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!

Colin's new Jeep - before and after

Colin finally got his new Jeep and we took it for a test drive this weekend to Eastern WA. Here are some before and after pictures:

Before:

During:

After:

Yip. It's now a real Jeep and it runs great! :-)

What a busy weekend it was!

Friday: date night (as always). It was fun (as always) but both of us were exhausted, so we ended up going back home and going to bed early. Good thing, because the rest of the weekend was packed!

Saturday: bought a Jeep!! Colin got the 2-door Wrangler in dark green. Classic. We'll take off the back seats and just turn it into a 2-seat Jeep. He got a dual top (hard/soft), though we're hoping there's enough summer left to drive it without a top for a bit. That's what Jeeps are all about, right? We already have a bunch of roadtrips/hikes planned for the upcoming weekends, so we'll take it off the road soon...

After we spent the afternoon in the dealership, we rushed home, changed and went to the 2010/11 opening of the Seattle opera season. We bought season tickets again (our third year) through their Bravo club, which is open to the "young" opera goers (40 or less). They have some really fun events and we've very much enjoyed them. Before we started subscribing to the opera, we had membership to the Seattle Symphony for a few years, but although enjoyable, it ended up being kind of depressing because everyone else in the audience was above 85. It seems that the opera in Seattle attracts all sorts of ages and in particular, there are lots of young people. Their general director is one of the most amazing men we've ever met. Colin and I go to all of his lectures/Q&A and continue to be in awe of his immense knowledge, energy and wit (he's 74). I think he single-handedly has transformed the opera experience for Seattelites.

Anyway, we were a bit nervous about this one - 5 hours of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde! - but it was truly wonderful. We even went to the post-performance Q&A and didn't get home until past 1:30 am! I think Tristan could be my favorite opera, if only it were edited a bit more aggressively. In any case, it was really enjoyable.

Sunday: Colin had to work, so Tiger and I headed out to Eastern WA, in search for ghost towns. I'm thinking of doing a photo series on ghost towns in the Pacific NW. There're lots of them...remnants of the gold rush, former logging towns, mining towns, etc. Some have completely disappeared, some are semi-gone and some have reinvented themselves and have made a come back. I got a couple of old maps (100/150 years old), overlaid on a current map, which helps locate where the ghost towns are relative to today's roads & towns. I've also been digging around the Net a lot lately. Yesterday I was mostly in the area just on the other side of the mountains, but my friend Kathy and I are planning a trip to Okanogan county, which is 6-7 hours Northeast of here and where one can find a bunch of ghost towns. Something to look forward to in October.

The highlight of yesterday's trip was the town of Liberty, WA. It was a little gem of a ghost town, once a booming gold town. The surroundings are beautiful, there are lots of buildings still standing, but the best part of the visit was meeting Hawaiian Harry. Hawaiian Harry, who is indeed Hawaiian and must be in his 60s is one of the few residents of the town and owns a hotel! I chatted with him for a long time and he showed me around. What he told me was that there are only 15 inhabited homes in Liberty at the moment, but the town had up to 3,500 people back in the day. In the ~1880s, one of the main guys built a hotel (the same building) and offered cots for 50 cents/night to people who wanted to try their luck at panning for gold. Apparently, there was lots of gold in the area and after a few years, the hotel owner left the town with $2 million in his pocket! That's a lot of money for those days. Eventually, almost everyone left and the town died down. Fast forward 100 years: Hawaiian Harry fell in love with the general area and purchased a large property not too far from Liberty where he lived with his wife for a number of years. After watching the Liberty hotel on the market for 5 years, he eventually decided to buy it (for $180K), update it and move in. He now has 2 rooms that he rents - one has a NW feel to it and the other one has a Hawaiian decor (who knew one could sleep in a Hawaiian room in Liberty, WA!). I was a bit rushed but want to go back, take Colin there and sit down and listen to Hawaiian Harry at length...what a character! So, that was yesterday's adventure: 370 mi and the discovery of some pretty neat places that I'll have to go back to.

Erna's 90th birthday celebration

I finally got around to posting more pictures from Erna's 90th birthday celebration. You can see the slide show HERE.

M