Tacoma Rainiers Game #3

Today’s Rainiers game was a bust. We played the Las Vegas Aviators who killed us 20 to 10.  We tried to make a valiant comeback but they were relentless. Scott and I ended up leaving after the 7th inning. Hopefully our next game will be better.

Bloedel Reserve

Had a lovely day at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island today with Jennifer, Clarissa and Michele to celebrate my birthday. The reserve was a lot bigger than we anticipated with more than two miles of trails, a manor house and Japanese garden. We saw many beautiful flowers. The grounds were serene and peaceful. 

A field of poppies. 

Manor from the back.

View from the back side of the manor.

Magnolia Stair Walk

Since Gabby was also off for the Juneteenth holiday and the weather was supposed to be nice, we decided to meet up and do a stair walk. We chose one of the longer ones since Ethan doesn't like to do those.  Although it was only supposed to be 4.5 miles, the directions at the beginning were confusing, so we ended up adding some additional mileage.  The stair count was 405 up and 327 down; they were very uneven in spots, which made it more challenging.  We had beautiful views of downtown Seattle, Mt. Rainier, the Olympics and the water.  If I could afford to live in Seattle, I think that would be where I would choose to live!  After we finished, we had a yummy lunch at Serendipity Cafe to celebrate our victory.  Then Scott & Gabby got some gelato at the Nutty Squirrel.  It was a fun day!

This was at a park near the end of the walk.

I just liked this cool fish lock.

The wood planks were super squishy, and I kept thinking I would fall through!

The cement section was super sketch.

One final view as we crossed the Magnolia Bridge on our way home.

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day a day early this year because Gabby & Ethan had to work. Everyone came over on Saturday, and we headed to the zoo to check out the newly restored Tropical Reef Aquarium.  We had a great time, although the weather that day was crazy; we went from sunny skies to pouring down rain in a very short time.  We lucked out and were able to watch the keepers feed the walruses and the Siamang (monkeys).  Gabby & Ethan got to watch the sea lions get fed, too.  Afterward we had lunch at one of Scott's favorite places, Knapps, in the Proctor District.  Everyone came back to the house to open presents, then we played The Game, which we surprisingly won!  We had a great time just hanging out with everyone.

Gabby was brave and touched stuff!

Nova liked watching the sharks & fish.

Snow leopard on top of the crag.

Snake!

This was the next day at NW Trek.

Yoh! Hike @ Taylor Mountain

This morning our Yoh! group hiked the Whiskey Still Trail at Taylor Mountain.  Scott & I had hiked part of this trail back in September of 2021.  This time we hiked a bit further along the Whiskey Still Trail.  So glad I took a screenshot of the instructions, because I think we would have gotten lost.  The instructions, though, left out a very important step at the very end, but luckily we figured out which way to go and didn't add any additional mileage to the hike.  It was already long at 4.89 miles! I was so ready to be done by the end!  The puppies had a great time and even got some off-leash time for the second half of the hike.  We encountered just a few people and two horses, but tons of slugs!  There were lots of wildflowers in bloom as well.  It was a beautiful morning for a hike!

We started on the Holder Ridge Trail.

Michele & James were today's designated tree huggers.

L to R: Scott w/Harvey & Rosie, Matt, James, Michele, Miranda w/Briar

The deets.