Mt. Rainier Trip #4 and Blackberries

Hal writes:

This weekend Anna and I made our fourth trip up Mt. Rainier. Similar to our trip with Kim and Sam this past winter, we traveled up to the Paradise location. We had fog for most of the trip so we elected to go climb on one of the glaciers since the views would not be very good of the mountain top at the elevations we would be at.


This is Stephanie, an intern at Anna's clinic. She is on her internship for two months, so we brought her along in our exploring adventure.

At the start of our journey we found two mountain deer. (The other one was too camera shy to come out and say hi.)


Stay on the trail! Leave no trace! Don't be a meadow stomper!

Above 6000 feet we came to our first section of snow. (Keep in mind, this is August...)






Hal (right) and Stephanie (center) cross a makshift bridge.

Anna on the Nisqually glacier where the official trail ends. She wanted to keep climbing to the top but lacked a few items. Items such as a compass, altimeter, food, clothing, water, and shelter for such a hike.

Anna and Stephanie exploring the river coming out from under the glacier.




Can you see the marmot?

This one is "medium difficulty" in "Spot the Marmot" game.

This should be easy enough. Do you see him now?

Returning from our trip we found that our blackberry bush had some ripe berries.



The first batch was made into the this blackberry pie that we ate last night fresh from the oven with some vanilla ice cream.


We did some more berry picking today at PLU. Unfortunately, we didn't bring enough buckets or the right kind of clothes to contend with the thorns of the bushes. So, there are many berries left to be harvested. Today's batch will most likley be for muffins and scones. Let us know if you have suggestions for the future batches this next week.

(Finally) Pictures of our new house

Hal writes:

Ok, after two months we finally have pictures up of our new house. Um, I suppose it's charming when a part of the number is missing like this?


A picture from the drive way of the front of our house and the side lawn.


This is a view from our front door. The driveway comes up from the road on the right hand side (behind the bushes). It's just us and our neighbors Thomas and Lynda (and their Yorkie "Fido") who live on the hill.

When you enter the house, there is a staircase to the left to go upstairs, a coat closet, and a bathroom to the right. Straight ahead is the living room.

Another view of the living room (you can use the rocking chair for reference) and in the background is the door to the patio and the dining room.

A view from the back of the kitchen (sorry it's small and apparently dark without the lights or a flash). Behind me is small room with a washer and dryer and the water heater, which then leads to the garage. Five points if you can spot the dog in this picture.


A photo of the back of our place. Our house is a duplex, there is a porch for our neighbors on the other side of the wooden divider.

One of the four cherry trees (three different cherry varieties) on the property. The cherries are already out of season (the ones on our property) but there is a blackberry bush to look forward to later on this month.

Ok, back inside the house. This a view of the staircase from the upstairs.

Our bedroom. To the right is a sink and linen closet that leads to the full bathroom. To the left is a closet in the room.

The guest room. Reservations are currently open for our Bed and Breakfast. Let us know when you would like a Washington Adventure!


Some fun facts about our house:

* We are located in Spanaway. A span is ten miles of railroad distance and, wouldn't you know it, we are living ten miles from downtown Tacoma. In other words, a "span away" from downtown.

* In addition to the cherry trees and blackberry bushes, our yard has other trees and plants including a white rose bush and a Japanese maple plant.

* We live (according to Anna's coworkers) a "Pioneer Life": no cable/satellite, no Internet, one car for our family, and Hal mows the lawn with a push mower (no gasoline or electric power, just pure muscle). (We do still have a TV with a DVD player for occasional movie viewing and an ever growing library of books.)

* Within two blocks walking of Spanaway Lake and one block to the edge of Ft. Lewis (army base).

* Urban enough to be near gas stations, Dairy Queen, and grocery stores; rural enough to hear rosters crowing in the morning.

Dale and Sandy visit in July

Hal writes:

I neglected to bring in photos from when Dale and Sandy were here to visit prior to the Bend, OR trip (see next post). These photos were from a day long adventure exploring the area north and west of Seattle. Dale lived in Ballard, WA from when he was born until about eight years of age. We started our journey by going up to Ballard First Lutheran Church where some of Dale's family went to church (sorry, no pictures of the Methodist church for the other family members). Since it was a Sunday, we were able to attend a morning service.

Although the church has changed, the stain glass and alter at the front of the sanctuary are as Dale remembers it.

Based on the look of the baptismal font in the narthex, I believe that it goes with the alter up front. If that theory is try, my guess is that Dale would have been baptized in this font. I wanted to get a picture recreated the event, but the pastor lacked the upper arm strength hold Dale upside down over the font, especially if he was being fussy. As it turns out, one of the pastors is from Minnesota, went to Luther College, and married a woman who has family and a cabin in Shell Lake. Small Lutheran world!

In Ballard we also saw the house Dale grew up in, a school he attended, some other family houses, the beach where the family would travel to (by foot down a steep hill) on the weekends, and ate fish and chips on the locks for lunch. Later we took a ferry ride to some of the areas located northwest of Seattle.

Sandy on the ferry ride.

We drove to a small town by the name of Coupeville and explored the shops and waterfront area.




We also went through Deception Pass State Park. (Anna and I have more photos from our first trip here if you look at some of our earlier blog posts.) Below Dale is recreating the scene of a family adventure where a young Kat got her head stuck in the bridge over the pass.

A view towards the ocean.

Bridge shadow on the river.

A view inland, with one of the mountains amidst the clouds in the background.