An Ode to Rain, and Pictures of Snow

I love the sound of the rain. When it patters against the windows in a gust of wind, and each droplet slides down to tumble off the sash.

It was raining hard last night, with rivers running along the sidewalks, and people running with their heads bowed down. I loved it. Rain is my favorite type of weather.

I've written bad poetry about it :)

But rain is also hard to take a picture of. So here's some snow from a hike I took recently.

My brother invited me along on a hike with a few friends, and we went up the Mt. Washington trail near Mt. Baker, just off exit 41. That trail is a killer. It is practically straight up a mountain. But once we got to the snow about a third the way up, it was totally worth it. I've never hiked in snow before, and after this, I would totally do it again. It was so satisfying to crunch along in the snow, and walk among the trees with blankets of snow on their branches. Along the rocks there were curtains of icicles. We crossed a few streams cutting through the snow, its water glimmering in the sunlight. (But don't get me wrong, it was cold. Very, very, why-didn't-I-wear-gloves cold).

I was recovering from a cold, so the whole experience was a bit muddled with the it's-a-bit-hard-to-breathe-feeling of pressure in my head. But it was still absolutely magical. 

We had lunch at this part where the trail leveled off (finally) into a snow meadow, and this is where I took a few pictures. Just a few, though because it was cold. So. Cold.

Hope everyone is staying warm!

Lonely bench on a day of love

For Valentine's Day, The Boyfriend and I walked around the arboretum by our university. It was a nice walk (he was kind of cold, so he will probably say otherwise, haha). He set a limit on the number of photos I could take, so most of my photos are of us/him (hey, it's Valentine's Day, and he's very attractive...I can't help it.). But here's one that's not him, though the content is perhaps a bit ironic given the day's theme.

The lonely bench overlooking the hillside.

The weather was a bit wonky (um, Seattle, anyone?) where there was a blanket of clouds with the sun shining at the same time. That's what is causing the light playing over the bench and the grass. 

Have a wonderful day!

Snow!

So. Funny story. 

My friend sent me a picture of the snow at her college's campus (she lives in another city), and I was saying (read: complaining) about how it is supposed to snow here and yet the weather has only got the cold-as-balls part down. Guess what she replied? Look outside. Oh.

Yep. It's snowing outside.

I've been studying in my room, ensconced with my five weeks of class notes and a stack of flashcards. And apparently oblivious to the fluffy white stuff  falling from the sky. And sticking. Apparently I've been studying too hard.

But nevertheless, I abandoned my studies for a few hours to make dinner and take some pictures (not necessarily in that order. And yes, hours, plural. What can I say, I'm a slow eater...). Here are a few.

I really like the composition of this picture, but I'm not too fond of the yellow-tinge from the street lights. (Yellow snow is never good. Mantra for every snow camping trip.)

I over-exposed this one a bit, but I kind of like how it turned out. The blurry light adds an ethereal glow that adds to the magical feeling of snow everywhere. And as you can see, there was almost no one out here. And  you know it's a college campus because that student is jay-walking. :)

This is the Elm tree my dorm is named after. It is shadowed from the lights, so there wasn't much I could do about lighting. But the ashen-white look of some of the branches reminds me of the tree on Minas Tirith (Lord of the Rings fans anyone? No? Okay.).

It's too bad I couldn't get the whole tree in the frame (I tried. I really did) but I do like the background. It keeps it from being too dreary (as you can see in the top, the grey sky).

Have a safe night! Let's all hope the city doesn't go crazy tomorrow morning. We're notorious for losing our minds with just a hint of snow. It's hilariously embarrassing.

Summer: Leavenworth

Hello! It is near freezing here, and supposed to snow on Saturday. But heck, what better time to look back at summer? I love winter, all bundled up by the fire with tea, but sometimes summer sounds really good. Like right now when my dorm room refuses to budge above 66.5 degrees F. Boo.

I found these lovely pictures from when I went to Leavenworth last summer. When I was little (and gas was cheaper), my family would hop into the car for an impromptu drive, and often find ourselves 3 hours away, in Leavenworth. It is a quaint little Bavarian village, known for its friendly atmosphere, trails in the summer, and skiing in the winter. 

I had never been to Leavenworth during the summer (for some unknown reason, since summertime is by far the warmest and the prettiest...)... and this was a wonderful opportunity. Usually my family's trips to Leavenworth are more along the lines of "passing through Leavenworth" or "dinner in Leavenworth," so this was the first time we were here to actually spend some time exploring it. I looked up trails to possibly hike, and found events that were in town during our stay.

In the end, we went on three hikes, two with the whole family, and one with just my brother and I. We also went to an outdoor play, which was absolutely beautiful, though I don't have any pictures from it, unfortunately.

The first hike was around Blackbird Lake. It was a nice family hike, but still afforded some lovely views. 

    

This was one of my favorite views (and picture) from the hike. This is the Wenatchee River, and as as you can see, the weather was beautiful. I like the dip of the mountains and the clouds leading you off into the distance in the center of the picture.

I really liked the pure-white-ness (now a valid word and description) of this flower, though unfortunately my camera seemed to lose the details in the center.

We passed these kids having some fun in the water. The boy was very enthusiastic about acting out a scene in his imagination, while his sister was a little more cautious about the water.

Our second hike was just The Brother and me. I'll be posting a separate post about that one, in an effort to keep this from being a gigantic post, and because that hike in itself was one of my favorite memories from summer.

The last hike was a short nature trail:

It was a combination of trees, a river, a plain, and mountains. Here, you can see three of the four. I thought the little cloud in the dip of the mountain made for an interesting composition. Now that I look at it, it reminds me of the Eye of Sauron. Any Lord of the Rings fans?

Hope everyone is staying warm!