Northern Tier

This summer, H and G decided to go to Northern Tier, a Boy Scout camp in Minnesota focusing on canoeing. They canoed and portaged over 75 miles. They accidentally invaded Canada. They saw many loons. (They were disappointed that the base camp store did not have any stuffed loons to take back as a souvenir.)

Beaver Creek

Geo attended Suzuki camp in Beaver Creek and was part of a cello chamber ensemble. Of course, we brought Snoopy and Buh along for some mountain fun.

 Here is a link to his performance.

Seattle sprint day 3

On Sunday, we had a tasty brunch at the hotel and explored the grounds. 

Then we headed for the Point Defiance Zoo to see Ume. She was born in February and already weighs 200 lbs! She was very lazy and didn't move much.

Finally, D wanted to drive over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, so we had a leisurely lunch in Gig Harbor.

Then we headed back to the airport and flew back to Denver. We met Geo there on his way back from the Oregon Coast. Our weekend blitz was over!

Seattle sprint day 2

Day 2 was rainy and cold. We had lunch at Ivar's and saw a harbor seal pop its head up. Then we headed over to Redmond for D's reunion, which had a big turnout. Finally, we went to our new hotel, which was a former seminary now in a state park. It was a slower day to rest and recharge for our final push to see Ume!

Ferry seen from our Mukilteo hotel room

The treats waiting for us in our Kirkland hotel

Otto, our otter ambassador welcomes us to our Kirkland hotel

Seattle sprint day 1

D dragged M to Seattle for a whirlwind trip, ostensibly for his 30th high school reunion but really to try to visit Ume, the adorable tapir born at the Point Defiance Zoo in February.

They stayed in Mukilteo to take advantage of the amazing view from their hotel, which was right on the water.

Day 1 was an attempt to visit three pre-WW1 forts guarding the Puget Sound. We have visited Fort Casey on Whidbey Island many times, but never Fort Flagler or Fort Worden. First, they drove up to Deception Pass, then down to Fort Casey. However, they messed up their ferry timing and instead of taking the ferry to Port Townsend, they had to detour back to Mukilteo, then take the Clinton Ferry. It was a fortuitous delay, because they saw a cute orca blocking the way back to Mukilteo.

There were lots of nice views of Mt. Rainier on the last ferry ride, from Bainbridge Island to downtown.

They also saw a bald eagle and some deer. Overall, it was a successful day of forts, ferries, and fauna! 

Bolder Boulder

H ran the race for the third year in a row and shaved nearly 5 minutes off last year's time, despite rainy weather.

Snowball

R got a new kitten, a Maine coon named Snowball. Snowy (as M calls him) is playful and easily entertained by a laser pointer. H and Geo have been begging for a cat, but half an hour with Snowy caused D to sneeze nonstop. Plus, they never did anything to care for their fish.