Pike Place Market, Seattle - May 2014

We had a nice visit with dear friends Catherine and Kevin when we recently went to Seattle for the big wedding of long-time pals Flora and Betsy. We got a day of mixed sun and rain on Monday when we ventured down to the Pike Place Market. Here are pictures of Cath and Kev with Hal.

 Seattle has its own ferris wheel now and there are just more and more high rises going up.

Tulips were in season so the market was especially colorful!

 As usual, there were plenty of gorgeous vegetables on offer...

 

 And lots of interesting pastas, dipping sauces and other tasty treats for Hal and Kevin to try.

 And of course lots of fish!

 

Chimney Rock - April 2014

Once again, our intrepid tour leader, Leslie took us on a wonderful high desert hike above the Crooked River to Chimney Rock on April 28. My friend Betsy was visiting from Boise and joined us (that's Betsy in blue and Chimney Rock dead ahead).

Fellow hiker Charlotte, was kind enough to take a picture of Betsy and me in front of Chimney Rock when we stopped for lunch.

It was quite a climb, but at the top we were rewarded with some panoramic views of the Cascade mountains.

There were some nice wildflowers along the way, paintbrush, townsendia, etc.

Here is a picture of Leslie and the rest of the hiking group when we stopped for lunch.

When we came back down to the river there were all these mud bird nests across from us with birds flying in and out. Unfortunately, did not seem to capture the birds, just the nests.

This hike is well worth repeating!