Tacoma Rainiers Game #5 and Good-bye Seattle

On Saturday night we attended our last Rainiers game of the season with our friends Michele & James.  We met for dinner first at a place in Tacoma called Dirty Oscar's Annex, which was really a dive, but the food was fantastic.  Unfortunately we lost 4-2 against the Las Vegas Aviators who are having a fantastic season and are first in their league.  Oh well, until next season!

On Sunday we drove the truck up and hauled Gabby's bed back to our house.  She is officially done living and working in Seattle.  She will stay with us for a couple months before heading to New Zealand.  We hope to cross a few items off our bucket list while she's still here.  This coming weekend we are planning a trip around the Washington peninsula.  Hopefully the weather holds!

James, Michele, Susan & Scott

We stopped for a last meal before heading home at The Egg & Us--so good! 

Tacoma Rainiers Game #4

On Sunday we attended our 4th Tacoma Rainiers game.  We had some unused tickets which we traded in for Jerry & Brenda, but only Jerry could attend as Brenda's sister was in town.  Jerry ended up bringing a friend, so it all worked out.  The Fresno Grizzlies started out really strong and were ahead 7 to 4 by the end of the 4th inning.  Luckily, we were able to freeze them out after that and scored 5 more runs to win it 9 to 7.  Oh, and if you're wondering why we didn't post about game #3--it's because it was horrible.  Scott and I attended a night game on Friday, July 19th.  It was really cold and we ended up losing 8 to 6 against the Sacramento Rivercats.  We ducked out early and missed their attempt at a rally in the 7th inning-they did score 5 runs, but it just wasn't enough.   We have our last game coming up this Saturday.

Scott, Jerry & Jerry's friend (oops..forgot his name!)

Clarissa's Birthday at Pt. Defiance Zoo

On Sunday Clarissa took Jen and I to the Pt. Defiance Zoo for her birthday celebration.  I have not been to the zoo in a while, so it was fun to go back and see the changes including the new aquarium that was recently built.  We didn't linger too long, but managed to see most of the animals...I avoided the snakes...haha.  Afterward we went down to Stack 571 Whiskey Bar in Ruston for lunch.  The food, as always, was delicious.   I enjoyed a free meal as they made mine incorrectly so comped it for me.  That was super nice!  Glad we got to celebrate Clarissa's birthday with her!

This really cool sand sculpture represents many of the animals at the zoo.  I guess they do a different one every year now.

 

So many gorgeous flowers!  They have really stepped up on their landscaping.

The red wolves had 8 pups!  We saw about 4 of them. 

The picture is not upside down...this is how they were swimming :)

The puffins were so cute!

We fed the budgies...there were so many of them!  We each had two feed sticks.  

Mumford & Sons Concert

We finally made it to a concert this year!  We attended the Mumford & Sons concert at MODA Center with Rozanne & Eric on Monday night.  It was our first time at MODA and we were pleasantly surprised at the venue--great seats and sound.  The opening act was Portugal the Man, who were really not my favorite.  They only had one song that I knew.  Rozanne and I were saying we could have skipped that part all together.  Mumford was great, though.  That guy really can sing!  What a fun evening!

 

Fremont Lookout Hike #18

We had a full house this past weekend! Gabby, Corey & Sherry were all here.  It was great to see everyone and we fit in a lot in just one weekend: eating, shopping, a movie (Spiderman), lots and lots of games and a hike on the Sunrise side of Mt. Rainier, which no one had been to except me.  We started at about 6200 feet and gained 800 feet, which is a lot harder at that elevation.  I have done this hike before, but I didn't remember it being that strenuous--maybe I blocked out the bad memories.  Anyhow, in all we hiked 5.6 miles (Gabby did 6.3 as she took another trail back to the start point) roundtrip. It was pretty hilly...lots of ups and downs.  The weather was warm & sunny which gave us great views of the mountain.  The only bad part was too many bugs once we reached the lookout.  We had a little snack there, but didn't linger then headed back. In all it took about 4 hours.  So glad we got to go and that we made it back :)

View from the parking lot--not too shabby, eh?

Lovely Lupine--how I love you!  We saw lots of wildflowers on our hike.

We saw lots of chipmunks, too.  I guess they can be quite aggressive based on the warning signs. 

Clover Lake which we saw from a viewpoint.

Frozen Lake.  We saw the marmot crossing that snow field.

First sighting of the lookout in the distance.

Shadow Lake which Gabby saw on the alternate trail she took on the way back.