Tacoma Rainiers Game (#4)

Another great game for the Tacoma Rainiers today; they beat the Sacramento Wildcats 7 to 4!  Love going to watch them play....only one more game for us this season in August...can't wait!

Hello Little Bean

Today we traded our old truck, Parker, in for a 2015 British Racing Green Mini Cooper.  We have been talking about getting a Mini Cooper to replace the one we had for a while.  Now that it'll be just the two of us once Gabby leaves for college (in 3 weeks!), a Mini is the perfect car for us to zip around to volksmarches & other adventures.  So, say hello to "Little Bean"...

Renton Volksmarch (#8)

Clarissa came with us today on our 8th volksmarch in Renton.  There were 3 different 5k routes; we chose the one that went up to the top of Historic Renton Hill where we had fantastic views of Lake Washington and the Bellevue skyline in the distance.  Part of the volksmarch was also along the Cedar River trail, which is very pretty and filled with lots of ducks.

Part of the Cedar River Trail as seen from a bridge.

Cute little sea monster in a park along the Cedar River Trail.

Lake Washington with the Bellevue skyline in the background.

That building is actually the library built right over the river!

Lavender Festival 2017

The lavender festival in Sequim is happening this weekend.  We decided to head up right after work today to avoid the weekend crowds.  So glad we have short days on Fridays...it really makes things much easier!  This was the first time we've gone to the lavender festival even though we have talked about going for years and years.  I'm so happy we finally made it because the lavender was so beautiful!  We enjoyed walking around the street fair in downtown Sequim before heading out to the Fat Cat Garden.  So many varieties of lavender and they all smelled wonderful!  On the way home we stopped in Poulsbo to visit with my Aunt Patty & Harold, who we don't get to see very often.  Such a fun day!

 

  

 

Even Winston liked the lavender.

Fort Columbia and Scarborough Hill Hike (#9)

We visited Fort Columbia today which is located near the mouth of the Columbia River.  The fort was constructed between 1896 and 1903, renovated during World War II and de-commissioned in 1947.  A World War II gun emplacement, Battery 246 at Fort Columbia, served as a Washington State Department of Civil Defense Emergency Operating Center from 1960 - 1970.  Currently the fort is a state park & open to visitors year round.  We had fun looking at all the historic buildings & even got a tour of Battery 246, learning a lot of interesting facts about its history. 

While there, we also hiked up to the summit of Scarborough Hill, which is named after Captain Scarborough who was the first permanent settler in this area.  The hike is 2.8 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of about 630 feet.  The directions from the WTA were to turn left at the junction of the Military Road Trail & Scarborough Trail and head up the Scarborough Trail to make it a loop hike.  Yeah, that was a bad idea.  This trail was very overgrown, and we had to slog through tons of thorny bushes.  We also had to climb over and under quite a few logs.  We felt like we were bush-whacking but without the machete-we sure could have used one!  We were so excited to reach the summit only to find a sign but no view.  We headed down the other trail, which was better groomed.  It is definitely not a well used trail as we didn't run into anyone the entire time we were there.  We did see some pretty wildflowers, ripe salmon berries and a snake-eek!  Afterward we stopped over in Astoria for a delicious lunch at a place I found on the internet, the Portway Tavern.  It was a long day, but we had a great time!

This used to be the men's barracks.

Trail map

At the summit! We made it!

Not sure what these pods are?

 

View of the Columbia River

Door into Battery 246

Scott with our tour guide.

It would take 28 men to fire this gun!

The house on the right was the Commanding Officer's house.