Mt. Rainier Hike

A couple of years ago Kent and I discovered a beautiful hike up on Mt. Rainier to Berkeley Park. The wildflowers were in incredible. We decided to return and hike a few miles further into the park to Grand Park.


Once again we were not disappointed! Granted - there are a lot of hikes that I've not taken in Washington State but I have to believe that it would be difficult to beat the hike to Berkeley Park for the wildflowers. Our total hike was about 12 miles but that's because we chose to go all the way to Grand Park.

The exciting thing this time was the sighting of three bears! I've been to Mt. Rainier many times and this is the very first time I've seen a bear let alone three! Pretty cool.



Here are a few more pictures from our hike. I'd highly recommend it!















It's hard to tell from this final picture bit there is a near in the lower right and upper left corners. I did not have my camera with me so all these pictures were taken with my iPhone.

Later - Jim

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Missoula Marathon

Well it's been nearly a week since we were in Missoula for the marathon and half marathon. I have been waiting for the race pictures to be posted so I could share a few. We had a great time - I completed the marathon in 3:55 and Kent completed the 1/2 marathon in 2:12.







The race itself was very well organized and everyone was very nice. The challenging part was the race started at 6am and we had to take buses to the start and with the hour time difference it made for a very early morning!





We have been to Missoula many times and always have a great time. It's a great place to visit!





Here are a few pictures from around town.





We took in a baseball game while in town. Me and the Osprey!






The dogs had a great time on their road trip! The bear picture is on the campus of the University of Montana. Kent and I have hikes up to the big M on the hillside on a previous trip to Missoula.

Taking a few weeks off from running to fully recover. Today we went on a 23 mile bike ride to give our legs a rest.

Have a good one!

Jim

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Baby Seagulls

For years now my office has faithfully followed the hatching of a pair of Seagulls that nest on the roof of a near by building.

The eggs faithfully hatch on or near the 4th of July holiday. We have a pair of binoculars and a telescope set up for viewing and send out weekly updates about their progress. It makes for good office fun.

Here are a few pictures of "our" babies.






















These great pictures were taken by a Seattle Times reporter who heard about our babies and stopped by to take a few pictures.

Jim

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I could not resist

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Missoula Bound!

It's Friday afternoon and we are hitting to road headed to Missoula! Marathon is very early on Sunday morning. Driving as far as Spokane tonight and will then arrive in Missoula Saturday late morning. Looking forward to a great run. First marathon in Montana!

Later - Jim


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Living the Dream

I have to say I've never enjoyed Seattle more! We had the most incredible weather this spring and summer is starting off spectacular! We are loving our new neighborhood (Center of the Universe post coming soon) and our house is coming along. We have been working on updating the garage which is nearly done including a new garage door. As soon as the new door is installed I'll have to add a post about the project - it turned out to be a bigger project than we expected but its looking great!

With the weather being so nice and there being so many things to do in the neighborhood, aside from having to go to work periodically its like being on vacation! We are totally exhausting ourselves!

Last night we took the dogs for a walk. We have a pair of nesting eagles just 4 houses away. The two eaglets as they are called both have fallen out of the nest so the area is all fenced off and we actually saw one of the baby eagles on the ground near a large tree. Pretty cool. Apparently they are very close to being able to fly and should be fine. I was surprised how big it was!



After taking to dogs for a walk we took the kayaks out for a nice long run from Belvoir Park to Madison Park. It's just over a mile to Madison Park. The life guards were gone so we were able to put the kayaks up on the dock while we took in a swim. Pretty awesome! You can see by the map that our house is located very close to the park where we put the kayaks in the water.



I love this picture - although Kent and I are pushing 50, I feel like the two little boys in the background when we are out and about on one of our adventures!




To get to Madison Park we have to kayak under 520. They are putting in new pilings for the new bridge under construction.




It's kinda hard to tell - these pictures were taken with an iPhone after all, but there was a eagle watching is from high in a nearby tree. We have seen him several times when we go out in Union Bay.

I hope the fun we are having this first summer in our new home never ends!

Jim

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