Over the past few weeks Catherine and I have had our house full of friends and family, most of whom were seeing Seattle for the first time. We experienced the full scope of weather, from pouring rain to clear blue skies, but some visitors were more lucky than others-it does in fact rain more often in Seattle than in the East Coast.

As Spring has taken over the PNW I haven’t been skiing much, though there’s still plenty of snow. Luckily there’s still plenty of time left for that. Instead we’ve been hiking, climbing, and more recently visiting beaches and surfing.  Let’s start at the beginning.

I peak-bagged Mount Si along with many other Seattleites, some of whom were testing their overnight gear. It was shortly after Sweeney’s visit, and a great start to the hiking season. The view from the Haystack summit had a lot more solitude and beauty than I was expecting, especially with a crystal clear look at the always present Mt. Rainier. I’d certainly do the hike again on a clear day and see if I can beat my time of just over 3 hours round-trip.

Catherine and I visited Leavenworth and stretched our legs exploring, biking, and hiking. We checked out Lake Wenatchee and rode along it, then hiked in to a smaller lake. We also enjoyed lots of Bavarian style food and beers.

Catherine’s parents visited and we gave them a tour, first around Washington, and then on a short trip down to Ecola State Park and Cannon beach. They caught some great weather, but we assured them that it had rained every day the week before. I explored some new areas at Ecola on a quick trail run to the hiker only camping shelters.

We also spent some time at Cape Disappointment, ‘discovered’ in 1788 and I believe the termination point for the Lewis and Clark expedition. All too soon, we were on our way back to Seattle.  It lies just on the northern bank of the Columbia river, across from Astoria.

Not actually at Cape Disappointment, this was the wreck of the Peter Iredale, due west of Astoria.

Just after they left, my sister Beth arrived. We did a ton of hikes and walks with her, and pretty much tread everywhere without sustained hiking on snow. Next time we’ll do some self arrest practice so we can venture further together. After a quick trip to the Issaquah Alps, we got into some real hiking. First we hiked Goat Lake, a moderate but reasonably long trip to a gorgeous glacial lake, with snow still sitting above. On the way home we detoured up to Big Four Ice Caves, which still need to melt a fair amount for the ‘cave’ to be visible, but the area was impressive nonetheless.

Next we went to Deception Pass and toured Whidbey Island. Deception Pass has a lot of variety for being in the Puget Sound and always has something new to check out. It’s a great combo of beaches, forests, and views.

On Beth’s last day we hiked up to Lake Serene on the shoulder of Mt. Index, and found a foggy landscape with a nearly frozen lake. The Bridal Veil falls, and others on the way were impressive cascades which threw a lot of spray towards our camera lenses.

On the heels on Beth’s visit, our friend Dylan moved out here to work with Catherine, which has lead to a whole new set of adventures. We visited Westport, camped out and surfed. We were so busy surfing, in fact, we didn’t take any photos of it.

We’re focused on climbing a bit more recently in-lieu of our recent trip to CA to visit our friend David.  We’ve got some great photos and footage of bouldering which I’m still editing.