Hiking with Tiffany

I went hiking today with my sister Tiffany up at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlife Park. We started at the Red Town trailhead and hiked up to the Coal Creek Falls, about 2.5 miles round trip. It was really fun! It's been so unseasonably warm that the plants think it's springtime:



The falls were really pretty, totally worth the hike up to them!


There was a cute squirrel at the end of the trail saying goodbye!

NYC and More

Albany's been great. It's been relaxing and fun and everything I hoped it would be. We went out to dinner in Schenectady the other day with Dave's dad and "step-mom" at a place called Aperitivo I think, which was really tasty. I had calamari followed by gnocchi and sausage. Tasty. Dave had prosciutto wrapped salmon if I remember correctly, which he loved. It was a very fun evening. Wednesday night we went to the Wishing Well in Saratoga which is where his dad works, and he used to work there too. It was such a great place. I can't wait to take my parents back there. It was just a very cozy nice feel. And they had great food but huge portions. I had almond crusted trout which was delicious. That was Dave's birthday. Earlier that day I showed him how to carve stamps which he instantly fell in love with. I'll post pictures later.

Yesterday we got up early and headed down to NYC. I wasn't feeling very good though which made the trip a little less pleasant than I was hoping, but it was still fun. Takes about an hour and a half to drive to Poughkeepsie, where you board a train thing for an hour and a half to grand central station. When we got there we just sort of wandered around all day. We went to central park which was pretty and all frozen and stuff, and had a snack at this weird place called Primeburger. We went to Rockefeller Center and ended the day in Times Square which was really fun at night with all the lights. We rode on the indoor ferris wheel in the Toys R Us store which was really fun, Dave was really excited about it :) And of course we had to go to the Hershey's store. We wanted to go see a show but we were worried about not being able to catch the train home again that late. We made it home finally at about 10:30 or 11, and we were both extremely exhausted. It was fun though, I'm glad we did that cause it was a little outside of both our comfort zones, going to a big city without a plan or anything. But it was really fun.

Writing in NY

Wind danced through the moonlit forest, carrying with it the songs of the dying spirits. It whistled and howled in anguish, reaching for the moon, the lifeforce. The spirits could feel the pull, the lunar yearning to take them away from a doomed existence. And they yearned for its soft embrace. The Earth would never let them go, though. It held them in its iron grip of gravity.

Arriving in Albany

Yesterday I made the arduous journey to visit my beloved in Albany, NY. The last time I did that my flight was screwed up and I had to spend the night in D.C., but yesterday everything went smoothly. I even had an open seat next to me on the long part of the flight (From Seattle to Newark) which made it that much easier to sleep.

My plane actually landed early and I got to see Dave about 20 minutes sooner than expected, which after almost two and a half months was a nice little treat. He was all bundled up because it is snowy here. I was hungry so he took me out for "real new york pizza" which he has been talking about since we started dating. The place he wanted to take me to was closed but we found some pizza anyway, and I have to admit it was pretty good. I had a white garlic slice, and the crust was very tasty, flat but not like cracker thin. Anyway... it's fun to see all the snow. I'll try and get pictures later.

Magnolia Park

So today is Christmas Eve Eve, and so I was busy wrapping presents all day. By the time I was ready to head out for my daily(ish) hike my dad called and said he was heading to Seattle for some work stuff if I wanted to tag along. So I did, opting to spend time with him in the car instead of going on my hike. I was a little bit sad as today was a gorgeous day, sunny and crisp, and I haven't gone hiking the past two days due to work. Before we headed home we stopped at Magnolia Park, however, which was small but gorgeous and a nice little place to take some pictures, and it satisfied my need for fresh air and nature.


This tree was mammoth, standing next to it and reaching as high as I could I couldn't reach the lowest "u" shape.



The backdrop of the water through the trees was perfect as the sun was setting.



It's a little hard to see but through the trees you can see Mount Rainier behind West Seattle, across Puget Sound.



This tree was very very orange, emphasized by the golden light of the setting sun.

Hiking

I went hiking today. It felt good! It hasn't rained for a few days so it wasn't too muddy, and in the shade things were still frosty. It was beautiful and felt really good. I didn't even notice the cold once my blood got moving. It was just really nice being out in the woods and getting fresh air. I live in a beautiful part of the world.

Crafting

I apologize again for taking such a long break from this blog. I've been distracted, mostly with my long distance relationship with Dave. who by the way is amazing :) Anyway, Journalfest was last week, the first Journalfest of many to come I hope. Though I couldn't stay for the last day due to Dave needing to get to the airport early Sunday morning, it was an amazing event. We took a class from Dan Essig, which was fantastic. It really got me thinking about how much fun it is to make things. When I got home I told my dad I wanted to make more books, which he was very excited to hear as he is an avid bookbinder himself. It's been really fun. I also decided I should start filling up my down time with other crafty things, so I've started crocheting amigurumi again. It feels so good to make things.