Lake Time | Lake Sammamish

After the hike, I honestly came home, took a shower, and laid on the floor.  Then I woke up 3 hours later.  We crashed hard core!  The week was SO full of fun stuff and we were exhausted!  We had walked around 10 miles a day and been all over the Seattle area.  

But even if you are super tired, you still can't spend your afternoon and evening on vacation watching tv or something... so we woke ourselves up and packed up our stuff for an afternoon on the lake.

We hit up the Lake Sammamish State Park.  Since I have my trusty state park pass, we drove right in and parked, taking my pass cost-per-use down and the cost of the pass officially "worth it".  

At the park, you can rent kayaks and paddle boards by the hour and get out on the water.  It was the perfect lake day, so we did just that.  Cue the GoPro.  Don't mind the water on the lens! 

Ann and I opted for a double kayak, and Doug grabbed a paddle board. 

Since we spent the morning hiking, some nice upper arm exercises made for a complete body work out.

This was the perfect laid back way to end their vacation.  We were able to paddle out and away from the beach scene and spend some time with the lily pads and sunshine.  

Vacations in my own city are the best!   

Rattlesnake Ledge

As my friends were winding down their visit (I know I've made it last for months in blog world, but they were really only here for a week), we opted for one morning of real hiking to get the complete Pacific Northwest experience.  Rattlesnake Ledge is one hike that is very popular and comes highly recommended.  We opted for a morning hike to try and beat the heat and the outdoorsy crowd (good option, although outdoorsy people also tend to be morning people... I don't fit in here).  

So as a quick visual, this is what we hiked.  Not the tip top, but close. 

About four miles round trip.  Since this is a lake and hiking destination, there's a good size parking lot below.  We weren't totally roughing it here.  The best part about this hike is the view once you get up high.  I really don't subscribe to any kind of hiking that doesn't involve a destination.  I feel no need to walk around and look at nature without some kind of nature reward.

 This hike definitely has a reward!  Once you get to the ledge, it really is a ledge.  Not child friendly.  You can really just fall off the side or into this crevice (although I did kind of want to climb down in there).

As if the ledge wasn't enough, you also get to overlook the lake!  You can see the parking lot below, and as afternoon approached, more people were out enjoying the rocky "beach".

I love, love, loved this view.  I could have probably sat there for awhile just enjoying.  I was also pretty proud of myself for making it up there.  There was a bit of huffing and puffing on my part.

Don't mind my dirty armpits.  Actually, I had dirt everywhere!  When I got to the top, I realized just how dirty I was!  Eek!

Yeah, I have a tiny hiking backpack and official hiking shoes.  I'm legit.

It's really dangerous, guys.

Ok, so I might have over-modeled here, but it was so pretty!  And I had just hiked it up and was proud of myself!  Here's more pictures of me in the mountains!

How cool is that??  This midwest lady loves the mountains!  I don't want to go crazy and go camping or anything, but these hikes are worth it!

So then we had to walk back down.  The hike back down always goes so much faster!

At the bottom, I took a little break and checked out the lake.  It has been so dry that the lake has shrunk and you could see tree trunks and the rocky lake bottom.

 This is a "go back and do it again" kind of hike.

Snoqualmie Falls at Sunset

School has started.  I'm tired by noon, but still have to teach for 4 more hours.  Then I attempt a work out at the gym (on days when I don't convince myself that sitting on the couch is a great work out).  Sometimes I grade papers.  Or plan.  But mostly I fall into bed when I get home.  These kids are exhausting (but so, so worth it).

So let's flash back to simple times.  Summer.  Ahhhh that was good stuff.  We hit up Snoqualmie Falls  at sunset.  It's such a quick and easy drive, and since it's so touristy in the summer, heading that way as the sun was setting was the perfect time.

A nice evening walk is always a good choice!  {also, I cannot claim any of these pictures as my own- they are all Doug's work}

One of my favorite things about hiking out here is the MOSS!  However, this year it was so dry (so many wildfires!) that the moss was kind of wimpy and dry and not near as gorgeous as usual.  Instead, we admired these weird trees.  

We stuck to the main trail and didn't go down further to the water.  But it still made for some really fantastic sunset views.  The sun hits the falls perfectly as it sets!

It was dusk as we began our trek back up to the car.  There was a wedding going on at the same time, so I got to sneak a peak at their reception and listen to their speeches as I waited for my friends to meet me at the top.

I didn't buy any waffle mix at the gift shop this time around, but I'm all out now, so a trip back to the falls will be necessary just to stock up again!  Yum!