Another exhausting, wonderful week! Monday and Tuesday were spent in California, relaxing and soaking up the last of our visit with family. Flying in to SeaTac, especially in the evening, never fails remind me how lucky I am to live where I do. Who else gets such beautiful views descending to their city airport? Once we were home, most of our free time during the week was spent planning and preparing for the weekend. We had plans to finally go backpacking, but once again a forecast of a nearly state-wide chance of thunderstorms almost made us cancel again. Ultimately we decided that instead of hiking a nearby trail I had picked out the previous weekend, we would go to the Olympic Peninsula where there was a possibility of rain, but no thunderstorms.
I am so glad that we did! It was my first time hiking in the Olympics, and I'll definitely be going back for more soon. While it was cloudy for most of Saturday, Sunday morning - the day it was supposed to be pouring - we woke up to sun and warm temperatures. Andy now has a theory that the NOAA forecasters in Washington just forecast bad weather any weekend they want to go hiking in an attempt to reduce crowds. Sounds like a pretty good strategy to me! The hike to Marmot Pass was much more strenuous than anything else we've done so far this year, and both Andy and I struggled carrying our heavy overnight packs, but we made it! I even managed to hike the mile from our camp up to the pass twice, although my poor tender feet almost made me regret it by the time we made it back to the car. I've really got to toughen up my delicate little feet!
He clearly didn't miss me at all!
July in Seattle: chilly and overcast when I go to lunch...
but sunny by the time I leave work!
Home for the night!
Dessert always tastes better after a hard hike!
