Last weekend we decided to hike at Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Trail. We had done this trail one other time, but it started to rain on us shortly after we started, so we didn't end up going very far. With temperatures forecast in the mid to upper 70s, Saturday was a great day to go hike there again.

The trailhead is almost an hour off the freeway, much of it along a pothole-filled gravel road. The trail starts by crossing the river over a nice wood suspension bridge and then follows closely alongside the river. This first part of the trail along the river is the best part, in my opinion. The trail then diverges away from the river for a couple miles. This trail has some ups and downs, but nowhere is it very difficult. Some of the hardest part may be avoiding the mud that sometimes covers the trail while not getting scraped by branches encroaching on the trail.

In a few spots, there are bridges or rocks that provide a path over small streams. This trail may be too wet to do earlier in the year, but most of these streams were pretty small. After a few miles of hiking through the forest, the trail returns back to the river. This would have been a good place to stop and rest and then turn around, but we decided to keep going. Our hiking book showed a waterfall not too much farther ahead. After hiking through more mud and thorny brambles, we eventually realized that there was no waterfall (at least not at this time of year) and decided to turn around. After a brief stop at the river, we walked the three miles or so back to the trailhead.

We hiked probably a total of 8 miles, and while the mud was a little annoying, overall it was a pleasant hike with a good amount of solitude on the trail.

Snoqualmie River on Vimeo.

We didn't really have any major plans this weekend, but we did decide to go to Tacoma for a day on Saturday. We went to Noah's bagels for breakfast on Mercer Island. The three bagels we had were really fresh and tasty and the weather was great, so we ate them outside. Then we headed to Tacoma and had a clear view of Mount Rainier.

We had bought some Groupons for the Museum of Glass that we weren't able to use when we had visitors this summer, so we decided to use two of the four tickets we had bought. In the hot shop at the museum, they're usually making something. This time they were blowing glass elephants, which we watched for a little while before looking at the rest of the exhibits. There was an exhibit on glass objects that were made based on children's drawings, which was cute. There was also a piece made up of hundreds of pieces of glass all arranged together to depict a forest scene with a river and waterfall. It was really impressive. Unfortunately they say you can't take pictures in the gallery, so we didn't. Even though we've seen blown glass a few times the last couple years, the Museum of Glass was still pretty interesting and impressive.

After that we headed to eat some lunch at Tatanka Take-Out, which has bison meat burgers and vegetarian food too, believe it or not. It wasn't that great actually, so we probably won't be going back. At least it was on the way to Point Defiance Park. The weather was beautiful, completely clear and highs in the mid-70s. We parked inside the park and hiked a solid 3-5 miles around the perimeter of the park, stopping at a couple of scenic viewpoints. We could see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Gig Harbor, and Vashon Island.

I saw they had a rose garden on the park map, so we decided to check it out. We were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived and saw several dozen rose bushes all blooming! They must be blooming late since we had a cold spring. They were very beautiful, all the pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges. We spent almost an hour at the rose garden and then headed to dinner.

We stopped at a place called The Rock: Wood Fired Pizza and Spirits, where we got a 12" pepperoni and pineapple pizza. We also got the beer sampler and the apple crisp with ice cream dessert to share. I don't like beer much at all usually, but a couple were actually not too bad. The pizza was really good and the atmosphere was neat, with all kinds of rock and roll memorabilia around. After dinner we took the streetcar through downtown, which was pretty dead, so we went back to the car and drove home. Overall it was a good day.

Here are some pictures from my parents' and Uncle's visit to Seattle a few weeks ago. We didn't take that many pictures because we've been to most of the places we went to before. Troy took several at Fort Casey and I took a few at the aquarium.

Here's a video of the tufted puffin at the aquarium:

Tufted Puffin on Vimeo.

Troy had to work on Monday, but I took the day off. I picked everyone up from the hotel and we went to the Seattle Aquarium for a couple of hours. I'd never been there, so it was nice to see what all they had. Near the entrance we saw a huge water tank with a suited diver inside feeding the fish, which was pretty cool. The aquarium focuses on the northern Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound, but they also had recently added some information about the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. That was probably the most interesting part for me. We also saw a tufted puffin going crazy flapping and splashing his wings in the water and some sea otters being fed.

We tried to go to Paseo for lunch, but apparently they're closed on Monday, which was unfortunate because they have the best sandwich I've ever had there and I wanted everyone to try it. Instead of went to Ezell's, which serves fried chicken that Oprah Winfrey says is her favorite. The chicken was moist and flavorful, the sides were decent, and the rolls were yummy.

After lunch we decided to walk off some calories at Seward Park. The weather was really nice and we all enjoyed walking a couple miles around the perimeter of the park.

Then we drove down to Pike Place market to pick up some souvenirs. Troy met us there after he got off work and we went to eat dinner at Laredos. Troy and I shared the fajitas and nachos. It's definitely the best Tex-Mex we've had so far in Seattle.

After dinner we took a ferry boat ride to Bainbridge and back. Mount Rainier was finally showing itself and we could see it pretty well from the boat. We went to Kerry Park as the sun was setting to end the last full day of the visit.

Both Troy and I had to work Tuesday, but I was able to take an early lunch and meet my parents and Uncle at the Westlake Center. I was able to chat with them a few more minutes and then showed them where to take the Link light rail to the airport. Unfortunately their flight out was delayed due to electrical problems on the plane. They eventually made it home at about 1:00 in the morning after a connecting flight in Denver.

We had a good time visiting with them and wish it could have been longer. Hopefully they'll be able to come back soon.