Juddmansee.com

We’re going to try to update the blog as we go along so we’re not overwhelmed by one tremendously long post at the end of our trip. Right now it’s just after noon PDT on Monday and we’ve managed to free some time to write our first update. This is Brian writing, even though I’m logged in as Su from her computer.

We left from Boston on 9am on Saturday on JetBlue. Other than the short layover at JFK (ugh what a stinking pit of an airport) the flight out to Seattle was very pleasant. This is the first time I’ve flown JetBlue and I’ve heard good things about them, all of which are apparently true. We landed in Seattle about 3pm local time, got our rental car, and drive to our first stop visiting Isaac, Ashly, Hannah, and Eli Sheldon. We had a tasty dinner and sat and talked for several hours catching up on life. We finally crashed about 10:30 pm (1:30 Boston time). The next day we had breakfast, said goodbye to Ashly who had a training session planned for her upcoming triathlon, and headed to Rattlesnake Ridge with Isaac and the kids.

Rattlesnake Ridge is only 45 minutes from Seattle and is a nice 1 hour climb to a ridge overlooking Rattlesnake Lake, Mt. Si, and the mountains up toward Snoqualmie pass. The first photo shows Mt. Rainier from the I-90 bridge on the drive to the hike. I haven’t been to Seattle in approximately 10 years and I’d forgotten how absolutely huge Mt. Rainier is. The other photos show the ridge we hiked up, the Sheldons at the top, Rattlesnake Lake as viewed from the ridge, and Su and I with Mt. Si in the background.

After we got back to the city we said goodbye to the Sheldons and did the hour drive up to La Conner, Washington, where Su is attending her training sessions. We’re staying at the Channel Lodge which is a lovely little lodge right on the water with an awesome view of the Rainbow Bridge from our room.

After a nice dinner we went to bed early, woke up and ran, and attended our first session. Now it’s lunchtime and off to Mt. Baker later this afternoon.