Washington 2010

We spent the last week of July in Washington. It was great to see family again and visit some of our old stomping grounds. We even got to see some beautiful things we had never seen before.

We spent two days exploring Mt. Rainier. It is a beautiful, huge mountain.

Mt. Rainier

Lake Tipsoo

Grove of the Patriarchs

Box Canyon

We have been to box canyon many times before. It has a beautiful view of the top of Rainier. I always thought we stopped there because of the view. This time, I saw something that was incredible. As we were standing on the bridge and I was admiring Rainier, Dwight told me to look down. I had to lean on the 3 foot thick rock wall to see down. The river cuts through solid rock and is 180 feet below the road. It made my stomach drop. It was both beautiful and horrifying and I couldn't get over how I had never noticed it before.

Tuesday we decided to spend the day in our old neighborhood. We drove by our old house, shopped at one of my favorite stores, ate at a restaurant we used to frequent and drove around reminiscing about our favorite Sunday drives.

Tacoma

Browns Point

We went back to Mt. Rainier on Wednesday. Dwight has always talked about how beautiful Mt. Rainier is in the early summer because of the fields of wildflowers. We drove to Mowich lake. We had a hard decision to make. I have always wanted to go to Spray Park because it is where Dwight saw the most beautiful wildflowers, but neither of us had been to Eunice Lake and we heard great things about it. We decided to hike to Eunice Lake.

Mowich Lake

Eunice Lake

The little square shape on the top of the ridge is the lookout.


Once we arrived at Eunice Lake there was a trail leading up to a lookout. I was so exhausted when we reached the lake I didn't think I could keep going (I had run my first 3 mile goal that morning). I looked up and saw the lookout and it was so far away. I decided to try and make it to the first switchback. As we started on the trail it wasn't nearly as steep as the trail leading to the lake, so I was able to make it to the top. The view was amazing. We could see both Mowich Lake and Eunice Lake. We wanted to sit and enjoy the view for awhile, but the mosquitoes were plentiful. Even though we had doused ourselves with insect repellent we were still attacked. It was hard to stand still for a picture because they were so persistent.

A view of Eunice Lake and Mt. Rainier from the trail leading to the lookout

A view of Mowich Lake (where we started our hike) and Mt. Rainier

Eunice Lake, Mowich Lake and Mt. Rainier

Wild Flowers

We decided to take a two day trip to the Olympic Peninsula on Thursday and Friday with two of Dwight's brothers and their families. We went through Seattle, got lunch at Ivars and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We stopped by Poulsbo and visited the bakery's and antique shops.

We arrived in Sequim a couple of weeks after their lavender festival, but the lavender was still in bloom. We drove by a few of the fields and enjoyed the wonderful scent.

Sequim

We stayed in Port Angeles on Thursday night.

On Friday we visited the Olympic Rain Forest and Pacific Ocean.

We hiked through the Forest along the Sol Duc river to visit Sol Duc falls. It was a beautiful hike.

Sol Duc

We traveled through Forks, WA on our way to the coast. I couldn't help but laugh when we drove by the "Welcome to Forks" sign and saw dozens of young girls snapping pictures. We had officially entered into the "Twilight zone". Luckily we didn't run into any vampires or wearwolves.

We headed to the coast to see Ruby Beach. It was beautiful. The fog was rolling in, it was only 55 degrees and it was the perfect place to gather an arm-full of driftwood. I resisted carrying large pieces to the car, but almost reconsidered when I walked by a van with three beautiful pieces strapped to it.

Ruby Beach

On Saturday we participated in our main reason for visiting Washington, the celebration of Grandma's 90th Birthday. I hope I am as vibrant as Grandma when I am 90.

Dwight, his brothers and sisters, parents and Grandma

The Family

Us with Grandma

It was a luau themed party. Our Brother-in-Law made a fantastic cake and there was a lot of good food. All of Dwight's sisters were there, and all but one brother were there. It was great to get together with so many family members to celebrate such a wonderful Grandma.

Running in the Rain

This was my view as I achieved my goal of running 3 miles tonight...


4 1/2 weeks ago I got the urge to run. Where it came from I have no idea. I started with the goal of running 1 mile. I was able to reach that goal in week 1. The next week my goal was to make it 2 miles with a mixture of running and walking. Every few days I would try to lessen the time I walked. A couple of weeks ago I reduced the waking time to 2 minutes in 20 minutes of running/walking.

Last week we went to Washington (I will post pictures soon. I went through half of them last night and it took two hours). When we arrived, my goal was to run two miles. I knew it would be easier because of the cooler temperatures and altitude. The first day I ran, I was able to do two miles without walking. I was thrilled. The next day I did 2 1/2 miles, I was astounded. The next day I did three miles. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to run in the cool, moist air. Next goal - to run three miles at home in the higher elevation.

Tonight I decided to run just after a rain storm passed. It was the perfect temperature and the sky was beautiful. As I reached the 1 1/2 mile mark, it started to rain. It was wonderful. As I was entering my last mile a rainbow appeared and the sun lit up the mountains. It was beautiful.

I think I was made to run in the rain.