Puyallup Volksmarch-Nathan Chapman Trail #1

Jen and Clarissa met us in Puyallup today at the Nathan Chapman Trail where we completed a 6k walk through the park and nearby Rogers High School. Although the forecast was for rain, we had dry weather for our entire first volksmarch of 2021.  It was a well attended event; I think people have really missed volksmarching!  Most people were wearing masks, which was great.  I think Rosie liked her first experience volksmarching.  Here's to many more!

Bridge photo!

We were bummed the Volksmarching flag was not up, but we were able to take a photo with the flag of the Volksmarching club that sponsored the event.

After the walk Scott & I stopped at Luke's Donuts for a well deserved treat!

Gabby turns 22!

Happy Birthday to our little one who turns 22 today!  It's hard to believe it was 22 years ago when she came into our lives and nothing has been the same since! The road from childhood to adulthood is not always smooth, especially in the midst of a pandemic, but she is navigating it with aplomb.  We are excited to see where this new year will take her as she figures out her path.

Soaring Eagle Regional Park Hike

Saturday was sunny so we decided to take advantage of it and headed up north to Sammamish to check out a new park.  Soaring Eagle Regional Park has 12 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding.  We didn't realize that there would be a fun run there that morning, which was kind of a bummer as we had to step aside quite a few times for the runners and also didn't get to explore some of the trails, but we still ended up hiking a little over 2 miles.  We hope to get back in the summer or fall to check out a few of the other trails.  Afterwards we headed into Issaquah for lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Chan's Place where we ordered take-out then sat in the car to eat.  The food was fantastic and we will definitely head back there again next time we are in the area.

Sunny skies but it was really cold!

Rosie liked all the new smells.

The trail was really well marked, which was great as it would be really easy to get turned around.

She really wanted out of the car when we arrived.

Spring Lake/Lake Desire Hike

Scott and I had Monday off due to the holiday, so we decided to take Rosie for a hike at Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park.  I saw on the map that there are 3 different trail heads, only two of which had bathrooms. So I chose the one that begins at Maple Valley Heights Park.  There was a bathroom there but the actual "trail" was just an old road underneath power lines.  By the time we walked over to the trails that would take us down to Spring Lake/Lake Desire, it was already over a mile and the mud was getting quite deep. We decided to turn around at this point and will try again sometime in the future at another one of the trailheads.  Rosie liked the hike, though, because there was no one around and she was able to run off leash the entire time.  We also encountered some horses in a pasture which were quite fascinating to her.  Afterward we stopped in Renton at Papaya for some yummy banh mi sandwiches and a boba which made it all worth it in the end. 

Scott is not a fan, but I love their sweet potato fries.

Seahurst Park

After the botanical garden we drove a few miles west to visit Seahurst Park in Burien, which we had never been to before.  This is a lovely little park right on the Puget Sound.  We did a short hike and then spent some time on the beach enjoying the lovely views and even saw a seal! It reminded us a lot of hiking at Priest Point Park in Olympia--very hilly & muddy. 

The trail was hilly, but afforded us great views.

Rosie checking out the sandy beach.

There's some sand on her nose!

She was not happy to be back in the car for the trip home.

Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden

I just found out the other day that we have a botanical garden near us-the Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden.  We decided to go check it out today.  It was small, but cute with lots of different sections including a Japanese Garden, a Daylily Garden, an Iris Garden, a Rose Garden and a Fuchsia Garden.  Although nothing is blooming right now, it was still pretty and I definitely want to come back in June or July when everything is in bloom since it's fairly close.  There was also a paved walking trail area that we didn't explore that we'll have to do next time, too. 

It's cool that they allow dogs, so of course we had to take Rosie with us.

Lots of bridges!

 

1000 Hours Outside Challenge

Ok, so not much to say about 2020 except that many of our plans did not come to fruition.  We were very lucky to at least get in our New Zealand trip before the corona virus brought everything to a stand still.  Not sure there is any point in making a 2021 Adventure List, so instead we decided to do the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge.  I saw this challenge highlighted on KOMO news the other day, so I printed out the handy dandy coloring chart and off we went.  We officially started yesterday (Jan 14) so I will continue to count our hours through January 13, 2022.  Not sure we can quite get there as it breaks down to 3 hours a day and the daylight hours during the winter months are very short, but you never know!  With Rosie around it makes it easier to have an excuse to get outside.  So far we have one hour...only 999 more to go!

Scott's Birthday and Hike at Shoreview & Boeing Creek Parks

Scott turned 54 on Friday! We took the day off and celebrated with the girls who were also off that day. We baked Scott a black forest cake, played games & got some teriyaki takeout. We also managed to get in a couple walks with Rosie in between rainfalls. The girls bought Scott a certificate to learn how to drive a Model-T which he's super excited about. The lesson is in August, so we are hoping by then this corona thing will be much better managed. It was a lovely day! 

 Yesterday Scott & I drove up to Shoreline to do a little hike with Gabby on her day off at Shoreview & Boeing Creek Park. It's a neat area, but super hilly, which we weren't expecting. We covered about 2 miles. There were more trails that we didn't manage to get to, so we may have to go back some day. There is a huge off-leash dog park there, so we brought Rosie in to get some socialization. She did pretty well, but she seemed more interested in other humans than dogs.  Afterwards we got some lunch take-out and headed back to Gabby's to eat.  I sure miss eating in restaurants!

     

Scott & Rosie..he turned 54 and she turned 5 months!

Tree hugger!

Rosie did not like being placed in this tree trunk!

Gabby brought us granola bars...we were not prepared for this hike!

So.Many.Stairs.