Whippet crazy

Bubbles and Tiger are now inseparable. They constantly play with each other and for the most part, get along great. Bubbles is remarkably smart, though he's definitely a trouble maker. He repeats everything that Tiger does, which is nice because he's learning his routine fast. These pictures are from last week - I'd pulled out some carrots and radishes from my garden, which they found very entertaining as toys. As you can see, the little guy is doing everything the big guy is doing...(click on the pictures to enlarge)

Updates from home...

I haven't written in a while and I'm totally behind on all fronts. This fall has already been busy but between now and the end of the year, it seems like every day is already mapped out and packed. We have two more trips to California (mid-Oct and end of November) to visit Phil & family; I'm going to London for a week in early Nov for work and Colin/Lynn/Fred and I are planning to tag on a week in France. I'm also taking 2 photo classes this semester and have a new puppy at home. More than all that, however, Colin and I have been toying around with the idea of climbing Kili over the holidays, which requires a pretty committed prep, with long and steep hikes. I just don't know how we can fit everything in.

Anyway, this past weekend (+ Mon, Tue), four of my girlfriends and I went to Mendocino/Anderson Valley in Northern California for some serious wine tasting and R&R. We've already done a bunch of these wine tasting trips on the West coast (WA, OR, CA), but this is the first one that was sans our S.O's. It was super fun and we all loved Mendocino. It's a lot more late back than Napa and Sonoma and the wines are great. As usual, we rented a house and took turns cooking. We toured the wineries during the day and soaked in the hot tub in the evenings. California living sure is nice. Here are some pictures...

Bubbles-Troubles

Bubbles is the new family member, adopted this weekend. He's a 12-week old whippet, full of energy and mischief. He hasn't stopped wagging his tail since the moment we adopted him and is definitely giving Tiger a run for his money, so to speak. Bubbles is smart and sweet and energetic. We all already love him!

Ellensburg Rodeo!

Later this month, it'll be 11 years since I've moved to Seattle. For 10 of those years, I pretty much ignored anything that was East of the Cascades. For me, Washington state was framed by the Pacific, Canada, the Cascades and Oregon. I was so fascinated by the lushness of Western WA - the ocean, the islands, the mountains - that I couldn't understand why anyone would bother going to the deserts of Eastern WA.

It was only in the past year that I've started to appreciate how amazingly rich Eastern WA is. Over this summer, in particular, I've seized every opportunity to go over the pass and explore new places there. You cross the mountains and everything is different: the climate, the landscape, the people, the vastness... Eastern WA represents all those fantasies of the "West" that we have as kids - endless plains, cattle, cowboys, roughness, gold, unlimited opportunities...On our side of the mountains, we're way too polite, geeky, REI-wearing, chai-drinking, and pale to inspire any fantasies of adventure.

Anyway, one of the big events in the summer East of the mountains is the Ellensburg Rodeo. Ellensburg has 18,000 habitants and 4,000 horses (in the city!) and claims to have one of the top 10 Rodeos in the country. Using photography as an excuse, I took Friday off and drove out to the Rodeo. It was pretty exciting to see real cowboys and cowgirls...and so many of them! Because our weekend hike got cut short, Colin and I stopped again by the Rodeo on the way back to Seattle. A few pictures...

Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Yesterday was Labor Day, so we had a long weekend. We took advantage and decided to tackle Lake Mary in the Alpine Lakes region for the second time this year. We tried doing the same hike over the July 4th weekend, but when we got to the base, the weather was awful, so we kept driving further East. Anyway, the weather this weekend looked promising, with 0% chances of precipitation and so off we went.

It was a challenging hike - up, up, up, up, up - but the views were beautiful. The colors have just started to turn and the sun was warm and pleasant. The first day we only saw two other parties on the trail. One of the couples gave us a tip for where we could pitch the tent and that was really helpful because it was pretty much the only flat spot along the trail. We set up camp just before it got dark and since burn bans were in effect, we had a quick dinner and went to bed by 8:30pm!

The night surprised us with a massive shower (never trust the weather forecast in the mountain!), which cooled everything down substantially. Colin was the braver of us two and mustered the courage to get up in the morning, prepare some oatmeal and get me my cup of jo (Thank you Starbucks for bringing the Via luxury to backpacking!!), while Tiger and I tried to stay warm in the tent.

After breakfast, we packed everything and continued the climb. Unfortunately, it was not only raining but because the trail was so overgrown, we were constantly fighting with wet branches and bushes and a couple of hours later we were soaked head to toe. As we gained altitude, the weather not only didn't clear, but it quickly got very cold and by the ~6000 ft level, the rain turned into snow, the visibility dropped and continuing up sounded less and less appealing. We ultimately decided that we weren't equipped to camp in the snow, especially after having everything - including our sleeping bags - completely wet. So we turned around just short of reaching the ridge. Lake Mary, we'll try again next year!

Several hours later, as we started approaching the trail head, we ran into a few day hikers who couldn't believe we'd made it all the way up, just to turn around...but could believe even less that we had been snowed on earlier that day!

Here are a few shots...

Tiger feeling sorry for himself in the cold & wet tent:

Colin resting at the end of the trip:

People in WA are so weird! At the bottom of the trail, we came across a Mom and daughter who were walking their goats on leashes!