My first Independence Day in Seattle!

In 2008, we arrived on July 12. In 2009 and 2010, we wisely went camping, so this was my very first 4th July celebration in Seattle. Here are Shaun, Amy and friends from a couple of doors down the road with their highly decorated lemonade stand.

And hats off to Doug for throwing a first class party in his garden (and to Susan for providing vegetarian victuals). My contribution was this rather strange-looking patriotic hummus.

After some light boozing at Doug and Susan’s we wandered/hiked down the hill past spontaneous arsonism in serach of a viewing point for the famous Gasworks Park annual display.

We ended up on Wallingford Avenue, about half a mile from the park. The street was closed to traffic and everyone had dragged out chairs and sofas to get a view. The atmosphere got even better when the city turned out the street lights a few minutes later (seriously!).

Here’s Karen, Doug and Susan enjoying the show!

And just a taste of the fireworks themselves. It was a pretty amazing show – much better than the impromptu testing sessions I used to have on Brighton beach. But perhaps lacking some of the thrill of imminent immolation…

Start of a Hartstene summer

Woo hoo! First hot day at Hartstene, so what better time to pull out the power tools and clear some brush? Work broke down into about 70% talking, 20% chainsaws and 10% getting thorns in our hands. But the results looked great (er, not pictured).

After Trika arrived at lunchtime, we headed up to the trail Karen and I made earlier in the year to see if we could still see it. We could (just) and engaged in some light salal macheteing.

The most exciting bit was spotting a small saw whet owl, who fluttered down to check us out (and vice versa). So exciting, in fact, that I thought I deserved a break.

Before the evening’s strenuous activities of playing croquet and eating a huge family-style dinner. Another perfect Hartstene weekend.

Mount Rose hike

Saturday was the start of a long holiday weekend here for the annual 4 July celebrations. Karen and I had a lie in, then jumped on a ferry for the Olympics. Our target: Mount Rose, just outside the National Park on the shores of Lake Cushman.

This was my first hike since the op, and I was surprised how smoothly it went – no sling and I was even wearing a backpack! But the walk itself was a killer: about 3000 vertical feet and about 6.5 miles in total. Here’s Karen taking a breather and spotting…

… a fantastic view of Mount Rainier about 100 miles away.

We didn’t make it all the way to the top due to slippery snow, steep slopes and a very chaotic lack of trail. But we did see this lovely waterfall to cool our tootsies.

Talking of which, we made full use of the lake when we got back  down to our dusty car. I found that it is possible to swim with one arm, without going in circles too much! Here’s my Loch Ness monster impression.

And here’s a snap of charming downtown Shelton, where we stopped for Vietnamese seafood and excessive air-conditioning.