Outdoor Adventures

As it's turning into fall, we've been trying to get in a few more outdoor adventures while the weather keeps up all this sunshine and warmth (sort of)! A couple weekends ago, we went on a lovely day hike in the Cascades. We had actually done this hike once before, but the last time it was super foggy so we weren't able to get a great view at the lake. This time it was perfect!

This hike was a lot more strenuous than I remembered, and this time we were able to hike up above the lake and get some great views!

The next weekend (which is now several weekends ago) we joined some friends in renting a house in Port Angeles for a weekend and doing some mountain biking. There's a weekend long event called Biketoberfest that has mountain biking events all weekend. I joined in on the Saturday ride which was a 20 mile cross country ride. 20 miles didn't seem so bad on a bike...but then you put that bike on a mountain! 4 hours later we were pretty beat! It was an awesome ride though and they set it up so there were 4 stations along the ride where you got a playing card. At the end of your ride you got your final card in your poker hands, then the best hands won prizes! How fun is that?!

Here's Ryan and I along the ride ;)

Pickens Time!

 No this has nothing to do with picking apples or pumpkins or any of those fall favorites. This post is all about my sister...who happens to be a Pickens ;) Lauren came up for a last minute visit to Seattle last week/weekend. Unfortunately I still had to work on the Thurs/Fri, so she entertained herself wandering around Queen Anne and getting sat on by the two puppies...(we were puppy sitting for a couple weeks). Friday morning Lauren got to join me for a Crossfit class...so excited she's into Crossfit now too!! As if our arms weren't sore enough from Crossfit, we decided to hit up a rock climbing gym Friday night. I had a feeling it would be something Lauren would enjoy, and of course she caught on super fast and had a lot of fun with it!

Saturday we may have been a little bit of bums. We watched the football game and Lauren read her book. We had thought about going out for the evening and checking out another neighborhood, but we were enjoying our relaxation so much that we finished off the evening in that style. Queen Anne has a local video rental store...which I had never actually been too and assumed most other people hadn't either. Turns out it was pretty happening, and it had the movie we were looking for! I can't remember the last time I rented a physical movie from an actual store! I might have to do that more often now that I'm signed up for an account! We spent the night watching 'Seven Psychopaths' followed by 'The Secret World of Arriety' accompanied by delivery sushi. Awesome lazy night. Also, Lauren had to be back at the airport at 4:30 the next morning, so it was probably a good thing we took it easy ;)

 

In other Pickens' news...my brother-in-law (Lauren's husband) is working on boosting financing for his company which produces resin for 3D printers. Check out his fundraising page and all the cool things you can get your hands on if you donate some money!! They've spent a lot of time figuring out the best chemical combination to make the highest quality resin to print with. I don't have the slightest idea how they do it, but it totally prints and looks better than other resins out there!

 

Whistler

Somehow we've been really busy lately but without any major things to blog about, so I'll share a few pics from our trips to Whistler. We did a weekend trip there 2 weeks ago that was a bit of a bust because it rained most of the time. We just got a brand new Tiguan and had a hitch installed on it and bought a bike rack to fit in the hitch so we were all excited to be able to transport our own mountain bikes! We had been trying to stuff them in the back of the car or having friends with trucks bring them for us. We got all the way up there with our bikes then lost all motivation to ride while it rained the whole time. Luckily whistler is awesome anyway just to hang out at and relax in the hot tub and walk around the village/parks.

Ben also enjoyed cuddling in the big hotel bed.

This past weekend we went up to whistler again. There have been a lot of good living social deals for hotels there lately so that has motivated us the make all these trips. This time it was much nicer out. Saturday was a little overcast, but Ryan and his buddy Glen hit up the mountain for some downhill riding.

I waited till it was nice and sunny out on Sunday to get my riding in. It was a nice simple ride that was just challenging enough for me. I definitely think I'm getting better each time!

The ride home, although long, is super pretty most of the way.