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 »

Z had his first triathlon of the season near Mt. Rainier. He’s training for a half ironman in June and has been spending hours on the bike trainer (aka “hamster”). This was his first race testing out his new wheels which got a positive review.

View Z’s Mt. Rainier Duathlon photos

Posted in Activities, Triathlon 300 Comments »

We had an awesome winter and took advantage of the great snow in the mountains! It’s the first time in my life that I’m sad winter is over! Even though there is still feet of snow in the mountains, they stop grooming the cross country trails and many resorts close because there aren’t enough workers (the workers go to the southern hemisphere to work during the winter there).  In addition, people lose interest in skiing and start hiking, kayaking etc. when weather starts gets nice in the city. 

View our photos various cross country skiing trips

Posted in Activities, Cross country skiing 387 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

Posted in Activities, Cross country skiing, Outdoor activities 86 Comments »