Spring in Seattle

Dave says: Spring has come early to Seattle which is a good thing. We've seen temperatures in the 50s pretty consistently and a decent number of sunny days in the last two weeks. A number of trees and flowers are already in bloom here. Last weekend, we hit the trails with Chris, Keith, Sarah, and Pauline. It was a nice day on Duthie/Grand Ridge with only a little mud.

On the final Saturday in February, we woke up on a crisp sunny morning and made it out for our first "big" hike of the season up Mailbox Peak. We went up the old trail and down the new trail which is a great way to do it because the old trail is crazy steep and gets you to the top in half the distance but might not be as fun going down. On the way up we gained 4,000 ft. of elevation in just 3 miles. Alisha still likes to put the hurt on going uphill! We hit the snow line near the top and ascended through boulders in some pretty fresh powder to reach the famous mailbox at the top along with 360 degree views. On Sunday, we rode the HT29s around Lake Union for an easy spin and it was beautiful. It has been a busy couple of weeks at the university and I just gave a presentation to the faculty on Friday but now the quarter is almost at an end. I've really enjoyed teaching but I'm also looking forward to the break.