This week had some ups and downs. In the middle of the week, our kitty wound up spending a few days at the emergency vet with a bladder blockage. He's doing great now, but we had a stressful (and expensive) couple of days that almost led to me cancelling plans for a weekend camping at Mt Rainier for the Alpine Trails Book Club adventure. Thankfully Andy convinced me that a weekend away was just what I needed, and I'm so grateful he did. Instead of sulking at home, I spent a weekend in Paradise in the company of the most wonderful group of women. It's amazing to me that the combination of books and hiking seems to draw in such a diverse group of like-minded people. Over the weekend, I discovered many other passions I share with some or all of the ladies, and while discussing tea over breakfast, one woman mentioned she packs china teacups with her on hikes to up her backcountry tea drinking experience - something I'm totally going to copy! Somehow, we also managed to squeeze in three hikes over the course of our two days in the park, all of which were spectacular in their own unique way. I'll write more about the weekend soon, but it's certainly safe to say that Andy was right - the weekend was the perfect cure for several stressful days spent worrying about a sick pet!
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More weeks like this, please! We've had endless sunshine recently, but thankfully the temperatures have mostly stayed comfortable. Before Andy's sister and her family headed back to California, we spent a long evening on the patio of a nearby restaurant, sipping cocktails and eventually settling in around their fire pit after the sun went down. It was the perfect way to spend an evening - if only we could have more of them! I don't know about everyone else in the Seattle area, but on clear summer days, Mt. Rainier calls to me off in the distance. After so many cloudless days, I could no longer resist the call, and on a sunny Saturday morning this week, we joined the Alpine Trails Book Club for a phenomenal hike on the mountain. Seeing our neighboring volcano from a distance was nothing compared to hiking in the park itself, with clear up-close views of the glacier covered behemoth.
Read moreLife: Week 28
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.
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