Bead Lake and wildfires

I spent this past weekend at Bead Lake with Joe and 

"a whole bunch of Muhms" (it was a family reunion). 

I took a lot of photos of Max...he is so adorable. 

I left my camera aside for most of the weekend since I was busy 

meeting lots of cousins and kids of cousins and enjoying getting 

to know more of Joe's family. On Saturday we did a "Run for the Berries" 

in a nearby town and one of Joe's cousins had shirts made for all of us. 

We had huckleberry pancakes after the race and then enjoyed lots of 

"dock time" laying in the sun, swimming, and throwing sticks in the 

water for the dogs. We also enjoyed lots of good food and plenty of walks. 

We drove home Sunday afternoon/evening and came across 
some crazy smoke from the wildfires and even a pyrocumulus cloud 
(which I learned about in this post from my favorite meteorologist) 
Joe took most of the driving photos since I was driving at that point. 

I can't believe July is almost over already... 

whidbey weekend

I spent the weekend of July 19-21 at the Whidbey house 

with my whole family. My brother and Kara flew up from SF 

and we celebrated my brother's birthday. 

On Saturday evening we took a picnic down to the beach 

and made a fire. We cooked beans in the can and make s'mores for dessert. 

It was such a beautiful evening with a waxing gibbous moon. 

On Sunday we took the boat out and did some crabbing. 

We anchored and enjoyed cocktails and snacks. 

We kept five huge Dungeness crabs for dinner. 

That night for dinner we had fresh crab and a blackberry pie for dessert. 

I made the pie with berries my mom and I picked earlier in the week. 

I also made blackberry gin fizzes from Smitten's recipe. Yum! 

It was so nice to have a weekend with the fam in such a relaxing place. 
This summer is turning out to be full of excellent weekends. 

Rainier Hiking: Fremont Lookout

I'm back to share my second July weekend... 

Joe and I have had Rainier on our hiking to do list 
and the forecast for the 13th was looking pretty perfect.  
I have snowshoed from Paradise but this was my first time 
hiking Rainier in the summer and my first time at the Sunrise area. 
I was amazed at the views as soon as we hit the parking lot 
and they only got better... 

We intended to hike to Burroughs Mountain but as soon as 

we got out of the car the ranger asked where we were headed 

and strongly recommended against it as we didn't have ice axes. 

Apparently just having an ice axe means you can handle anything... 

We were stubborn and decided to see how far we could get. 

Turns out the sheet of icy snow on a steep slope (see above) 

with nothing but sharp rocks below was a little much. 

Everyone ahead of us had turned back 

and we decided to play it safe and join them. 

So we headed out to Fremont Lookout instead. 

The hike was pretty easy and there were views the entire time. 
The wildflowers were going crazy - tons of lupine, paintbrush, 
western anemone, glacier lily, and carpets of phlox. 
We were glad we started early because by the time 
we turned around the trail was packed. There was also 
an incredibly long line just to get into the park as we were leaving. 

We will definitely be heading back to rainier to hike Burroughs and 
hopefully to hike some trails from Paradise as well. 
I feel so lucky to live close to such amazing places. 

America's Birthday at Bead Lake

Sorry for the unplanned three-week hiatus from blogging. 

I've been in class all day every day and we've had 

warm sunny weather which means the idea of a hot laptop 

on my legs doesn't sound too appealing. 

The good thing about my three weeks off and amazing weather 

is that I have lots of photos from three very fun weekends to share. 

First up is America's birthday weekend at Bead Lake... 

Joe, Holly, Joe and Holly drove to the lake early on 4th of July morning. 

Yes, we are friends with another couple who share our names. 

This was Holly's first 4th of July in the US (she's from New Zealand) 

so we got really into our red white and blue outfits. 

We also got to ride with all of the groceries on our laps, as pictured. 

We got to the lake mid-afternoon and cracked open some patriotic beers. 

We enjoyed some "dock time" and swimming until the sun went away. 

After dinner (and too many drinks) we did what any sane 

American would do and took fireworks out on the boat. 

Ok, they were only sparklers. 

But we also had red white and blue glowsticks. 

Joe and Holly turned in early but Joe and I stayed out on the 

boat looking at the stars for what may have been hours. 

It was lovely. 

Most of the weekend was spent on the dock 

reading in the sun and swimming in the lake. 

I made pretzels and Holly made an apple pie. 

Joe and I also went to a wedding in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday. 

It was on a golf course on a lake - super nice! 

On the way home Sunday afternoon we stopped and picked 

our own cherries. First time ever! I managed not to fall 

of any ladders even when the bees got close. Success. 

We drove home into a gorgeous sunset. 
It really was a perfect weekend. 
I even got a little bit tan!