Alpine Lakes Wilderness hike

After our fun Saturday night at the Bike & Beer festival, we needed to clear our heads and get some exercise. I love that these girls enjoy hiking as much as I do. Christina didn't join us this time; she opted to take full advantage of her child-free day back by the pool with her book and a nice, long nap.

This is the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area outside Leavenworth (in the North Cascades of Central Washington). The area suffered a horrible forest-fire in the late 90s; now it's starting to recover and it is sooo beautiful. We were there at the perfect time for the wildflowers. The lake that we hiked to is called Eightmile Lake; it was worth every precarious stream crossing and mosquito bite. Gorgeous.

Once at the lake, I was checking out birds (Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Red-naped Sapsucker and lots of other warblers that were impossible to identify.) Suddenly, I saw movement in the bushes and used my binocs to see what it was. "What the....There's a friggin' HOUSE CAT over there!!" Now, we were 4 miles up the side of a mountain, the nearest house probably 10 miles away. The girls came running over and after awhile we saw the "house cat" and several others climb up on the rocks to check us out. Yellow-bellied marmots. But I SWEAR (and even Jen and Cole admitted it) that that one looked exactly like a long-haired siamese slinking through the brush.

....

This weekend, Christina and the girls are coming over for a sleep-over; we are going to try to recreate the outrageously DELICIOUS Mexican food we ate every chance we got while in Leavenworth. She's in charge of the fresh-basil margaritas! I know tha sounds weird, a basil margarita, but you know what it tastes like? A garden in a glass. So, so yummy.

And, last but certainly not least, today is Friday which means: STORYCORPS! I'm going to try to post these every week; Story Corps is truly one of the best bits on radio and I look forward to it all week. It is always thought-provoking and heart-warming, usually funny and sometimes makes me cry. I'd love to interview our mom someday.

This one made me think of my sister Jodi, who took on (and beat) breast cancer twice. As always, I urge you to listen to it; it really is best heard in their own voices.

Happy weekend, everyone!