Having lived in Washington for decades, I’ve come to expect mostly grey skies and drizzle up until the Fourth of July. Some might call it gloomy weather, but I find it comforting - perfect weather for soup, sweaters, and wool socks. As a rule, I plan for overcast weather over Memorial Day - the holiday that marks the start of summer in many other places. Over the past few years’ the chilly spring weather I’ve come to rely on has gradually vanished into an ever-expanding summer, and this year was no exception. Both Memorial Day and the week that followed were decidedly summery, with mostly sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. While the early end to the rainy season makes me worry that we’ll have a hot, dry, and smoky season to come, for the moment the mild weather has been much appreciated.
Read moreLife: Week 22
Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, work has slowed down, and I'm finally starting to have the time and energy to do more during the week than work, eat a quick dinner, then binge a few episodes of Veep (which I finally got around to watching) before bed. This week, that left me with the time and energy to tackle our mess of backpacking gear so we could hit the trail over the weekend and finally break in the new tent we bought last fall! It turned out to be the perfect weekend for our first trip of the year - the trail we'd picked was bursting with wildflowers and inexplicably uncrowded. We even had the campground where we set up camp to ourselves! Raging Ingalls Creek may have been loud enough to wake me up a few times over the course of the night, but the view from our campsite was well worth it. With such a short hike back to the car, we even made it back to civilization in time for a late lunch at the soft opening of a restaurant in Duvall that will certainly be a new favorite! My summer weekends are quickly filling up, but I'm hoping for at least a few more weekends like this one!
Read moreLife: Week 22
While there's still piles of snow in the mountains, it's feeling a lot more like summer around Puget Sound. The days are long and sun filled, and spring blooms have begun to fade into berries and leafy canopies of green. One a walk this week, we found the first ripe salmonberries of the year. I've never liked salmonberries, but as a sign of all the berries to follow, they were certainly a happy sight! I've always loved the Powerline Trail at this time of year, when the grass and brambles lining the path are well into their spring growth spurt, shooting up and out in a riot of green. Soon, the city will come through for their mowing and pruning, but for now there are places where the grass is taller than me (not a challenge at my height!) giving the trail the feel of a wild suburban jungle.
Read moreLife: Week 22
How can it already be June? I've started my flurry of summer hike planning, but even though it's not yet summer, it already feels like all my weekends are booked through late September! Andy and I are seriously considering a long backpacking trip for our anniversary, so I'm hoping to make it out for at least one backpacking trip a month to prepare. Hopefully I can manage to stick to that plan. My biggest concern at this point is weather. Yesterday it was over 90° - way too hot for this wimpy Pacific Northwesterner. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have a repeat of the dry hot weather of last summer!
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