Just a Little Bird Watching

23 06 2015

You just never know when wildlife is going to appear at your window.  Recently there have been videos bouncing around with orca whale sightings in Burrard Inlet – which have made me SUPER jealous.  One day I hope to be in the right place at the right time.

In the meantime, I shall pack the camera on random errands….just in case.

And although I do not have any whale sightings to report, we did manage to have quite the bird watching day recently.

First we enjoyed the sights of a sleepy Saturday morning aboard the Southworth ferry.
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And although we had only planned to run some errands in Port Orchard and have lunch in Poulsbo, we took a little detour to Seabeck to enjoy the views.

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We caught a Sea Gull enjoying some lunch…

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And a Great Blue Heron that looks like she’s curtsying for an unseen audience…

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And then we were WOW’d by a Bald Eagle sitting on a telephone pole, like he was overseeing his pride lands.

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I am still impressed at how big these eagles are.  You can’t really tell when they’re circling up in the sky.  But, when this eagle started getting harassed by the crows and took to the skies for a little bit of size intimidation…well it’s pretty obvious he’s just a little bigger than the crow.

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I’d be pretty intimidated if this was coming at me – talons first.





Fields of Gold

14 05 2015

Tulip Festival?  Yeah, that’s exactly what a 16 year old boy wants to do

I detected just a hint of sarcasm when my friend Kyle said this to me after I spoke of our detour plans to cap off our West Coast Spring Break adventures.

Heading back to Seattle after spending a night in Vancouver – it just made perfect sense to stop in at the Skagit Tulip Festival…especially on a week day.

The festival runs April 1 – 30 and hundreds of thousands of people visit each year to take in the immense colour story that takes place.  But, mother nature has a way of marching to the beat of her own drum and there was talk of an early bloom in March.  So since we were passing by anyway, we took a shot and although we were a little early in the season for the rows upon rows of colourful tulip fields, we did get to experience the fields of gold filled with daffodils standing tall….without the weekend crowds.

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Well, Kyle was pretty much spot on.  After an initial nod of appreciation to the seemingly unending yellow fields, Jonathan followed me around the planters filled with early tulips and hyacinth and watched as I crouched down low to get up close and personal with these perennials and tried to capture shots of the buzzing bees busy pollinating up a storm.

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He thought maybe he’d have a little more luck of some sort of entertainment tagging along with Nathan, but those hopes were short lived – as soon as we crossed back onto US soil Nathan’s phone was back ‘online’ and without the fear of exorbitant roaming fees, he was back to work and could be seen ‘enjoying’ the view weaving through daffodil fields aimlessly while talking on his phone.

Jonathan found himself drawn back to me and my honey bee stalking.  After some frustrating moments trying to capture my bees with a camera with no auto focus, I gave up, manual focus requires the guaranteed stillness of plants.  But even that isn’t guaranteed – one stiff breeze, or even a gentle sway, and everything starts to get a little fuzzy.

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Well, there’s only so long you can drag a teenager around in the flower beds, so we headed out for lunch in La Conner – chowder and fish and chips by the waterfront – something a little more exciting than flowers to our ‘foodie in training’.  Well, another visit during peak tulip season is in order, but perhaps we’ll leave the 16 year old at home.

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Beauty in the Mist

8 10 2014

It is amazing that on one day I can see this:

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Seattle Skyline – View from West Seattle

And a couple of days later, I see this:

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View of Elliott Bay – No Skyline in Sight and some very hardcore paddle boarders

The Fog did lift a little bit while I was out on my walk to reveal sights like this….

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Can’t pass up a good photo op (of a photo op)

On this dreary foggy morning I had to force myself out of the house.  The reason I gave myself:  it’s not raining.  Yes it was gray and foggy out, and there was a lot of moisture – some might say mist – in the air.  But it wasn’t raining.  And we’re on the cusp of the season where, if it’s not raining out it’s pretty much the equivalent of a sunny day in the summer – you have to take advantage.

But as I walked along the waterfront walkways, trying my hardest to see something, anything in the whitish gray fog, I found a couple of things that caught my eye.

On a normal day these wispy plants catch my attention long enough for me to trail my fingers along their tips as I walk by.  But today, when they were heavy with dew – these dew drops earned at least 5 minutes of my attention.  Hard to take photos when they’re swaying in the wind – and although you don’t see it in the photo – my fingers are holding these strands in place after one too many blurry photo.

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And then I came across something that I couldn’t resist.  People probably thought I was crazy, standing with my back to the water, squeezed on a 6 inch ledge between the water and a tree.  And although I hate…HATE spider webs – when they’re all glittery and sparkly with dew drops, they become irresistible to me.

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Transitioning: Summer to Fall

8 10 2014

Now that green is starting to ease into yellow, orange and red and a crispness is starting to add a little snap to the air, I’m starting to reminisce on my summer moments.

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Maybe I was ‘living in the moment’ and really living in the experience rather than thinking about how I was going to re-tell the story.  Or maybe I was too busy trying to pack as much activity into the warm weather as possible that I rushed through one activity in search of the next.  Either way, Fall is approaching, and with the changing of the leaves brings just enough transition that it’s made me pause in place and gather photos from the summer.

Everyone goes through the transition from Summer to Fall.  Preparation for hibernation perhaps?  The excitement to bring back over-sized sweaters, cuddly scarves and of course those Fall boots!  I have a love-hate relationship with said boots.  I spend my days admiring the different boots that I see prancing down the street – chocolate brown, black, wedge heel, flat stomping boots, sleek and stylish high-heeled boots.  Needless to say, I have boot envy.  I see everyone looking fantastic in their fall boots – really the perfect accessory for fall outfits.  But whenever I find myself on the hunt for the perfect boots I end up frustrated and sad because, after all, I carry my height in my torso.  I have short legs and athletic calves.  The worst combination!  Which essentially means that boots don’t fit me – even the ones with extended calf sizes 😦

But enough about the boots.  I find myself on a tangent as meandering as the paths I hope to stroll through this Fall – stomping through all of the fallen leaves and hearing that satisfying ‘crunch crunch crunch‘ as I walk.

Finally I’m looking back at what took place this summer – a summer that took Seattle by surprise with day after day of 80+ degree weather.

Seattle Sights:

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The Great Wheel

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Kayaking around Alki

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Making Discoveries!

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Alki Sunsets

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Great Friends…

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And Ferry Boats.

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Mt. Rainier Sunsets

Exploring the ‘wilderness’ of Port Orchard:

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Whirlwind Work Trips in Chicago:

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Chicago Art

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Chicago Architecture

Home (Vancouver):

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Vancouver Icon – ‘Canada Place’

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Sunsets at Vancouver Harbour

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Deer Lake Park

Food – delicious, beautiful, tasty morsels of goodness!

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Neapolitan Style Pizza

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Farmer Fresh Artisanal Snack Plates

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Chocolate Covered Figs

It feels like the summer was over in a blink but at the same time, with so many consecutive days of sunshine, it seemed like it was gorgeous day after gorgeous day – which puts a lot of pressure on a person.  Especially a person from the Pacific Northwest, where you cannot take sunshine for granted and on each sunny day you feel pressure to kick yourself out of bed and DO something.  Anything really.  You’ve got to head straight to those walking/running paths, be in or on the water, be at the farmers market every weekend, and eat and drink on every patio you come across.  By the time Fall arrives you’re just exhausted from all of those sunny days and secretly wishing for a rainy day so you don’t have to feel so guilty for spending a day inside watching movies (or a How I met your mother/Orange is the new black/House of Cards marathon).  

LOVED summer.  LOVE summer.  But (as I look right and left and duck my head) I’m kind of ready for Fall.  I’m sure in a month, when Seattle descends into its Grey season and there are more rainy days than not rainy days, I will take back those words – but for now, after over 40 days of 80+ degree weather this summer – I’m ready for an excuse to have a lazy day.





19 Hours to Seattle

25 01 2014

On second thought….perhaps we do know the difference between a leisurely road trip and getting there as fast as we can.  It took us 5 days to drive from Seattle, WA to Parker, AZ.  On our way back home, we left Las Vegas, NV Saturday morning and were unloading the car at home by 12PM on Sunday.

Rather than coastal scenic byways we took the desolate highways through Nevada, Idaho and Oregon.  It felt like we had the roads to ourselves at times, and I admit that I kind of loved that (as long as we have all the gas we need).

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We left Vegas in the darkness of early morning and as we drove through the desert we watched the sun come up and the sky turn pink and purple.

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You don’t really think of Nevada having a very diverse landscape, but we saw desert with joshua trees, Texas Canyon like boulders, and big blue skies with puffy clouds and snow capped mountains.

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We passed the 1000 Springs Waterfalls in Idaho, some of which were frozen water statues against the cliffs and saw a whole flock of migrating birds.

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By the time we reached Washington State the camera was about to die.  The night before I asked Nathan – should I charge the battery?  Is there anything to see and take photos of?  His answer:  Nope, not much to see.  We stopped in Ontario, OR and after an early dinner and bedtime, prepared for a 4:30AM wake up.  Now, we thought we were in the Pacific timezone, until that is, we got to the car and were greeted by this:

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I turned to Nathan and said, “what time did you wake me up??? 3:30AM?”  In the end it worked out – yes an early wake up call, but the morning and rest of the day seemed like it went on forreeevvverrrrr.

I think we both forgot how beautiful Washington is when the sun is out.  We watched the sunrise and drove through the rolling hills of Washington’s wine country.

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And when we were within an hour of the house – low and behold, we found a Winter Wonderland.

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My Football Education

21 11 2013

Growing up, my football education began with watching my dad watch a football game at my yin yin’s house (my grandmother on my dad’s side) after we had had a great Chinese meal, one that I still haven’t been able to find at any Chinese restaurant.  We had to wait until the football game ended before heading to my other grandma’s house, and all I could think of was, ‘How can this game be going on for so long?  It says 5 minutes left!  And it’s been 20 minutes!’

My second experience with football was in Grade 12 when our high school got a football team and in honour of the first home game, school was let out early, in hopes that everyone would go watch the game.  And I thought, ‘really?  School gets out early for a football game?  What about the arts?’

My first year of University I went to the annual Shrum Bowl, the SFU vs UBC big rival game.  And I really just remember that we went to cheer on my friend on the cheerleading team and that I questioned my judgement to wear a skirt to a football game in October…in Vancouver…

A couple years later I went to my first CFL game after getting a couple extra tickets when I was working at Big Sisters.   I took one of my guy friends, because I figured if I was going to go to a game, I might as well take someone who could explain it to me.  Again, all I remember is telling my friend that we had to buy beer and hot dogs, because, ‘isn’t that what one does at a football game?’.  

Finally, at age 30, I get it.  I took my husband to a Seahawks vs Vikings game for his birthday.  We left with friends and neighbours at 10am, were drinking local craft beer by 10:30am at a pub that has free hot dogs on game day, and rode the wave of the crowds around the stadium to make it just in time for kick off.

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Century Link on Game Day

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Moments before Kick Off

I cheered, I jumped, I screamed out ‘Interference!’ and ‘I need to see an Interception and a Touch Down!  That’s all I’m asking for!’.  We high five’d everyone around us, jokingly mocked the Vikings fans around us (all in good fun), and drank beer and ate foot long hot dogs.

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Touch Down!

We stood in the rain and cheered on Russell Wilson as he led the Seahawks to a 41 to 20 victory.

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Seahawks Win! And the crowd takes the field!

And, like all good Sunday Football game days, I was hung over by 6pm and ready for bed at 7pm.

I’ve never watched more football in my life, and this time, I actually watched the game.

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Back to the Basics

20 11 2013

Sometimes you just have to get outdoors, break it all down and keep it simple.  Just the two of us on a little road trip, staying in a cabin with no TV or internet, and enjoying some quality time in the good ol’ outdoors.

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Road to Roosevelt Beach

We spent 24 hours on the western side of the Olympic National Park and took in the empty beaches with crazy winds and loud, thundering waves.  It was so windy, it was hard to open the car door and once I was on the beach, it felt like I could barely breathe.

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Ocean Shores

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Driftwood? Or Loch Ness?

It was a crazy feeling to be speeding along the hard-packed sand of Ocean Shores Beach, parallel to the waves and splashing around where you don’t feel like you belong, but a great way to make use of our all wheel drive.   Seeing the tides come in was just a reminder of how powerful the ocean is.

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We made a return trip to Ruby Beach for sunset and enjoyed some solitude watching the sea stacks in the distance at Roosevelt Beach.

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#instagraming

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Solitude at Roosevelt Beach

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Just the Two of Us

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Our final outdoorsy adventure before heading back to the city was a jaunt into the forest on the way to Sol Duc Falls.  Lots of swirling water, and apparently I’m obsessed with mushrooms…..

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And on a final note…..we saw a bunch of people razor clam digging.  Now, I might be might be old school, and maybe I’m used to little neck clams, but ‘clam guns’??  It just doesn’t seem sportsmanlike!  It’s supposed to be you and a trowel and the speed that you can dig against the clam.  None of this pvc pipe with a plunger to trap the clam and take all the sand out in one swoop!

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Watching people on a hunt for razor clams with Clam Guns!





Getting Back to Words

1 11 2013

Right now I feel like I’m living in a life of spreadsheets.  A life of numbers and formulas, of cells and columns and rows.  It’s been a long time since I wrote anything on the blog (sorry).  Part of it is procrastination and another part is probably because I compare my current adventures with my past adventures and come up lacking.  Last year around this time of year (end of summer into Fall), I had a writing hiatus too.  And the thing is, it’s not like we haven’t had adventures, travelled, experienced weird and random things and taken photos of it all.

Truthfully, I should probably change the name of the blog.  Not necessarily ‘Adventures on the Road’ anymore since we stopped criss-crossing across the US and living out of hotel rooms and instead put down roots and have called Seattle, WA home for a good year now.  We have packed away the ‘big enough to live out of’ suitcases and instead have a 2 – 3 day trip bag on standby at all times.  We may not have ‘Adventures on the Road’ anymore, but we still have adventures, and the reason why you haven’t heard about them is because I haven’t felt inspired to write the stories.  I haven’t had the post write itself in my head while I’m sitting staring out the window or lying in bed.  I haven’t thought of the perfect opening sentence.  In my free time, and I admit, I have quite a bit of free time on my hands, I have buried my head in spreadsheets, forecasted revenues, worried over expenses that just keep adding up, and also played stupid games on the ipad that take up hours of my day.  It’s kind of like I gave up on writing.  I embraced and leaned towards excel spreadsheets instead of Microsoft word.  But, I can’t blame all of my writer’s block on spreadsheets and counting money.  I also have used these excuses not to write, ‘yes the photos are nice, but we never made it to the top of the hike, so should I just wait until we finish the hike one day’ or ‘I can’t do a post about this trip now because we’re planning on going again with someone else and it’ll ruin the surprise’, or maybe the best (worst) excuse, ‘it’s too sunny in Seattle now to post because I wanted to talk about how it’s foggy and gray and I needed to revisit the sunshine’.  Lots of excuses.  Weak.  I know.  Excuses no more.

This past weekend we took a trip to Seattle’s Woodland Zoo with their annual Halloween festivities.  I had my eyes on the hunt for my beloved lion costume with the big mane, but sadly, no luck.  In exchange we were rewarded by antics by the real lion cubs and their mom playing with pumpkins.  And if these cute one year old lion cubs rolling around on their backs, thumping their back feet against the pumpkin like a cat with a toy, don’t make your heart melt and make you think about the time you held a lion cub in your arms and had lion fur on your sweater…..then I don’t know what will.

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1 year old Lion Cubs at Woodland Zoo

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Brothers

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Baby Girl

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Proud Mama

And one last photo, which I think, tells its own story….and goes something like this,

Hmmpth, I’m not talking to you anymore.’ 

What did I say?  I asked you if you wanted any…’

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Spousal Dispute





Exploring Olympic National Park

19 08 2013

It’s taken getting a car with all-wheel drive for me to realize how many places there are to explore in Washington.  Crazy how many off-road and hiking trails, swimming holes and waterfalls there are in such close proximity to Seattle.

We headed out towards Olympic National Park for some adventures.  And where I would have previously looked suspiciously down a dirt road and decided, nope, we are definitely not heading that way….this time – Full Steam Ahead!

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It was our first true off-road adventure, and I would say that we weren’t the most prepared on the road.  Yes we had snacks and water.  But a map?  Nope.  We were armed with maps on two phones that did not have cell service.  So my intention was to be on the Bon Jon Pass, but it turns out we were heading towards the Trailhead to Little Quilcene Trail.  Whoops.  But at least we enjoyed some great views and saw all these dainty little pink rhododendron bushes growing amongst the rugged landscape.

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Next Stop:  Mount Walker

A place that we couldn’t get lost even if we tried.  One way up.  One way down.  Only mountain summit in Washington that you can drive to.  Great views of Mount Rainier, Blake Island, West Seattle, Downtown Seattle and all of the surrounding water and mountain landscape.

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And to top off the day, a little secret, unmarked waterfall that we heard about along the way.   A walk down a short trail, a climb over some rocks and then you’re sitting on rocks right under the waterfall’s spray.  A little swimming hole and this is the perfect salvation on a hot summer day.

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Ice Caves on the Mountain Highway Loop

5 07 2013

In an attempt to test out the all-wheel capabilities of our new Subaru XV we decided to get out of the city and take it to the mountains.  And we found ourselves driving along the paved and gravel roads of the Mountain Highway Loop, just past Granite Falls, WA.

We found ourselves winding through dense green forests as we played peek-a-boo with gushing river water and snow peaked mountains socked in with clouds.

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We have an all-wheel drive vehicle, I’m decked out in what some may call ‘light-hiking gear’, other’s may just call it yoga pants and a tank top with a hoodie (so essentially the Vancouver (Canada) daily uniform.  So at this point I’m thinking I’m pretty outdoorsy.  Maybe even rugged.  So I’m ready with the map – which hike should we start out with?  Heather Lake?  Lake Twenty-Two?  We decided on Big Four Ice Caves.

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So we’re heading out to the trail, taking in the wilderness.  The trees, ferns, wildlife, still water and towering mountains making us feel like miniature versions of ourselves.  And just when I’ve taken a photo of a serene water/mountain view, out of the corner of my eye I see something black with yellowy green flecks on it.  It’s kind of a round shape – circular.  I take my eyes off of it and back to the trail, but my mind is still working, trying to make the connection of what I’m seeing.  And then – ahhhh.  Snake.  It’s a snake.  A Snaakkkkeee.  Egh. Ugh. Ugh. Uh. Eh.  I jump up and kind of run down the path, trying to shake off the fact that I just saw a snake.  Yuck.  Nathan laughs at me from behind and tells me to stop freaking out, ‘it’s just a garter snake’.  I hate snakes and I yell back to him, ‘I can’t be outside!!’.

So it took 19 miles down the Mountain Highway Loop and 5 minutes into the hike, and I have realized that I am not outdoorsy, and definitely not rugged.  Ugh.  I can’t handle the snakes, and I don’t care to.

But, we continued on the path.  Over the boardwalk across the wetlands.  Up the dirt switchbacks through the forest.


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And then we come across the hazard signs.  Avalanche Zone.  Falling Rocks.  Collapsing Snow Fields.  It looks like we found the right place.

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The Big Four Mountain towered in front of us with waterfalls snaking down the rock face in multiple places.  And at the bottom of the mountain was avalanche collected snow.  Throughout the season of snow melt the water has been melting the snow from the ground up, creating ice caves.

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No walking inside the ice caves and no climbing on top of them.  But, we had to test the boundaries just a little bit.  Although not for very long.  If you stood anywhere near the wind flow of the ice caves you could feel the sub-zero temperatures.  An icy cold wind was being pushed out of the ice caves and stepping out to either side, the temperature difference was so drastic it felt like you had walked inside a heated room, and really you just walked one foot to the right.

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