The Weird Gets Weirder: A Follow-Up

A photo follow-up to my previous post The Weird Gets Weirder. The photo of my grandmother is a photo of a photo, so the quality is not great but hopefully gives you an idea why I did a serious double-take.

Go Dawgs!

The University of Washington Foundations of Legal Study two-week introductory course and orientation starts Monday. Just three days and I will be a student once again. Today I turned in my locker request form, bought my school supplies (lots of highlighters), and got my student ID. It was a very exciting day and I can't wait to start classes and meet a whole bunch of intelligent, motivated, and interesting people.

Kendall Katwalk

The Kendall Katwalk has been on my must-hike list for about two years. After my last day of work on August 31, I finally had time to hike the Katwalk. It was a beautiful late summer day: blue sky, cool breeze, and fresh legs for the eleven and half mile hike. After hiking the Katwalk, I don't feel much need to hike more around Snoqualmie Pass since the Katwalk gives you nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains, including Red Mountain, which is one of the most spectacular mountains I have seen in my limited hiking experience. The Katwalk is a short stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail, which means the elevation gain was not too brutal and the trail was well defined. Definitely worth hiking!

Area: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 11.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 2700 feet
High Point: 5400 feet

Candy corn-looking fungi. I was tempted to eat it. Luckily I resisted.

Early view of Red Mountain. I had no idea we would be eye-level with its peak later in the hike.

I like the juxtaposition of the two mountains in this photo.
Looking west. Snow Lake is just over the mountains in the foreground.
Panorama view from the Katwalk looking east.
Gray jay - or camp robber - eating out of my dad's hand.
The Katwalk!
View down into the valley from the Katwalk. Some wobbly knees here no doubt.
We finally made it to the Katwalk.
My dad strolling along the Katwalk.
Full view of Red Mountain (aptly named, eh?).
Marmot keeping watch of his scree. His shrill whistle hurt our ears. So loud!
Marmot keeping an eye on us as we slowly pass.

Seahawks Preseason Game

I went to the Seahawks - Broncos preseason game at Qwest Field on August 22nd with a group of friends. I'm an opponent of preseason, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed sporting my Hasselbeck jersey, hanging with my friends, tailgating in the sunshine, and getting excited for a new Hawks season with new possibilities (i.e., Mora, Curry, Houshmandzadeh). Foam fingers up!

Boston Harbor

I didn't end up taking many photos during my Boston trip - mostly because I was having a grand old time with my best bud. But here's one from Georges Island across Boston Harbor towards Boston. Prior to my trip, I was unaware that Boston even had islands in its harbor. So we spent some time exploring Georges Island, which is home to Fort Warren, a nineteenth century fort built during the Civil War. We also took a day trip to Salem, learned about the Salem Witch Trials, gallivanted around Cambridge, toured Harvard Yard (or Haaarvard Yaaard) and Harvard Square, ate delicious food, and went to the Museum of Fine Art. In Cambridge Square, G pointed out the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe. Hilarious.

The Weird Gets Weirder

Last week I was flipping through a photo album my mom put together a few years ago after my grandmother passed away. It is far and away one of the best gifts I have received, with photos of my grandmother as a young twenty something newly transplanted to Seattle (Capital Hill area) through her celebrating my high school graduation with me.

I flipped through the album once and on another pass, did a classic "holy shit" double take. In one of the early photos, probably from the late 1940s, my young grandmother is standing in front of a house that not only looks close to exactly like the one I live in now but, by God, has the same house number. Shit you not. (Sorry for the profanity in this post, it's mostly necessary under the circumstances.)

So I took the album outside to compare the photo with my current residence. There are some slight differences: the wooden steps leading up to the porch are now cement stairs, the windows on either side of the front door has different glass details, the front door is different, and the house numbers are in a different location.

But there are significant similarities: the upstairs window details are the same, the door location the same (with an obviously updated front door), the brick apartment building behind the house the same, the siding and roofing the same, porch details the same, the upstairs drain pipe is in the same location, the tree to the right of the porch the same type of tree, and to top it off, I found holes drilled in the front pillar where house numbers used to be that matched the old photograph.

Could it possibly be that I am living in the same house my grandmother lived in 60 years ago? Some serious sleuthing is in order to solve this one... but I do very much hope I can get to the bottom of this. What a small world it is.

Mount Pilchuck

I hiked Mount Pilchuck finally on Friday, July 17. Getting a semi-late start, it was already hot out (it reached 90 degrees in Seattle). But the sky was as clear as one could ask for on a summit hike. Despite the hot weather, Pilchuck was a fantastic hike with breathtaking views almost the entire distance of the trail. At the top, we scrambled to the defunct fire lookout tower with 360 degree views of Mount Rainier, Central Cascades, Glacier Peak, Three Fingers, North Cascades, Mount Baker, Puget Sound, surrounding lowlands, and everything in between. Standing on the rickety fire lookout tower gave me the willies, but the view was worth any shaky knees. Definitely worth the climb!

Area: Mountain Loop Highway/Granite Falls
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation Gain: 2300
High Point: 5340

View from the fire lookout northeast.

Fire lookout tower with daring people scaling surrounding rocks.
Glacier Peak.
View east from the fire lookout of Glacier Peak and Central Cascades.Mount Baker to the left under some clouds; Three Fingers to the right.
View North from the fire lookout.
View west towards Puget Sound.
View southeast from fire lookout.
One peak of Pilchuck.
Our future destination!

Las Vegas 2009

I enjoyed my first Vegas trip in May. Highlights of the trip: lounging in the desert heat by the wave pool at the Mandalay Bay (our hotel), seeing the Treasure Island show, breakfast buffet at our hotel, riding the XScream at the top of the Stratosphere 866 feet above the Strip, seeing the Las Vegas lights from the top of the Stratosphere at night, riding in a stretch hummer down the Strip (Vegas is awesome), and spending time with five fabulous ladies.

View from the Stratosphere.
MGM Grand lion.
New York, New York.
Ballys, the Paris, and the Vegas strip.

Blogging Fail

Some of my loved ones have pointed out my blogging fail as of late. I have a lot of legitimate excuses, but mostly it just comes down to laziness. I do apologize - I will try to post some photo updates. I've been occupying most of my time with work, hiking, seeing friends, Northwest activities, naps, reading Digg, and some latest TV show addictions (Entourage, True Blood, and Weeds).

Biggest update: I made my final decision recently to go back to school this fall. I will be entering the University of Washington Law School this September. I'm excited, nervous, and apprehensive all rolled up into a compact knot in my stomach. Needless to say, my life will change dramatically over the coming months as I transition from young professional back to starving student. Hello again my old friend, Top Ramen.

Denny Creek to Melakwa Lake

I hiked Denny Creek to Melakwa Lake on Friday, July 10. It was warm outside and the hike was beautiful. Melakwa Lake has been on my list to-do for about two years; it was gratifying to finally check it off my list. The same morning of my hike I finished my final session of morning boot camp (up at 4:45 a.m. to exercise for an hour) so I was pretty exhausted on the way up but still thoroughly enjoyed myself. At boot camp that morning I managed to decrease my mile time by 20 seconds. Hike and boot camp win!

Area: Snoqualmie Pass
Distance: 9 miles
Elevation Gain: 2300 feet
High Point: 4910 feet

The trail passes under floating I-90 about a half mile from the trail head.
Hemlock Pass - the high point of the trail and passage way to Melakwa Lake.

Needle in the Sky

I was leaving an IMAX show of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and had a great view of the Space Needle. I love the color of the sky in this photo. And seeing my first IMAX movie (aside from those exploring the oceans, etc. IMAX films) was a lot of fun as well.

Fremont Solstice Parade

I enjoyed the Fremont Solstice Parade for a second year this year. With horrendous parking around Fremont and Wallingford, we arrived after the start of the parade. I was disappointed that we missed the famous naked bicyclists' ride at the beginning of the parade. To our surprise however, we stumbled upon the entire cadre of nude bicyclists gathered on the large hill in Gasworks Park and mingled amongst the crowd at the end of the parade route. Quite a different atmosphere than a usual Saturday afternoon.

The rest of the parade was enjoyable as usual with fun, festive, funky, and just plain weird floats and people of all shapes and sizes (including a flying spaghetti monster float with a slew of pirates). I snapped just a single photo this year - our view of the parade route. The wolverine costume was pretty funny.

Lake Serene

I hiked Lake Serene on Sunday, June 14. The weather turned out to be a little discouraging since the trail and lake were almost completely socked in by thick fog. We couldn't see any more than 100 feet of the lake from our lunch spot. Nonetheless, Bridal Veil Falls along the trail was a highlight. A side trail allows you to climb right next to the waterfall and cool off with the spray from the falls. The trail itself climbs very gradually for the first mile and half; it gains most of its elevation in the final two miles which were two of the tougher miles I have hiked thus far. I would definitely like to return to Lake Serene for views of Mount Index and the lake itself.

Area: Index, Stevens Pass
Distance: 7.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 2000 feet
High Point: 2521 feet