Minotaur Lake

On Saturday we went on a road trip with Matt and Akiko and hiked/backpacked up to Minotaur Lake and Labyrinth Mountain. Before heading out there on Saturday I read this from an article that I found online "The only sacrifice Minotaur demands is the patience to find the trailhead and the energy required to hike up the steep trail". Boy is that the truth!

What should have been a 2 hour drive, ended up being almost a 4 hour drive. Driving on forest gravel roads with our fancy rental car, it took us a while to find the actual trailhead. Once we did, I didnt think I realized how difficult the hike would be. The first 1.25 mile of the hike was straight uphill - grabbing onto trees for support. Finally, we hit a meadow with wild blueberries everywhere! We ended up picking as many as we could, which worked out well because we used them during the Happy Hour later that night at the campsite. We added the blueberries to the vodka and it worked out well. As always, Happy Hour got a little out of control and it didnt even matter since we were the only campers on the mountain. Amazing! What a beautiful place.

We left on Sunday morning and the hike was even harder on the way down. I can't even tell you how sore we are today. What a great experience and exactly what we needed after the week we've had.

I forgot my camera, so I have to borrow pictures of the hike from others on Flickr.

Robbers Are NOT Welcome Here.

Our house got robbed this week. Nothing exteme, nobody was hurt. It's been slow on the blog because we've been dealing with this hassle. The great news is that situations like these have a way of bringing communities together and neighbors more aware of what is going on around them. We had several neighbors stop by asking us if we need anything, sharing stories, and just letting us know that they were available to help. We also reached out to our local neighborhood news blog to other neighbors are aware of what happened.

Some funny man decided it would be a good idea to steal the car and drive it through the garage. Here is a picture:

New Bike Pictures

Two weeks ago I got a new (used) bike! I am SO excited about it. I love the bike and it is such a huge upgrade from my previous bike. I've been riding it for training, but I love to get out on the weekends with Rob too. On Saturday we met our friends, Sarah and Jeff, in Redmond to ride the trail up to Woodinville to eat lunch at the Red Hook Brewery. Then this morning, we rode over to check out the Danskin. I can't wait to get some more miles in on this bike - it is such a dream to ride.

Seattle Danskin!

This morning was the Seattle Danskin, which is the largest all women's sprint triathlon in the country. Even though participating is incredibly moving, I opted not to do the Danskin this year, since it's my first year of tri-ing, I thought I would just wait the Danskin out till next year. I heard it's brutal with close to 5,000 women competing. I stumbled on this story from Jayda Evans from the Seattle Times, which describes her experience training for her Danskin and is rather similar to mine as well as all the girls I've been training with. The training has been such an accomplishment and surprisingly fun and addicting!

Rob and I got up at 7am to ride our bikes down to Genesee Park to check it out. We watched as waves and waves of women zoomed by on their bikes. Some very experiences and others who could have been on the bike for the first time this summer. I was suddenly really sad I didn't sign up too! :(
On the way home, we stopped by Miaposto for some coffee and a breakfast pizza.

Does the rain have you down?

(typos now corrected by rob)

It's been raining here for the last week. It's Seattle in the summer! It is NOT supposed to rain. Because of this rain it's been hard to get outside and easy to hang on the couch and listen to the Mariners games.

Despite the rain though, I was able to find a new bike. I am SO excited. It's a Specialized Allez Triple Road Bike, with aluminum frame and carbon fork (aka. really light). I have taken it on 3 rides now and I can't believe how my speed has improved. What a treat it is to ride this bike. This weekend we are meeting up with some friends to ride all the way to Red Hook Brewery so it should be fun. I'll get some pictured posted soon.

On a more happy (hour) note. Rob and I tried a new restaurant last night. It's called Maximilien Restaurant but located right in the heart of Pike Place Market. It's a pretty fancy French Restaurant with a killer happy hour and great views. I didn't have my camera so we had to use Rob's phone for this picture (disclaimer: I respectfully dislike it when people take pictures with their phone, including myself when I sink that low). Anyway Great Food + Great View + Great Prices = Happy Giffs.

Unfortunatly, that's all I have for now!

Seafair!

Rob and I rode our bikes down to watch the Blue Angels at Seward Park today. On the way home we stopped by the Flying Squirrel for beer and a pizza. Here are some photos from the air show. I had some major problems with the lighting of these shots and my camera, so I am not thrilled with how they turned out but I guess they will have to do for this year. See you in 2010 Blue Angels! You can see all my photos on Flickr.

Luna Womens Triathlon

Friday night Rob and I headed down to Portland for the night. We scored a room at the RiverPlace Hotel in Portland (4 stars). If you are interested in how I did that, let me know. I consider myself an avid Priceline user, but a new technique took my skills up a level. We ended up spending $65/night on Friday. We've stayed there before and paid $105 in the past.

For some reason we were upgraded to a suite, which was great... except that the Bite of Portland was going on at the pak next door and the "upgrade"was right above the Band. Luckily it ended at about 11pm, which was good since I needed to get up early for the Luna Women's Triathlon down at Blue Lake Park.

We got up at 5:50am and headed over to the park to check in for the race. The water temperature was 76 degrees, which is much too hot for wetsuit, but I can't swim without my wetsuit! This was my first full triathlon with the .5 mile swim and it was easier than I expected. And by easier I mean... I was still slow, but at no point did I want to bail. I think the Seafair swim really helped my nerves.

Anyway, Five of us competed in the race this morning. It was so much fun! Everyone did great and we have all come so far with our training. On the way home Rob and I had breakfast at Genie's in Portland. YUMMO! That place is fantastic, especially the Bloody Marys!

Pictures Below