Rain

Alisha says: After squeezing in a few more fall adventures the rain has finally started to fall rather regularly. We have still managed to get out, it just requires a few more layers of clothes. We left the house on one particularly rainy day expecting to hike in the rain but to our pleasant surprise it stopped and we enjoyed a nice hike up Middle Fork in Snoqualmie National Forest and didn't see anybody else on the trail.

After about a week of rainy days we finally got a clear Saturday so we went walking around Discovery Park. It was nice walking down by the water and we saw a tiny seal resting on the beach, some giant dead jelly fish that had washed up on shore, and some seals/otters swimming along in the water. The views were great! That evening we got to go to a University of Washington football game. They ended up losing but we got to see a nice sunset.

Middle Fork - Snoqualmie

Discovery Park

University of Washington Football Game

Halloween Cake that I made

A Trip to Lopez Island

Alisha says: It has been a mild October her in the Northwest as it has started to rain some but it has not started to fall nonstop yet, but we all know it is just a matter of time so in the mean time we have been squeezing in a few more adventures that have been on our list of things to do.

One day after Dave got home from work we rented a canoe and rowed around the waterways by the arboretum. It was a beautiful evening and fun to be on the water and see things from a different perspective. We saw lots of ducks and beautiful fall colors.

I now look at the weather forecast almost daily and during the week it had rained on and off but it looked like Saturday was shaping up to be a rain free day so we drove to Anacortes and took our hard tail 29 mountain bikes on the ferry to Lopez Island. Lopez is the most rural of the major islands in the San Juan's and with it being the off season it felt especially quiet as we rode around. The scenery was beautiful as we spent the day pedaling through wooded forests, open farmland with sheep, cows and horses, and along the rocky coastline full of picturesque views. At the far end of the island we went out to Iceberg Point and enjoyed the view before riding back to the small village to have some snacks at the bakery.

An Adventure in Fungi

Alisha says: Who knew mushrooms could be so interesting? On our beautiful fall day 7.5 mile hike to Annette Lake we saw so many different types of fungi. We passed mushrooms of all sizes, shapes and colors. My favorite was a bright red one with white spots. It reminded me of a mushroom from the Super Mario Bros game that I played as a kid. Once we arrived at the lake we found a nice place to sit, ate our snacks and admired the view. On the way back we decided to take pictures of the cool mushrooms that we found and we were both entertained looking for a new type we hadn't seen.

 The Mario mushroom

 These were really white and flat. They looked neat against the green moss.

 This one was huge!

 This one looked like cauliflower.

 Tiny mushrooms

 Spotted fuzzy mushroom

 Purple mushrooms

 Orange coral looking fungus

 Lots of mushrooms