Blog Turns Ten !

This blog debuted on October 23, 2010, ten years ago!! Since then, there have been 380 posts spanning countless hikes, ski trips, bike rides, and vacations. 

Little-known trivia which perhaps will be featured in a future Jeopardy episode ... the "Welcome To Our Blog" post was actually was the fourth post ever, the first post was for our hike up Tiger Mountain.

Rainy Autumn Days!

 With every weekend bringing heavy clouds and rain, we haven't had as much of a chance to get outdoors as we usually do. In early August, Mary Jo, John, and Henry did go for a hike to Talus Rocks, which John and Joseph had done four years earlier. It was a bit steeper of a hike than expected, and it was raining fairly hard by the end. We all got pretty wet.

Crazy Weather

 September 2020 brought crazy weather in the Western states ...

In Boulder, for Labor Day weekend it was 100 degrees on Saturday, 90 degrees on Monday, and then it snowed 5" and was in the low-30s on Tuesday!

Meanwhile, in Washington, Oregon, and California, there were several intense forest fires. As Joseph drove down to Stanford, he drove along with a orange sky as he neared some fires in southern Oregon.

Within a week of that, the smoke from those fires engulfed Bellevue. For over a week, there was less than 2 miles of visibility as it was just a white smoky sky with no sun.

Joseph Leaves for Stanford

 The Wednesday after Labor Day, Joseph drove down to Palo Alto to start his career at Stanford. He did the drive in one long, long day, leaving Bellevue at 4:45am, and arriving in Palo Alto a few minutes before his move-in window began at 6pm. 

Joseph pulling out of the driveway early in the morning for

his drive to Stanford

Top Ten Seattle Hikes - COMPLETED!

At the start of this summer, we found a list of the top ten hikes around Seattle. We had already completed three of them, and decided to see if we could do the remaining seven over the course of the summer. On Labor Day weekend, we completed the last hike on the list! In total, the hikes involved about 75 miles of hiking and countless switchbacks, lakes, and vistas. 

The list, which can be found here, includes the following hikes:

1. Rattlesnake Ledge - hiked Feb. 2011 - blog post here

2. Mount Si - hiked June, 2019 - blog post here

3. Mt. Pilchuck - hiked 7/11/20 - blog post here

4. Ebey's Landing - hiked 6/28/20 - blog post here

5. Summerland - hiked 8/14/20 - blog post here

6. Chain Lakes Loop - hiked 8/22/20 - blog post here

7. Dungeness Spit - hiked May 2011 - blog post here

8. Kendall Katwalk - hiked 8/1/20 - blog post here

9. Maple Pass Loop - hiked 9/6/20 - blog post here

10. The Enchantments - hiked 8/29/20 - blog post here