I moved to this wonderful state quite some time ago, in April 2009. The journey from April to today has been curvy and full of surprises but oh, how much I am alive! People say that everything happens for a reason. I believe it is true.
Happiness truly comes from small things. It is a smile on someone’s face, sound of snow crunching under running shoes or blue moon on New Year’s eve.
I am home. In Alaska.

One of the pics looked like below – so it was time to get a new, small Canon for my leisure shootings…. 

Not exactly what I was hoping for ....

We have been lucky here in Seattle area this weekend – the weather has been awesome, sunny and warm. I have spent most of my weekend outside; riding my mountain bike yesterday and hiking Noble Knob Trail near Mt Rainier today. 

Noble Knob is one of the popular trails in the state, and also one of the rare trails nearby that I hadn’t hiked before. I try to avoid these busy routes hence this spot has been forever on the to-do list. I had a great plan to make it to the trail head before the sunrise but as you can probably guess, both Tassu and I slept in.

However, we made it there somewhat early in the morning, and were the first hikers of the day. The forest road up to the trailhead was a real experience again. This time the sign warned about the road’s unsuitability for trailers and inexperienced mountain drivers. It was a rough ride for small Audi but we made it – no visible fluid leaks, no new scratches. 

Views from the trail were spectacular. Although I have been on the summit of Mt Rainier so many times, seeing it always gets me fascinated and I can’t help myself but start to plan a new climb up to the tallest mountain in Washington. Probably will be there again in a few weeks although Rainier has been classified as the most dangerous mountain in North America.

The August issue of Backpacker magazine listed most dangerous or challenging outdoors experiences in the USA, including the dangers of Rainier. Nothing surprising in the article though – Rainier is a tall mountain, and accessible for number of wanna-be climbers who are not prepared for killer storms, crevasses, avalanches and the elevation gain, nor have needed skills or stamina to climb such a mountain. 
Rainier looks calm and friendly – if a mountain can look friendly – but up there, there is a real wilderness and nature’s laws apply.

 
Tassu and I made it up to the Noble Knob somewhat quickly, in less than a couple of hours, even though we stopped several times to take pictures and Tassu tried to catch chipmunks. On our way up we probably saw more chipmunks in a couple of hours than we have seen in the whole summer.

Tassu also showed today how smart he can be. On our way down, we started to meet other hikers as well as some mountain bikers. I was very proud of my little beagle who stepped aside when told him to do so, and let people and other dogs pass us. Similarly, he also seems to know words up, down, right and left. Sometimes I am very surprised how many things he actually can do. When he wants.

I can only hope that everybody tried to train their four-legged, furry friends at least to know the basics of social behavior. Most of the time we meet nice, well-behaving dogs and their owners on trails. Today the only not-so-nice surprise was a mountain biker with his big retriever. The dog didn’t know a whole lot about the discipline but was running here and there. Also Tassu and I got scared when this pony-size dog rushed from the bushes towards us… Luckily no accidents nor dog fights. It was another perfect day in paradise.

Some pictures below.

Nina & Tassu

I can’t stop loving this place!

This rainy morning made me feel a bit homey – right now I am kinda excited about the new season. But will definitely hate the rain when it seriously hits my lovely Pacific Northwest.

I was practising soccer this afternoon and decided to grab an ice coffee at Starbucks. Ice coffee is a good way to keep believing in continuing summer!

However, Starbucks kindly brought me back to the reality: Pumpkin Cheesecake! Pumpkin cheesecake is the seasonal specialty, usually available only in the fall so this must be it…. Summer is officially over.

Welcome chilly weather, red, yellow&brown leaves, rain and crisp mornings!
Better to start to look for my cool weather and rain gear. And start to plan a trip to somewhere sunny&warm!

I should take my mountain bike out still this morning though. 

My friends from Nevada came to town last night, and we had a great time, really enjoyed the dinner. Today we will see the Shrek musical in the 5th Avenue Theater. The musical has been the topic of discussions here in Seattle, so my expectations are somewhat high. 

It was somewhat chilly last night when we walked back to my friends’ hotel, definitely started to feel like the fall is coming. This morning, when Tassu and I went out for a quick walk, I saw the first leaves that have started to turn lightly yellowish. And in addition to everything, Sports Authority started the skiing gear sale – trying to get rid of the 2008 models before filling the shelves with new 2009 gear. 

Four seasons are a great thing but I would still hope to be able to enjoy the sunshine and not-so-rainy weather for a little bit longer!

Finally I am trying to post updates on my workout schedules to the blog, just to give you an idea what I am doing training-wise. In general, my guiding principle for work outs is variety – I can’t even think about sticking with the one sports forever, nor spending hours a day at the gym. The gym workout is more like a way to gain strength for various other activities that  I like to do than just a way to get bigger.

Anyways, right now my gym workout is pretty much like this:

After the warm up, three sets of

30 x push ups

40 x squats

400 m run

50 x ab crunches

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another three sets of

12 x dumbbell biceps curl

walking lunges

12 x lat pull down

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6 min run sprints (occasionally on a bike); usually 45s sprint, 15s recovery

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and the last set, three times again:

50 x ab crunches

40 x step ups (noth sides) on knee high level, with or without weights; depends on a day

40 x reverse a crunches

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Today will be a gym day, tomorrow an easy gym day with stretching and abs workout.

I hardly can wait to get back home and see my toys again!

And no major damages from Friday on my roadbike as you can see!