Idaho

Has been great so far - warm, but beautiful. We took a nice hike yesterday, followed by a very refreshing swim in the Lake. Last night it rained a little, but today seems fairly sunny. We're spending the afternoon in town, running a few errands - and then tomorrow we're off for our next stop (where we doubt there will be internet, so this might be it for a while).

Par-tay!

Last night we had a little party for the good doctor. It was a rockin' time!We're leaving on vacation shortly, and we'll be gone for a while. Expect lots of pictures once we return!

mhs, PhD

Today I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation, which means I am only a few bureaucratic steps away from being an official PhD. In keeping with tradition, my professors greeted me as "Dr. mhs" after my defense, which was very strange and exciting. The defense was a challenge -- the professors asked really hard questions, but I passed.

Tonight Kate and I celebrated with sushi at our favorite sushi place, Shiro's, in Belltown (that is the same place we went the night we got engaged). Now I am very tired and relieved. If you live in the Seattle area, please try to make it to our party on Thursday!

Here is a picture of us at dinner:

New York

After our time in Detroit, I flew to New York to visit my friend Karen [Mike flew back home to work].

This was only my second time visiting New York City. I'm pretty thoroughly a western girl, such that when I lived in Boston, I never saw the real draw of New York.

I was wrong. I have erred.

I don't know about living in the city alwaysandforever [since New York city has everything but jagged peaks], but I really enjoyed it for a week - even if it was, possibly, the hottest week on record all summer.

I went to Central Park. I loved it.And I sort of wanted to rent a toy boat, but since my last foray into sailing [in college] involved me voluntarily jumping off the boat, I kept far from even the toy boats this time. Also, I didn't want to embarrass Jenny and Karen with my penchant for tourist-y activities [oooh, oooh, can we go to the top of the Empire State building next?]

I saw Times Square at night. To be fair, that's one of the things I'd actually done on my last trip, so this time I knew enough to be embarrassed to be there with a camera. So I just gave in: Since it seems that half the world lives in New York, I had a few people to visit. I spent time with Jenny, the B-hatch, and Professor Lemieux. I also had some super-nice chill time with Karen and her dog, Daisy.And I ate well: pizza, gnocchi, yummy Mexican frozen popsicles, Mexican food, bagels, etc. [Note to self: time to think about ye olde half-marathon again].

New York: I get it.

7/7/07

Last weekend we went to Michigan for Mike's cousin's wedding.

The weekend was a total whirlwind, since in addition to all the wedding events, we also squeezed in a celebration of Mike's father's birthday. Mike's dad is a frequent commenter on the blog, although he sometimes uses aliases. . . .

Here are a few birthday shots:
Next: the wedding. First, Friday, there was an out-of-town guest dinner, complete with skits/roasts.
The bride and her brother:Toasts:
Roasts:

[this is a skit showing how the bride and groom met]

Last, the lovely bride and groom [and a strangely glowing lamp - why don't I ever notice these things before I take the pictures?]

Saturday, we had a lovely brunch outside in the backyard, followed by a little jaunt to get our hair and make-up done [the gentlemen did not accompany us for this!].

Then, we headed to the wedding. The bride looked lovely, the groom looked handsome, the flowers were amazing, and we had a wonderful time!

Pete Lake

SYL and I headed for the hills yesterday. We drove up over the Cascades to the Pete Lake trailhead. First, there is an amazing amount of development going on up near Roslyn - just a few years ago Mike and I drove the Salmon La Sac road and there was nothing out there. Not so much any more.

Anyway, the trail to Pete Lake was far from the bulldozers so we were okay. The trail is actually mostly flat (no Lake Serene switchbacks, thanks very much) and through a very beautiful old growth forest. The size of the trees is really hard to capture, but here are some attempts.The trail had a fair number of stream crossings, and there was no shortage of bugs (despite bug spray, I'm a little bitten up today).

But, Pete Lake is beautiful! It was such a lovely day yesterday and we really felt like we had the place to ourselves. Perhaps the heartier hikers had ventured on to Spectacle Lake (I think there is some elevation gain associated with that!).We had a late lunch at the lake and then we went swimming. Yes, it was cold. Very.

What a fun day!