Category: Washington

Zoo Babies and Other Babies

~ Crystle ~ 4 Comments

We decided that it was finally time to hit up the local Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium this weekend. I usually love these things, but I’ve been so fatigued lately that I was pretty much useless. Most of the little energy I had was focused on the prevention of hitting small children in the head with my purse, or giving any strangers accidental ‘flat-tires’ during my zombie-like stroll. Yet, somehow I was also able to snap a few photos of the most animated animals at the Zoo.

We were drawn to the zoo with the promise of Zoo Babies. Right now there are a few Red Wolf Pups at the zoo, they were romping further away in the exhibit. Cute overload. And has anyone else noticed that Wolves don’t look dangerous at all? Their adorable appearance is all too deceptive!

It took a lot of restraint to not push this monkey out of the hammock so I could steal a snooze, trust me.

Watching the Walruses swim back and forth in their pool also instilled a sense of envy. I could make a happy life for myself as a big fat walrus. Really, I could! Eat, swim, be merry.

The single-most adorable thing we saw all day was the most playful Puffin in the world. A little boy had a stuffed dog up to the glass driving the Puffin into a frenzy. The bird put up an adorable fight to win the prize through the glass, without success. 

A pretzel with cheese and an Ice Cream cone later, I was completely exhausted. Creating a human being is exhausting work, even when you do get 10-12 hours of sleep a day.

Did I mention I had that little side project going? Yep, I’m pregnant. Close friends, family and some of my twitter/blogging buddies know about the pregnancy already, and many thanks to them for the tips on eliminating the nausea! 

The first trimester will be over soon, but not soon enough. Until then, please don’t call me before 10 am, and please avoid eating any Indian food around me. Your shoes look so much nicer without vomit all over them. 🙂

Glacier Basin Trail – Mt. Rainier National Park

~ Crystle ~ 5 Comments

Today’s seven mile hike was wonderfully scenic, albeit a bit more snowy than we expected.

Earlier this week, Jay and I scouted out the Glacier Basin Trail from my favorite hiking guide for hiking Mt. Rainier National Park. We even checked on the trail conditions to make sure it was a reasonable expectation to reach our goal of seeing the Glacier Basin Camp.

In short, two valuable lessons were learned.

Lesson #1: When the trail forecast calls for 30% snowy conditions, it’s bound to be the highest elevation of the hike.

It was, and none of us had gaiters, trekking poles or crampons to help us trapeze the snowy trail. We managed, but it was a bit more difficult without these essential mountaineering items.

I hypothesize that with this gear, I would not have spent as much time sprawled out on the snow. Snow is cold, even in July.

Lesson #2: Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!

I should have learned the sunscreen lesson on my whale watching tour  last weekend, but alack. We all have red farmer’s tans on our left arms and now sit around the living room with taut, stinging sunburnt faces.

On a side note, summer has finally hit Tacoma (today it was 82). Since our house isn’t equipped with an AC, as the local climate doesn’t really call for it, the obvious solution for our mandatory sunburn cool-down is a big batch of Sunday evening margaritas. Call it a post-Mountain Margarita and make it a tradition. We just did.

  Regardless of our snowy slip ‘n’ slide defined hike, a great time was had by all.

Mt. Rainier National Park is never a disappointment. The season should remain fair for another 8 weeks or so. Hopefully we’ll get in several more hikes, with sunscreen, before fall!