weekend wandering

My good friend from high school, Elise, and her husband Ari, were in town for the weekend, for a series of whirlwind visits with folks they know in the Seattle area (cousins, other friends, a high school science teacher, and us). At their request, I arranged for a group hike to Boulder River Wilderness Area* on Saturday. The hike was beautiful, and strengthened my resolve to do more hiking this summer.


enjoying the falls on the way out....


looking downstream from our mid-point, where warm feet were bathed in fresh snowmelt....


an as-yet unidentified plant, but I'm working on it.... ideas?


a close-up of the falls....

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It's been an incredibly warm weekend here in western Washington (mid-90s). The kind of heat that has you crossing your fingers that the next red light will have you stopped in a patch of shade and has you not really wanting to eat dinner, much less cook it (chips, salsa and beer was all we could handle). Both days saw us taking Finn to the off leash dog beach at Magnussen Park, and generally avoiding the indoors. I tried to sew a couple of hours ago, but had to give it up and head outside (strange how the house seems to hold heat so much better in the summer than it does in the winter, which is pretty darn well, actually), where we are now expecting thunderstorms... it just has that feel out there.

Now I am going to try to sleep.... I think I'll start by counting how many times I can say thankgoodnessweinstalledthatceilingfan....

* It started off as Mt Pilchuck, then Mt Rainier, but then I realized that those places are still reporting snowy conditions, I googled early summer seattle area hikes and got Boulder River on the Washington Trail Association's website.