Catching up on happenings

One of the wonderful things about life is the variety of opportunities to explore and learn. Of course for me, my favorite moments tend to include nature and dogs. Here are some of my special moments from the last few months.

Rattlesnake Mountain and Snoqualmie Point Trailhead


Katie and her lovely little girl Ruby, and Schmoozer and I decided we had to check out the new Snoqualmie Point Trailhead. (For some photos check out this wonderful blog). We we really enjoyed the new park but it was even nicer to be out exploring with good friends. We went a ways up the Rattlsnake Mountain trail and the goal wasn't distance or any particular place but just sharing with each other.

City Nature, the zoo and more

I met my friend Brad at the Renton park. Of course I can go just a short distance from my house and be lost in the woods, but the park was a fun experience. The Maples were gorgeous and salmon were spawning in the Cedar River.

We then drove down to the Point Defiance Zoo. Surprisingly, I think my favorite part of the zoo was the walruses.



There's a downstairs part to the zoo where you can see walrus, otters and beluga. It was really loud and I went over by the walruses while everyone else seemed gathered around the otters and whales. A family came over and they had a little girl who was somewhere between one and two. They put her on the cement ledge so she was right next to glass (like me). She and I were basically beside each other. This one walrus apparently was interested in the girl. The walrus would come up from below face and body brushing across the glass the girl leaned on. Walrus are big but the girl never flinched or anything. She just sat there with a quiet smile. I felt like we (the girl, walrus and I) shared a secret. When I went upstairs the keepers were feeding the walruses and that was fun to watch too. As always, it is the interactions with animals that fascinate me the most.

This is a baby Anoa

Later, Brad and I drove through Point Defiance park where we got to see some beautiful scenes and some very urban raccoons begging along side the road.




Trip to California

I drove down to California to visit my friends for Thanksgiving. Schmoozer was a great passenger even though it's a long drive for a puppy. I drove through eastern Washington and Oregon and they live in Central California so I saw a lot of desert. I love having that chance to experience such a different habitat. The desert even sounds different and the sunlight was certainly nice. We went for two hikes, one in the desert and one at Big Trees State Park, so we got to explore the different worlds of forest and arid land.

Nae and Tasha at Big Trees

Schmoozer was, of course, delighted by the visit because he got to spend hours playing with Abby the dog. She was pretty good spirited about the puppy energy. Both dogs enjoyed the hikes. Schmoo did get rather frightened of a stump. Yep, it was one scary stump and Schmooze was barking and trying to protects us while backing away! Even the puppy was tired after the hikes so we had our quiet moments too.