Snoqualmie Mt

a couple of sonic boom photos from one of the team moms.

 veggies from Ms. C!  i love her plant gifts.  inspired us to get a little veg garden going for this year.

 exploding mentos at the scouts activity.
 pretty lavender in bloom.

 L got spayed.  she was doped up for a few days.  this day she wouldn't come back inside, but just plopped down in the sun and stayed. (until i got treats. then of course she came)
this photo was from the dog walker on her first time around the block in a week.  she's chewed up a lot of toys, but this little fish (in her mouth) has lasted a long time. it's the first toy that R bought her a year ago.  it's hard for her to pick up toys and bones with the cone, so it made me laugh to see that once she got the fish she didn't put it down even to go on a walk.

  

the Sonic boom coach hosted a water gun party BBQ at his house.

 and grand finale of this post:
Snoqualmie Mountain. 6278 ft at the summit. elevation gain 3,200 ft.  maybe only 5 miles round trip, but a steep scramble up creek beds and deep snow. "It is not a well-maintained trail, but a climbers path only."  I'm so sore!  I got stressed once when we reached open snow.  it was steep. It wasn't that it was hard to climb (it was) but my bigger concern was that i knew i had to come down.  thank goodness for the self arrest training last month.  i totally used my ice ax. so my arms are sore from tight grips while climbing with the ski pole and then descending with the ice ax. my legs are sore from the steepness. felt like a stair climb. coming down if we weren't glissading, we were walking heels first in the snow, so i'm sure that new walking method contributed to my sore muscles.

apparently salty greasy chips are a good thing to eat pre-hike at 7am.  I trust C. on all things climbing. but i didn't eat any.
from the parking lot: "That's where we're headed."  Yay, let's go!
everyone shared their photos, so only a couple of these are mine.

 oh the steepness and glissading.  my panic about losing the group was stronger than my panic about getting down, so i did what i had to do.
i do feel strong for completing the climb, and i'll keep going out with our "WS Alpine club", but i'm the slowest one in the group... and i recognize I feel more safe and comfortable on well marked trails. 

 we got back home in time to meet cousin B, in town for work convention, for yummy pizza dinner and catching up.  that was so nice of him to let us know he had some free time.  17 years ago we were neighbors.