Over the river and through the woods...

A few weekends ago  Gabe and I went on a short trip to Washington to visit his grandma and family.  We happened to arrive just in time to see the tulips in the Skagit Valley in full bloom.  We spent Saturday wandering through the fields and then went up Mount Erie to look down upon the valley.  It was a beautiful sight!  I didn't bring my camera with, so you can thank Gabe's father and sister, Dave and Tori for the photos.

Row after row of blooming tulips!

 

Dave and Leanne

Gabe and his parents

Cute little kid in the tulip fields

Kites being flown near the tulip fields

Gabe and I overlooking the Skagit Valley from Mount Erie

Gabe and his great aunt Esther

One Beautiful Sunday

This Sunday, Gabe and I went to watch a friend run a marathon and then attended a beautiful wedding.  Many of us at Bighorn went to cheer on Leanna, a Bighorn staff, as she ran her first marathon.  She ran the Missoula marathon in three hours and forty-eight minutes, just shy of the Boston qualifying time.  She looked exhausted from the race, but she was still smiling at the end!

From there a crew of us headed to Pullman, WA for Dustin and Beth's wedding.  During my year of Explore, Beth was my intern and Dustin was Gabe's intern.  We were surrounded by gardens of flowers, and they were even a few cats that added to the serene beauty of the sunny, warm day.  It was so wonderful to see Dustin and Beth finally get married!  From Pullman, we headed to Moscow, ID, where they had their reception.  There we dined, danced, and celebrated their union with many friends.  And, after a long, beautiful Sunday, we headed for home and arrived early this morning to begin work.

I sadly forgot to bring my camera along for our entire trip.  But, my good friend Timo Towne took pictures of the wedding.  Through his photography, I can share a bit of our day!

Beth and her dad

Praying over Beth and Dustin

Excited for the start of the wedding

Here is the precious flower girl

Some of the Bighorn/Prairie people at the wedding!

Gabe and Aaron being silly

First dance

Backpacking along Olympic National Forest Coastline

Following Graduation in April, Gabe and I headed to the Portland area. After a few days, we left with his sister Tori to go on a backpacking trip along the Olympic National Forest Coastline. The hike itself was not extremely rigorous, just twenty or so miles in five days. Most of the mileage was along the beach. We had to learn to read tide charts, in order to make the low tide crossings along the trail. Our backpack trip was relaxing aside from a few pesky animals that woke us in the middle of the night. One of the most memorable nights was the last one. We set up camp on a two hundred foot bluff in the rainforest overlooking the ocean. That night a huge storm blew in and all night long I was certain that our little blue tarp would blow away from all the wind and torrential downpour. There is something awing about standing in a rainforest with everything decaying...and yet there is tons of life teeming!