Friday, July 27, 2012

Washington 2012

Last week, Dwight and I visited the Northwest.  It was nice to see family and some of the beautiful Washington landscapes.

We stopped by Snoqualmie Falls on our way in.  It was beautiful.

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Our second day in Washington was the highlight of the trip for me.  We met Dwight's Mom and Grandma for lunch and then we met Dwight's Sister and our Niece at the Seattle Temple.  Our Niece turned 12  the day before, so we were able to go with them into the Temple.  It was a wonderful experience.

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On Wednesday, we took a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island and drove through Poulsbo and Port Townsend.  We also visited Sequim and got a sneak peek of the lavender fields.  The lavender festival started the day after we visited.

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 We were hoping for clear weather on or visit, but things didn't look very promising.  When we awoke on Thursday, the day we planned to visit Mt. Rainier, it was very cloudy.  We decided to drive to Enumclaw to see if it would clear.  We had lunch and  then decided to head up the mountain.  I was thrilled when we rounded one of the corners and  caught a glimpse of the majestic mountain.  We hiked  to spray falls and then continued on to spray park.  We were amazed with the amount of snow still on the ground.  We got to the top of the trail (which was very hard to find with all of the snow) and encountered a thunderstorm.  It was a powerful experience to be standing in the open with a storm brewing around us.  The storm cleared and we watched a transformation  take place on the mountain.  It was beautiful to see the clouds part and the sun light up the mountain.

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On our way out, we stopped by the Seattle Seahawks training facility.  Dwight is an avid Seahawks fan and has read about the amazing facility.  We were able to look at the indoor field through the main office building.  If we had gone a week later, we would have been able to watch them train.

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

Eclipse

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This evening, for a few brief minutes, we caught a glimpse of the annular solar eclipse.  We weren't far enough south to see the moon in perfect alignment with the sun and just after the eclipse started the clouds moved in, but it was still a spectacular sight.

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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

China 2012

In March, I was able to travel to China with my Dad and my siblings.  It was an incredible and memorable trip.  Here are some of the highlights.

(click on any picture to enlarge it)

Hong Kong Temple


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Monkey Mountain 


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Hong Kong


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Beijing, China

Temple of Heaven


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Tiananmen Square

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Forbidden City

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Summer Palace


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Olympic Village


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Great Wall

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Guilin, China
Li River Boat Ride


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Yongshou, China


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