Exploring Seattle

For our anniversary this year... we moved! We're living big I know! :) Two years already! Crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun!   

Actually we decided to take a quick camping trip amidst the towers of cardboard boxes decorating our new home! If you have not been to Paradise, Washington resident or not, you must! I remembered, as we drove through the national forest, that I had been there years before with a good friend and her family! Thank you Greens! What a fun trip!? It was fun going this second time though, remembering some of the sites I had seen years before. Paradise, a good climb up the still awake volcanic monster, was absolutely beautiful! The entire Rainer National Park is filled with campgrounds, hiking trails and amazing views and overlooks. My favorite part - the wildflowers! There were endless fields of flowers blooming in purples, reds, yellows, whites and oranges. Breath-taking!

 

  I'm not sure if Cam appreciated the flowers as much as I did, but he was generally a good-mannered hiker. ;-) Actually, he was a very patient hiker. I am recently sucking more wind than I used to, and climbing a 1600 ft elevation gain trail with a growing belly was more work than it used to be...we'll leave it at that.

 Snow!!!! That's what happens when you keep hiking vertical!!!!

Guess what's just down the streeet!? The famous 28-mile Burke-Gilman Bike Trail. It follows along the shoreline of the Washington Lake - I think....might have to double check that actually. But it's beautiful! Goes right through campus as well!

  View off of the biking trail!

             


              In this one, if you look close enough, you
              can see the space needle!

 My new favorite place to swim! Just a mile down the road from our apartment is the Green Lake area. BEAUTIFUL!!! It is always overflowing with runners, bikers, walkers, swimmers, rowers, volleyball players, frisbee throwers, soccer ball kickers, you name it! And surprisingly, the water is not too chilly! Couple more weeks, however, and that will change! Boo! But I'm loving it for now!