October 31, 2024

Enjoyable weekday evenings this week. Tuesday Cam and I got brown toppers for everyone on the way home from work, yesterday we watched the Dodgers win the World Series and I finished a fabulous book by my favorite author (We Solve Murders), and tonight we had delicious Chinese food from Red 8. 

October 30, 2024

Beautiful and freezing after a storm hike this morning. The trees shining with snow dusting was so pretty. We went to Timp shelf and found 2 moose! They were so fun to watch. They both had antlers and were sparing a little and you could hear the antlers knocking. We saw them on the way down as well. One was directly on the trail so we gave him space and time to wander down below. It was a great short hike. 

October 27, 2024

I love getting away for something non hiking and love getting away for something hiking. When you can combine the two it’s my favorite. What a great weekend - comedy, hiking, and church. (Darren snapped this photo of me.)

October 26, 2024

We decided to hike in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion to Kolob Arch. A hike for those who like hiking. It wasn’t necessarily a destination hike and not necessarily a journey hike. But it was a pleasant 14 mile up and down hike with yellow leaves and red rock. 

October 25, 2024

Laughing is my favorite and tonight we laughed so much! Ryan Hamilton is one of the funniest comedians. Every time I hear him I just love every minute. This was the 4th time we’ve seen him and I would see him as many times as possible. Clean comedy is the best and we had two straight hours of that. We also enjoyed the beautiful St George weather. 

October 22, 2024

Cam and Sadie were being extra entertaining tonight after I got home from work. They were talking about the books they loved in elementary school and then they found these hats. Then they fought over who gets to shower first which is a fight they have almost every night. Silly girls that I love so much and am so glad they are around.

October 20, 2024

“Find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness.” (President Eyring) Where did I see God this week?

Beauty - reflective lake, colliding seasons, dusting of snow

Faithful friends - chatting with Claire, hiking with Wendy and Lorien

Kind coworkers - especially Pam, Angel, Erica, Morgan, Ann

Protection - hiking snowball throwing hunters

Family ties - Mason texts, kids carving pumpkins, puzzles with Ry

Scriptures - 3 Nephi 22, Elder Hirst talk (10/24), Elder Wirthlin kindness talk (10/05)

October 19, 2024

Went on a morning hike with Claire. A bit of a wild adventure in a short 3.5 mile trail. Crazy hunter throwing snowballs and a foggy view hiding the mountain. But it’s always kinda cool when seasons collide. 

October 18, 2024

Happy Rylie’s birthday! We got to celebrate with her. She requested eating taco soup, putting together puzzles, and carving pumpkins. Done!

October 16, 2024

Good hike to Dog Lake. While the fall leaves had mostly fallen, the lake had such a pretty reflection. 

“Times when nature puts my senses in awe of God—each has had a part in providing me with heavenly connection.” - Elder Hirst 10/24 GC

October 13, 2024

“It is in Him (Jesus Christ) that we discover the strength to overcome, the courage to persevere, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.” - Elder Jose L Alonso April 2024 GC

Sure have enjoyed hanging out with these two this week.

October 11, 2024

Got a bonus fall hike in today. There were plenty of yellow trees hiking along the Silver Lake trail. After a lengthy rest at the lake, (and a delicious apple) Lorien and I decided to go up to Silver Glance thanks to me running into my co-worker and she was heading up. Sometimes peer pressure is the good kind. 

Tonight was a brown topper baseball watching evening. It’s crazy how baseball used to be something I was very into and now I only watch it during the playoffs. What else will I not be into in a few years? 

October 10, 2024

When looking through Washington photos I realized I had taken a photo of the same spot in July 2023.  Kind of a cool comparison:

October 8, 2024

Finally feel recovered from our very long Enchantment hike. I hadn’t been that sore in a very long time. But I’m ready to go back. If only every fall could be spent in Washington. I like that Leavenworth place. 

October 7, 2024

Cam is 20. What?!? No more teenager for that girl. She’s a wise one. She had a great time celebrating over the weekend with sushi, cake, açaí bowl, massage, and more. Tonight we celebrated at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Mizithra makes birthdays taste better.

October 6, 2024

Fly home with a detour drive to see a little downtown Seattle. My body is sore, my heart is happy, and my camera roll is full. (And once again while hiking in Washington I followed Darren.)

October 5, 2024

Bright and early leave time at 3:40am for our 4:00 shuttle to the Stuart Lakes TH. We did a larch march with the rest of the state. We hiked the 19 mile Enchantments Traverse. It was absolutely enchanting! Walking through all the larches was epic. Add the light granite, the cool clouds, the jagged peaks - sigh. 

We were definitely happy with our strenuous hike choice. We started about 4:45am (and finished about 5:30pm) and hiked to Colchuck Lake in the dark and made it to the gorgeous lake just as things were getting light.  Then it was up Aasgard pass which was so hard. But much harder than Aasgard was the overall 7,000 foot descent, especially the last 8 miles from Vivian on. It was mental and physical exhaustion.  Funny how the downhill was more difficult than the uphill. Thankfully the amazing scenery from miles 4-10 made it all worth it. When we planned this trip months ago we hoped for some fall larches and the Enchantment larches were better than we could have imagined. Also - I was expecting the hard. What I didn’t expect was the amount of people.

October 4, 2024

Today was our rest up day. We explored Leavenworth a bit. Breakfast from a fruit stand with delicious plums and pears. They were so good we headed back for more later in the day. We browsed German Square Leavenworth and ate lunch at The Munchen Haus. Apparently their brats have more snap - said the two guys in front of us in line who looked like they would know where to find a good brat. Let’s just say it didn’t matter to me as I couldn’t get past the “pork casing”. Darren said his brat was delicious. Note to self - if I do go back, get the full mustard. It was the best of the 14 specialty mustards. 

Dinner was delicious Rudloof’s Pizza. Last time in Leavenworth I was disappointed in the pizza. Not this time - Rudloof’s came through - mmm! 

Here we are yesterday so  happy we found yellow larches:

October 3, 3024

We decided to go back to North Cascades for some hiking. It was almost a 3 hour drive but that is a small price to pay to be back in NCNP. 

Maple Pass is one of my very favorite hikes. First off, you encounter the smell of Washington pine. Then you are greeted by the pikas. After that it’s views for days. The mountains just keep coming. I did not think I could love Maple Pass more than I did in July but October Maple Pass was even better. The larches were not quite in full fall glory but they had turned their highlighter green and there were a few yellow. Awesome. 

We decided to quickly see Blue Lake. While Maple Pass Loop was a journey hike, Blue lake was a destination hike as the end of the trail was stunning with prime yellow larches. It felt like a dream come true to hike and see Autumn Washington. 

We stopped at Three Finger Jack Saloon in Winthrop to eat like we had last year. Saloon in a small town for food was about what you would think. 

I love this picture so much.  Can you spot Darren?

So happy to be among larches:

October 2, 2024

This past winter/spring when Darren and I were discussing what we might like to do to celebrate our 30 year wedding anniversary, we both agreed that seeing the larch trees in Washington turned yellow in the fall would be pretty cool.  (That also gave us an excuse to do two celebrations - this one and one closer to August 5.)  We did some research, guessed at when the trees might turn, made some reservations, and waited. We decided on Leavenworth as a home base, knowing we wanted to hike in the Enchantments.  (Even if the larches weren't yellow, we knew the hike would still be pretty.) We made a Wednesday-Sunday trip happen and it was amazing!