The Mason Lake hike had spectacular views and we had perfect weather. Wildflowers lined the trail and we climbed to nearly 4000 feet.  We were so high that several small airplanes were flying below us! 

Unfortunately, the alpine lake on the top of the mountain still had quite a bit of snow so we decided to turn around without seeing the lake – plus this was our first hike of the season and we didn’t want to overdo it. The hike was pretty steep and we were both a little sore the day following the hike!  We look forward to going back to the lake!

View our Mason Lake hiking photos

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We wanted to travel a little further away over the holiday weekend to hike a trail we normally wouldn’t have time to do. We picked a hike that was near Yakima (about 3 hours away) because the description said this hike was great for viewing wildlife (big horn sheep, elk, eagles etc.). It also mentioned that in late summer rattlenakes could be seen on the trail.

The terrain was much different than in Seattle. It was dry and dessert like with very few trees.

Within the first mile we saw our first snake (Z was out front as the “snake charmer”). Later we saw a snake then heard the infamous rattle…. Sara and I immediatly frooze and (freaked out!) and as soon as he slitherd off the path we hurridly passed. We warned two men passing us that there was a poisionous snake ahead and they responded “oh cool, can you show us where it is.” After shaking ground debris to make the snake rattle, they located the snake and picked it up (with a tool)! They offered us to take a photo but we didn’t want to get too close because that snake was NOT happy and we didn’t want to be around when they let it go. We saw 5 snakes that day and honestly, I think I want to stick to the Seattle area where there are no poisionous snakes. Watching for snakes kind of takes the fun out of hiking!!

View our Umtanum Hiking Photos

Posted in Outdoor activities, Seattle 1,102 Comments »

Well, not quite….This was my first sucessful downhill attempt, yeah!!  It was really more steep than it looks on this video.  Seriously….

View Amy learning to ski hills!

Posted in Activities, Cross country skiing, Outdoor activities 387 Comments »

The past two weekends we’ve headed to the mountains for cross-country skiing. Last weekend our friend Sara joined us on a trip to Snoqualmie. We skied on an old railroad bed. The trail was flat and well groomed. The trail followed a beautiful lake and the weather was perfect.

View our Hyak Skiing photos

This weekend Zvonimir had Monday off for the MLK holiday so we planned a weekend of activities. We headed back to Lake Easton on Sunday for more cross country skiing. The weather on the pass was cloudy and snow was falling. However, a few miles down the road, the clouds lifted and it was a beautiful day. I was excited to be back at Lake Easton because I was eager to try the hills again. The snow was pretty icy which made it a little more difficult for me. I did better than previously on the hills but still spent the majority of time on the ground!

On Monday, we drove to Mount Baker, an active volcano and one of the snowiest places in the world. Mount Baker is a few hours north, near the Canadian border. We skied for nearly two hours. The snow was powdery and this was our favorite trail yet. We found a big hill and I practiced over and over again until I finally conquored the hill. I still fell plenty of times but I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable on skis.

View our Lake Easton and Mount Baker photos

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A few years ago we took a trip to Lake Tahoe in California and visited the Royal Gorge Resort, the largest cross country skiing resort in North America. Z grew up on skis and had been cross country skiing several times before but this was the first time I had EVER been on skis….

It was great exercise and the scenery was amazing. Even though I spent most of the day on the ground and every muscle ached the following day, we had a lot of fun and wanted to go cross country skiing again.

We were excited to find that the Seattle area has several downhill skiing resorts and many cross country paths. We recently bought our own cross country skis and had been looking forward to breaking them in!

Yesterday it was rainy and dreary at our house so we decided to drive to the mountains to the cross country trails. We reached the mountains in just over an hour and found several feet of snow. (A bonus of living in Seattle – you’re close enough to enjoy the snow but don’t have to live with it daily!).

The cross country paths are groomed with a machine that makes little “lanes” in the snow. This is ideal for beginners like me, as the lanes keep your legs from going in opposite directions. This works most of the time, but there are still times when my legs just won’t cooperate!!

Yesterday I practiced stopping on hills… Zvonimir said my “swan dive” face plant would have been a great video clip to add to our site. I’m kind of happy he didn’t catch that on camera!! I did pretty well considering yesterday was only my second time on skis. I managed to keep my falls to less than double digits and only ended up with one large bruise! Hopefully at some point I’ll learn to stop without throwing myself on the ground…

View our Cross Country Skiing photos.

Posted in Activities, Cross country skiing, Outdoor activities 93 Comments »