Cable Line Hike

So once again I’ve fallen off on my blogging schedule. Between moving to Seattle last fall, house hunting, being in a new job (that doesn’t allow me to blog at work-oh the horror!;)) I’ve really struggled to keep a steady blogging schedule. I miss the community, comments and reading other people’s blogs. I keep telling myself that one of these days I will get it together but I don’t know when that day will come. Hah! For now I’m just going to do the best I can and hope that you’ll all bear with me.

A few weeks back on Saturday March 19th, we went on a morning hike with some friends, the Cable Line Hike on Tiger Mountain. I believe it’s 2,000 feet of elevation, mostly straight up, with no switchbacks. It’s a workout to say the least. I’m definitely not in marathon running shape anymore these days, but I took more breaks than I thought I would. It’s a real leg burner.

You can kind of tell in this picture how steep it was at times.

Here we are at the top of the hike. There wasn’t much of a view, but it was nice to have gotten through the hard part. Our friend Hayes, surprised us all and brought us each a donut that we had at the top. Was it a little counter intuitive?  Yea maybe, but was it delicious? Yes! If he told us earlier in the hike we probably would have gone up  lot faster 😉 But what a (literally) sweet and thoughtful gesture. Hey, whatever it takes to finish a hike right? 

Dave and I have been trying to do Saturday morning hikes. It may not always be easy to get out of bed, but we are always so happy that that we force ourselves to do these hikes (there are SO many here in Washington) and get out and get some exercise. It’s especially awesome when I get my 10,000 steps in before noon, makes me feel so accomplished!

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Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, WA

Back in November a friend from back home came to visit and we spent some time in Seattle and Sequim where his parents now live. It was fun to get to see other parts of the state so soon after moving in October. We drove to Olympic National Park at Hurricane Ridge and walked around and played in the snow. 

Love this picture of the windows and the majestic mountains. 

We just had on our gym shoes so we didn’t walk far in the snow but it was nice to get out and stretch our feet a little. 

Our friends got married in Olympic National Park in the fall, and it was fun to see it in the winter. Now that we live in the state we look forward to spending more time here and at the other national park in the state: Rainier! Washington state is pretty great ya’ll 😉

Cross Country Skiing to Maroon Bells

Back in January 2015 we drove home to Chicago from California for the holidays. On our way back out West, we stopped in Colorado and visited one of our favorites places, Maroon Bells in Aspen. It had been years since we last visited for the first time, back in 2012 or 2013 on one of our road trips.

So we were really excited to go back and visit in a different season. We asked around how we could get in to see the mountains and they said either through snowmobile (which was not cheap to rent) or cross country skiing. We are both snowboarders so this was our first time cross country skiing. It was a great workout and took quite a while for us to get to the mountain. We started early in the morning and finished by mid afternoon. 

It was gorgeous and sunny out and we couldn’t ask for better weather. 

We brought snacks and had little picnics when we got hungry. The mountain didn’t seem that far but it was a couple of miles. We kept saying, “we’re almost there, we’re almost there.”

It was absolutely beautiful to see the mountain covered with snow. I love how harsh the lines on the mountain are.

The last time we were here it was cloudy and drizzling and we could barely see the mountain.

Had to get in our jumping pic. 

We decided to walk down to get closer to the mountain and had to trudge through some pretty deep snow. 

Oh Maroon Bells, we love you. 

Soundtrack of My Life

Today I’m linking up with Andrea for her Show and Tell Tuesday with today’s topic being the soundtrack to different stages of your life.

 

As fun as this post was, it was kind of tough to just pick a few songs. There are so many that I love! It really took me back to specific times in my life which was fun to relive and obviously the point of this point. 

Grade School & Middle School – I listened to typical teeny bopper stuff and pretty much anything by these bands but here are ones that stick out to me. Of course most of these songs were about love and heartbreak, which I knew nothing about, but boy was it fun to sing these songs at the top of my lungs and learn the dance moves. 🙂

• Wannabe by The Spice Girls (obviously the appeal of the Spice Girls is their endorsement of friendship and girl power. Their songs were filled with such positivity and high energy. How could you not want to sing along?)
• Tearing’ Up my Heart by *NYSNC

• Baby One More Time by Britney Spears
• As Long As You Love Me by the Backstreet Boys

 

High School & College – Dave and I met my freshman year of high school (his sophomore year) but we didn’t date until my freshmen year of college. But ever since then we have become a unit and I annoyingly know why people write love songs now 😉

• Bliss by John Mayer and Alice Peacock
• Lucky by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz
• Look After You by the Fray (this is our song. We got to meet the band after seeing their show back in 2006. This is the day before we started dating.Can’t you tell how much I’m beaming in this photo?)

part of the lyrics of Look After You:

• Only You Can Love Me This Way by Keith Urban

These Days- I love love. Songs about finding and being with the one who makes you feel like you’re home. Dave and I have moved around a bit and we love to travel but being together, no matter where we are, is where we are happiest.

• Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
• Heartbeat by Carrie Underwood
• In the Wind – Lord Huron

Songs can be so personal so I’m very interested to see what songs you all chose that represent your lives.

 

Snowboarding at Big Big Mountain

In keeping up with last week’s theme of playing catch up, I wanted to post these pictures from when we went snowboarding last January 2015 in Big Bear Mountain in California.

One of the many perks of living in California is you can experience so many different climates in a single state. You can drive in the mountains to play in the snow, drive to the desert, and go surfing on the beach.

It took a little big of planning but we were able to get 11 people to commit to a ski trip complete with a cabin rental. Everyone always has busy schedules so it’s pretty awesome we were able to all make it work.

Here are Dave and I with our friend Richard, who recently visited us in Seattle. 

Our friend LD and our old roomie Darin.

Before this trip, I haven’t snowboarded since college, like 6 years ago. I was a little rusty but was able to pick it up again. I used to always fall off the chair lift but I did a lot better this year.

We played games, cooked, and there was even an indoor hot tub. It was such a fun filled friend weekend. As you can see from this pic, it was sunny and beautiful out and we aren’t wearing any coats. #California 😉

Vancouver for the day

So back in December I got my passport renewed and I wanted to go Vancouver just for the day. It was a last minute trip so we didn’t spend the night or have any major plans. I just wanted to use my newly minted passport.

It’s about a 3 hour drive from Seattle to Vancouver. Back when we lived in Illinois, 3 hours would take us to Indiana, Iowa, etc. Nothing against those states (I grew up in the Midwest and it will always be home) but they’re certainly not as exciting as Vancouver.

After crossing the border we drove to Stanley Park and walked around. It was a cloudy and misting a little but people were still out and about. It was a pretty view of the skyline. I can only imagine how busy it would be in the spring and summer.

In Washington and Vancouver I see a bunch of totem poles so we did some reading up on them.

Afterwards we drove to Granville Island and checked out their Public Market. Gotta see what Pike’s Place is up against. 😉

Before we left Vancouver, we ate a seafood restaurant which was in walking distance of the market. It was a short slice of Vancouver and I can’t wait to go back when it’s nicer out. Actually for our anniversary I bought us tickets to see the Chicago Blackhawks play against the Vancouver Canucks later this month so hopefully we will get to see more then. It’ll just be a quick weekend trip but we can’t wait.

Atlanta, Georgia weekend

So I mentioned on Monday that my parents sold my childhood home. They decided they were done with the brutal Chicago winters and wanted a change. They have friends in Georgia, my stepmom had a job opportunity (my dad is retired), and the cost of living is cheaper that Chicago. So they moved there this past fall.

They bought a house and my brother and I along with our significant others, got our schedules to align and we ascended on Georgia. 🙂 It was so much fun to get everyone together. Made my heart so happy.

Our first day there we went to a state park near them and ate dinner together after my stepmom got off work. 

The next day we went downtown to the CNN museum.

It was interesting to see how the news gets out and is constantly updated in this 24 hour news cycle.

The Atlanta airport is huge because of the 1996 Olympics that were held there. In the heart of the city there is a Centennial Olympic Park which was cool to see. 

That night we went to IKEA to find furniture for our parents, had a furniture building party and went out for sushi. My stepmom loves sushi.

We’ve always been a really close family so all being in different states now (me in Washington state, my dad and stepmom and Georgia, and my brother in California) can be hard at times. I call my dad almost every day because I miss and love him so much.

I relished in our time together that weekend and can’t wait to see them all again. My dad and stepmom are hopefully coming to visit us in April, and my bro and his fiancé and planning to come in June.

So if you all live by your parents and/or siblings, hold them tight and spend lots of time with them. That’s my PSA for the day 🙂 Family time is the best.

Mount Baker Snowshoeing

So I’ve been pretty behind with my blogging lately. Work has got me so exhausted that I fall asleep a lot earlier than I used to, and I keep falling behind with the blogging world. So this week I’m playing catch up with some trips that I’ve been meaning to blog about.

Back in January on New Years Eve weekend, our friends Kate & Hayes and Dave and I went snowshoeing at Mount Baker. We had gone the day before at a random spot in the forest, but Mount Baker was breathtaking. So humbling to be surrounded by such magnificent mountains. 

Some of these pictures look fake because it’s so pretty. We got pretty spoiled to snowshoe here on only our second time ever going.

It was a perfect sunny day out.

We moved to Seattle in October of 2015 and being here I had a surreal moment, realizing where we now live, and the cool things we get to do with friends.

We picked a nice, secluded spot to eat lunch.

Dave killing the jump pic as usual and me getting whipped in the face with my own hair hahah!

A fun twist on our Pinterest inspired feet picture, we take at fun locations.

It was the best way to start the new year being so active and surrounded by friends and the mountains. I know this post was a little long, but there are just so many awesome pictures it was hard to choose. 🙂 It has easily become one of our new favorite winter activities.

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Jumping for Joy Part 2

Back in July I put together all of the jumping photos from the last few years. We started the tradition in 2010 on our first road trip together and have been doing it since. It is one of my favorite traditions and am so glad we have kept it up. I thought it would be fun to do a little update of the latest editions of the last few months of travel.

July 2015 -Chicago Suburbs. My parents sold my childhood home so we had to take a picture before it was gone forever. 😦

August – Denali National Park, Alaska

October – We took a road trip (that I still need to blog about) with our best friends and my brother and his fiancé, to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Zion National Park in Utah, and Las Vegas.

Before we moved out of California we spent a day in Santa Monica (where we lived the first year we lived in Cali) and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take a jumping pic in front of our old apartment building.

October – Our old place in Southern California with our roomies, the day we drove to Seattle for our move

December – Lake Crescent, WA

January 2016 – Snowshoeing in Mount Baker

February – Fremont Troll, Seattle I missed the jumping memo on this one 😉

March – Moran State Park, Orcas Island, WA

What fun travel traditions do you guys do?

Linking up today with :

http://www.herheartlandsoul.com

http://www.champagneandsuburbs.com

Twin Lakes Hike, Orcas Island

*Just wanted to let you guys know this is going to be a really long post with a bunch of pictures. Can’t say I didn’t warn ya. 😉

Yesterday I blogged about the first part of our day in town on Orcas Island.

After breakfast we headed to Moran State Park to see Mount Constitution and do a little hike.

Back in 2012 Dave and I took a road trip to Seattle and went here. I thought it would be fun to recreate one of the pictures we took. I brought the same sweater and purse, but I forgot to ask Dave to bring the same shirt.

We took our jumping pic, off the rock wall but I didn’t jump as well as Dave did. He told me the trick is to bring your knees up, I’ll have to remember that. 

You can walk up the tower and it offers an awesome 360 degree view.

We went on a 3 mile hike to Twin Lakes. The mix and trees and sunlight was so pretty and peaceful. 

We had a little picnic on this tree at the twin lakes. We brought cookies, coconut almonds, dried mangos, and water.

We are pretty fond of each other 😉

One of the things I really love about hiking in Washington is the moss on the ground and  on the trees.

Our pinterest inspired feet pic tradition, showing off the moss.

After we finished the hike, Mount Baker came out from the clouds and was in full view. I can’t believe how much snow is up there right now!

We went back into town, ate dinner, and got ice cream because that’s what everyone does after doing hikes, right? 🙂

And lastly I wanted to share two more pics of the inside of the converted barn.

We’ve been pretty busy lately so taking this relaxing weekend away was so wonderful and really recharged us and was the best way to celebrate our anniversary.

Linking up today with: