Category: Trip Report
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Stalking Snowy Owls
OK, well, maybe we didn’t really need to do any stalking, but we had a neat trip last weekend to go see some visiting snowy owls. Some of you might remember last year when we had a record number of snowy owls visiting the lower 48. Last year was an irruption year, when conditions are…
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Gold Creek Pond Snowshoe Trip Report
The kids have gotten noticeably stronger this year in their hiking abilities. We’ve also made some new hiking friends who hike in all seasons, and they invited us to come snowshoeing with them this winter. A Secret Santa has been leaving presents on our doorstep (a 12 days of Christmas theme) and one of the…
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Happy New Year!
It’s a New Year, with new ideas and new hopes and plans. It’s been pretty quiet in this space lately, as we focused on the holidays. I also took a writing class with Christina Katz from the end of October through Mid-December. Most of my writing energy went into that class instead of this blog,…
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Lake 22 Trip Report
Buoyed by our success last week hiking to Talapus and Olallie, we decided to join our hiking friends again this week for a trip up to Lake 22. It had been 8 or 9 years since I was there; I didn’t enjoy the hike the first time. I had a toddler Gabriel on my back,…
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Talapus and Olallie Lakes, Trip Report
My friend Kirsten and I have been wanting to hike together for awhile, and we finally had the chance last Friday. She invited me join her and her other friends and their dogs for a jaunt up to Talapus and Olallie Lakes. We got super lucky with the weather; Friday was supposed to be the…
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Whidbey Island Field Trip
My husband has been in between jobs, and started a new job on Monday. I wanted us to have one more family outing before he went back to work, so a week ago Friday we went up to Whidbey Island to poke around. We thought we might check out some trails, but the rain and…
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Arboretum Walk: The Music of Trees
The kids ran and skipped down the paths, exuberant after a full day of school. Suddenly, we heard a sound, the music we were looking for. We slowed down, the children becoming attentive and focused. Soon we figured out where the strange noises were coming from: the trees. We spotted the speakers and tubing, and…
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Lake Ann and Heather Pass Backpack – Moms Only Trip
[Click on photos to see a larger size.] My friend Beckie and I had been talking about a moms-only backpacking trip for a few months, and our schedules finally coincided for us to get out last weekend. There was a catch, though – each of our families only has one car, so we needed a…
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Hike to Big Four Ice Caves
The weather has been so wonderful this month, and we’re settling into our school routines. We were ready by the end of last week to get out into the wilderness again for the day. Our friends joined us for a hike to Big Four Ice Caves out on the Mountain Loop Highway. Though this is…
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Puget Sound Bird Fest
This past weekend we went to the Puget Sound Bird Fest in Edmonds. On Friday evening I went without the kids to the Opening Presentation by Paul Bannick. He is an author and photographer who published a book about owls and woodpeckers. This presentation was about Owls of Washington by Season and Habitat. He had…