After an exhausting, travel-filled start to the month, April has wrapped up on a high note! Since my sister-in-law was still in town, I was able to celebrate my birthday with both her and my husband over macarons, cocktails, and a delicious dinner in Kirkland. It was otherwise a mostly uneventful week, with most of my time outside work spent prepping for the month's book club outing - a weekend of camping on San Juan Island! After a week of typical spring weather - aka sun, rain, warm, cold - I was a little worried about the conditions we'd be camping in, especially since I discovered dozens of holes in my camping tarp on my last trip and hadn't yet replaced it! Things looked even more iffy when I found myself caught in a hailstorm as I was packing up my car to leave Saturday morning! Thankfully, we didn't see a single drop of rain all weekend. I even managed to soak up enough sunshine to get a sunburnt face! It was a weekend of books, laughter and relaxation. We hiked to a lighthouse, stopped by a farmer’s market, and discovered an alpaca farm with award-winning alpacas where I couldn’t resist picking up a skein of the softest yarn with a photo of the alpaca the wool was shorn from. And to top it all off, my wonderful friend Ashley surprised me with a birthday cake while we enjoyed a sunset from the campground!
Read moreLife: Week 17
To call this a busy week would be a serious understatement. With everything I did, it felt like at least two weeks, and it was a good two weeks! Early in the week, I celebrated my birthday and was treated to two dinners at my favorite restaurant. On a run to the grocery store to pick up lunch, I even bought some flowers to bring a little sunshine into the apartment. Monday through Thursday, any time that wasn't spent out for a marvelous meal with family was spent trying to get ahead at work to prepare for a Friday off so I could head south with Ashley for the April Alpine Trails Book Club camping trip. Driving east, we quickly left behind the clouds layered over Puget Sound, and by early afternoon, we'd reached the Columbia River and set up camp.
Read moreLife: Week 17
After a lovely weekend spent on Whidbey Island, Monday morning, we had to pack up and head home. I always find it hard to leave Whidbey, but it's especially difficult when the sun is shining. After a stormy weekend, we the island sent us off with beautiful weather, so before heading home, we stopped for lunch on the patio of one of our favorite cafes on the island. By Monday night, back at home, it was once again raining.
I think at this point in our excessively soggy winter and spring, even those who love the rain are over it. Not me though! While I'm not happy about the amount of snow that's left in the Cascades, that will continue to linger well into summer, I'm loving all this wet weather! I always sleep better with the sound of a good storm as my lullaby, and all this wet weather has been keeping crowds down on trails! I've been on several hikes this year on popular trails I expected to be packed with other hikers, only to find peaceful, uncrowded trails. On our hike to Barclay Lake this past Saturday, we saw only a few people. It was chilly and overcast, but still it was a surprise to have such a popular trail mostly to ourselves.
Read moreLife: Week 17
This week was all over the place. Monday, we had an early breakfast in Newport, snuck in one last rocky Oregon beach fix in at Yaquina Head lighthouse, then headed for home under blue skies. Just after crossing back into Washington, we stopped for a leisurely lunch on the Columbia River. Eating lunch and drinking beer in the sunshine while boat traffic drifted by was made even more enjoyable knowing that normally I'd be at work. Tuesday, back to real life, work hit me like a sack of bricks to the face. I spent most of the week trying to catch up from the two days I'd been away, leaving little time or energy for anything else. I've also been suffering from insomnia again, getting only a few hours of sleep a night. The combination left me feeling more zombie than human by the weekend. Thankfully, it was a leisurely weekend. While I was disappointed to cancel plans for a hike on Sunday due to my exhaustion, spending a couple days relaxing with family was exactly what I needed. Hopefully I'll get past this insomnia soon so I survive this busy month!
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