Sunny Day at Crystal

In late January, Henry had a Friday off from school for the end of the semester, so he, Jack, and John went down to Crystal for some weekday skiing, taking advantage of shorter lines and also some great sunshine!

White Pass !

After years of discussing going, in late January we finally made the time to drive to White Pass, the largest ski area in Washington that we hadn't been to yet. Wedged between Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helen's, it's a three hour drive from our house as you have to loop around Rainier to get there. 

It was a cloudy, snowy day, so we weren't able to get what likely would have been amazing views of the surrounding mountains, but we did get some good skiing (for John, Jack, and Henry) and snowshoeing (for Mary Jo, and John who joined her for the final hour). 

Bellevue Sunset

 John's been spending most workdays back in the office. It's still somewhat empty, but comfortable and productive. With short winter days, whenever it's relatiely clear out, he sees a slightly different view of the sunset than from home.

Cougar Mountain Part 2

 On January 17, MJ and John returned to Cougar Mountain for their second hike to complete all the trails in the park. We parked at a different trailhead but in the same genearl north-eastern area of the park - we did a longer, though flatter, set of trails, touching on the set of trails we did two weeks ago, therefore extending the portion of the park we completed. MJ wore a mask for most of the hike, having gotten a positive test for Covid on Friday!

Cougar Mountain Trails - Part 1 of Many!

 John and Mary Jo set a goal in 2021 to hike all the trails in the vast Cougar Mountain Park. There are a little more than 35 miles of trails, winding their way through the park. While we have done some of them before, we decided to be more methodical this year to complete all of them.

We started on January 1, 2021 doing a 2.5 miles loop in a far corner of the park we hadn't been to before. It was a steep climb up, and we carefully noted on our map where we had and hadn't hiked so we can complete all the trails.