Hike at 360 Trails/Gateway Park

Saturday morning dawned foggy but dry, so we took the puppies across the bridge to hike at 360 Trails/Gateway Park near Gig Harbor.  It is a huge park that has lots of trails and a dog park; the trails are open to hikers, mountain bikers & horses.  We did the 2.5-mile loop around the park, mostly on the wide-open old logging roads.  The pups had a blast!  We definitely want to come back and do the smaller trails to add more mileage.

We started at the parking lot, then went to markers A to Q to M to K to G to C to B then back down to A.  I would like to do the entire A to S loop next time!

Key Central Forest Hike

Yesterday Gabby & Ethan came down and the 4 of us headed across the Narrows bridge to Key Central Forest which is only 30 minutes west from here.  The turn off area from the main road had a small parking lot with a map.  There are two different loops you can hike that are separated by two bridges which cross Vaughn Creek.  We decided to hike the NW loop then head to the bridges.  Somehow, we managed to get turned around a bit (not a lot of signage), but we finally found the bridges where we paused for photos then headed back to the parking lot, clocking in at 1 hour 43 minutes and 3.91 miles.  I really liked the area, and we are planning to come back again with the pups in tow.  We are excited to explore more of Gig Harbor and the surrounding area now that we are so close by.

Checking out the map & deciding on a route.

Bridge #1.  No real water under the bridges as it's been so dry.

Bridge #2. When we got here a guy was walking by and he was nice enough to take a photo of our group. 

Bye-Bye Grass!

Our front yard has undergone a massive makeover.  We decided to take out all the grass and have a low maintenance landscape.  After getting a really expensive and shocking bid of $19,000 we found another, way more reasonable company to come & complete the project.  They ripped out all the grass in the front & sides of the house, then they laid down weed barrier and created a dry riverbed. They filled in the rest with some plants we purchased and mulch. On the sides they added some large pavers and gravel. They also dug out the weeds & old gravel in the sidewalk strip & replaced that with new weed barrier & gravel.  I think they did a great job and I am excited for the plants to bloom next year.  We put in 41 plants to start; next year we can determine if and where we want to add more plants.  I tried to take pictures in the same spot to show the difference.

This area in front of the porch used to have a ton of plants & a tree which we tore out. 

They filled it with river rock. In the spring we want to put in a bubbly fountain and maybe a few small plants. 

This little area is where I divided & transplanted some irises.

I ended up having them remove it so the yard was all one level.

A field of grass!

No grass!

Before...

After..

Left side of the house.

With pavers & gravel.

Right side of the house.

Gravel to park the truck and then pavers/gravel to the fence line.

Sidewalk strip before...

and after...

Dry river bed from near the house looking down.

Japanese Garden and Eastlake/North Capitol Hill/Portage Bay Stair Walk

On Sunday Gabby & Ethan did more exploring in Seattle.  They started at the Japanese Garden in the Arboretum and were hoping to see the fall colors, but not much has turned yet.  They did have fun feeding the koi, though. Afterwards they did another stair walk.  They parked in North Capitol Hill and walked past Streissguth Gardens and underneath I-5. They walked about halfway back up the hill then turned into a neighborhood of fancy older homes.  They crossed over Hwy 520 then through Roanoke Park and then downhill to Portage Bay.  There is a little park there by Queen City Yacht Club which had a nice bench under a willow tree.  They tracked back uphill, retracing their steps a bit and walked through some more neighborhoods.  It was 2.3 miles overall with 349 steps down and 337 up, which they completed in about an hour.  They are making good progress on the stair walk book!

So.Many.Stairs

Hike at Pt. Defiance

On Saturday morning I met up with some friends to do a 3.5-mile hike at Pt. Defiance.  It was a beautiful morning and lots of people were out enjoying the extended summer-like weather we've been having.  Such a fun area to hike around with beautiful views of the water and some large old growth trees.

Teresa, me and Tammy 

Teresa, Michele & Tammy

Sherry's visit, Lattin's Farm & Rutledge Corn Maze

Sherry flew over on Friday the 30th and stayed with us until Monday.  She came to spend some time with us, see our new house, and also to pick up Lucy to drive back to Spokane for Scott's nephew, Connor.  We had a great time while she was here; we played lots of games, ate out, took a hike at Pt. Defiance with the pups, and went to a movie (See How They Run--which was pretty good!).  On Sunday we met up with Gabby & Ethan in our old stomping grounds of Thurston County.  We went to get pumpkins & yummy apple fritters from Lattin's then completed the corn maze at Rutledge.  It was just like old times!  Gabby & Ethan led us through the mazes in no time.  The weather was hot & the fields were super dusty, but we survived.  Afterward we had an early dinner at Olive Garden before heading home.  It was a busy but fun weekend!  We were sad that Corey & Terrell were at a conference all weekend and didn't get to come along.  Next time!

Gabby much prefers the sheep to the goats.

The maze this year was a T-Rex.

We solved the mystery! Gabby got two of three right and the rest of us got none. Wuh wah.

 

This was from the hike at Pt. Defiance on Saturday.