Mt Rainier thing was just a hoax.

So after a short hike, we went back to our campsite and shivered for several hours.  But the next morning, we woke up to this:

(I’ll leave it to you to guess who was more enthused at this point in the morning). 

Not a cloud in sight!

Perfect day to hike.  Would have also been a perfect day to pack some sandwiches, but we couldn’t be bothered with petty details like that.  Thank God we packed some Triscuits and some granola bars.

Avalanche Lilies.  Straight out of the camera.  Gorgeous.

It was a little surreal to be hiking through snow in 70-degree weather, but many of the trails were still partially covered.  Lots of slipping and sliding, lots of giggling on my part. 

Oddly enough, the higher we climbed, the more wildflowers we saw (and smelled).  Up near the top, the lupine was strong and sweet.  Lots of deep inhales. 

Lots of deep breaths also partially due to the thinner air. I was dizzy a few times. Especially right around here:

But we made it!  A 1700′ ascent!

Here’s the panorama shot from Panorama Point:

Ah.  Well worth it.

The next day we took a quick jaunt to the lakes, and headed on home.

Note the sweet sunburn on my neck (reflection off the snow, oops).

Go team!  There’s no one I’d rather climb mountains with.

home!

July has pulled a disappearing act on me.  But!  What an amazing month.

For the Fourth, Justin and I met up with a bunch of friends over at Paradise Creek (near Vancouver, WA, but way out in the boonies) and camped for five wonderful days.  When my brother, Kevo, and dear friend Julie also joined us, I was very close to having all my favorite people within arms reach at the same time.  There were no fireworks (alas!), but a frightening incident involving bacon grease + Dan, our very own Fire Guy, more than made up for them.

Pictures of the trip are posted in my web album — click on the photos to your right!

The very next weekend, I was already in Port Townsend for the Writer’s Conference.  I want to devote more time to writing about that, so I’m going to wait til tomorrow, when I’ve caught up a little more on my sleep.

In the meantime, I’ll just say that after Justin picked me up from the conference, we met up with Chris and his girlfriend Jess, who is out here from Washington DC.  Our grand adventure?  The Olympic Game Farm in Sequim (an entire city obsessed with all things lavender, we noticed).  I haven’t giggled so much or shrieked so loud in a very long time.  There are certain things that feeding wild animals by hand will cause… most often a quick revert back to the kind of pure joy you haven’t experienced since the age of three.

Yes, that’s drool in the above photo.  It landed in a little pool on the fabric seat.  Luckily we took Chris’ parents’ car.

The buffalo know just where to stand to get fed…

And they are too huge to be ignored.  Even by people in large SUV’s, who often have a tendency to ignore everything.

I’m sure I’ll be subjecting you all to more of these photos in the coming days.  Surreal experience.

One other thought: if the teacher/writer gig doesn’t work out, perhaps I should try my hand at training Kodiak bears.  I’m not kidding.  Carrot in hand, I said (calmly and assertively a la The Dog Whisperer — hey, it could work), “Up!  Up!” and he sat up on his haunches.  When I waved my carrot, he began waving his paws. 

Seriously one of the (largest) cutest things I’ve seen.  I was in love.

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Seriously.  How can you not love this guy?

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These are two people happy to be back together after a long week apart.  More soon!

 

warning: gratuitous lovey-dovey-ness ahead

Holy moly, I love this man.

That is all.

a new member of the Lawlii family

No, not that kind of family member.  That’s a few years off hopefully.

We have a piano in our home again… and I am in heaven.

 

Greta, the woman who I took over for as receptionist (she’s having a baby any day now), wanted to get rid of her digital piano.  This is the only piano I can have right now in a third story apartment, and the price was right, so we drove out a few weeks ago, popped it in the back of our Vibe wagon (miracle), and drove it home. 

Ninety pounds was hard enough to get up three flights of stairs… I couldn’t imagine a real piano.

The notes still come rather slow to my rusty fingers, but I’m reading music better and better all the time.  Not having had a piano in my home for most of the last 10 years, I didn’t know how much I’d missed it.  Being able to play on a regular basis again — it’s near-bliss. 

Yay for having a music corner in our office!

I’m sure some of you at least are familiar with the soundtrack from the new Pride and Prejudice — I’m working at learning that (and whatever Regina Spektor I can get my hands on).  We played one of the P&P themes as I walked down the aisle at our wedding, so it’s even more enjoyable because of that significance.

Speaking of which, it’s calling to me now… getting prepped for finals can wait…

why? why why why why why???

Memo to Washington State:  It’s Spring.

our neighbor!

 

Saw this guy overlooking our pond as I turned on the road just before our apartment complex — ran up the apartment — grabbed the camera — drove back down the road — made an impromptu parking place — snapped a few shots before he decided he was sick of having an audience and took off.  Can’t wait to get a decent zoom lens!!

check out the majesty!

I was a little more successful today.  We headed out to Whatcom Falls Park and then later I headed out to Fairhaven.  And I don’t believe there’s a single phallic photo in the bunch. 

I finally figured out how to slow down my shutter, resulting in pretty photos like this (although I need a tripod for the effect to come out perfect — 2 1/2 to 3 seconds is a long time to try to stand still):

So fun!  And I didn’t even fall in the water, amazingly enough.  Isn’t this bridge lovely?

Most important of all — I have a favorite new happy snap:

If any of you Bellinghamians get a moment to head out there, you should.  It’s so weird to take that left off Lakeway, park, get out of your car, and immediately hear the soothing sound of rushing water — right in the middle of the city.  We were only out there for probably 45 minutes, but as we got back in our car to head home, I knew it had done me some good.  The sheepskin slippers I had idiotically worn and hiked down underneath the bridge in — not so much good for them.  But it was a lovely time.

icy morning!

 

Justin caught sight of this frozen spider web as we were watching some birdies on our balcony, so I immediately ran for my camera. 

flooding at home…

Uh, so it’s flooding pretty badly back home in the Bremerton area.  My mom got stranded at my Grandma’s in Bremerton yesterday, couldn’t get back home to Port Orchard.

This is a picture at a well-known intersection (Silverdale Way/Chico Way):

Ack.  Stay safe out there, everyone!

first snow :)

We got our first snow of the year on Saturday!  I didn’t actually think we’d get any, but it snowed most of Saturday and part of Sunday as well.  Now it’s raining (back to green again) and the wind sounds like it’s going to tear the roof off.  Nice day for a walk around campus later today…

Isn’t our view of the pond off our balcony sweet?  We had bald eagles and red-tail hawks swooping over the pond yesterday, but I won’t be able to get a good photo until I get a new lens.  All I get right now is a black blob with what could possibly be wings… but still, a black blob with what could possibly be wings photographed with my new Nikon, which I’m pretty excited about.  (It’s not quite as nice as the camera I took to Mississippi a few years ago, but it’s at least in the same family).  This could be a fairly expensive hobby.  I have a feeling that if I ever figure out what all the buttons do, I might be able to take a pretty good picture.