Wilderness Peak

I've been craving a good hike.  Despite the soggy weather, we headed out this morning to Cougar Mountain.  It was a lovely day for a hike, the mist was a welcome addition to the muggy conditions.  There are a ton of county-maintained trails through Cougar Mountain and this hike took us up the Wilderness Creak Trail to Deceiver Trail, Shy Bear Pass, Wilderness Peak and down the Wilderness Cliffs Trail: a nice 6.2 miles in the forest.  We saw a lot of slugs, caterpillers and even a snail.  Check out some of my favorite pics!

Misty, cloudy Seattle "summer" day.

Gotta love Tyler's humor.  When he saw this sign he said:  "Well...at least they're not angry bears!"  :)  No worries, we didn't see any bears.


What a great hike.  After working up an appetite, we met up with Becca and headed to downtown Bellevue to one of my new favorite restaurants: Araya Vegan Thai restaurant!  YUM!!!  Added bonus: they can make most of their dishes gluten free. 

Tulips!

Happy Good Friday! I'm very grateful for the day off, and Tyler decided to take a vacation day so we could head north to Mount Vernon to see some tulips. Two years ago on Good Friday we had the same wonderful idea and it was gorgeous, albeit very windy and rainy: http://lauritalee.blogspot.com/2010/04/beautiful-tulips.html. This year, mother nature cooperated with some sunshine however it has not been warm enough for many tulips to bloom unfortunately. It was still beautiful and we enjoyed the day particularly with the daffodils in bloom. 

Lillian loved this sign!

As you can see, the tulip fields were still pretty green!

Happy spring!

a little getaway

Tyler and I headed up to Port Ludlow, WA for an overnight getaway to close out 2011.  There isn't much going on up there which was perfect for relaxation.  We warmed up by the fire in our beautiful room at the Port Ludlow Resort with our books: I'm reading The Help and Tyler is reading Steve Jobs (great books). 

Our room had an amazing view of the marina.

We enjoyed some delicious wine and a fabulous dinner:

The next morning, we walked around (in the freezing cold) along the beach and low and behold a real live bald eagle was perched atop the totem pole.  We totally thought it was fake but nope!

I don't think you can really tell from these photos but this eagle was HUGE!

Beauty!

On our way to Port Ludlow, we hung out on Bainbridge Island.  My favorite part was that there were dogs everywhere!  We saw 4 king charles cavalier spaniels, multiple labs, 2 springer spaniels...and a few others.  I was in heaven.  My second favorite part was our meal at Local Harvest Restaurant. 

Delicious!!!  I started with a cranberry pecan salad and Tyler opted for the butternut squash. 
YUM!  Amy, am I making you hungry? :)

The main course: a gluten free flatbread!  So tasty!  Tyler even liked it :)

A few shots from our stroll around Bainbridge and ferry ride :)

I love instagram!

On the way back, we stopped by Bremerfun for a pizza date with Beth and Dave!  Always wonderful to see them. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 2012 so far!

My love for palm trees, extended version

You might remember that I love palm trees!  I have extended my love to the flowers of Southern California as well.  We enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery on our trip.  We flew into Long Beach and were welcomed with palm trees :)

Redondo Beach was also beautiful. 

Blayne and Megan's backyard...all spruced up!



Disneyland is not just fun...it's beautiful as well!

In San Pedro, we toured the Pt. Fermin Lighthouse (more on that later).  The park grounds are full of beauty!

These pink hydrangeas were as big as my outstretched hand.  Gorgeous!

San Diego was brimming with beauty as well.  = Laura was a happy photographer :)  These were taken at the zoo.

So beautiful, huh!?