Visit from Bryan & Emily

so this week was the last week of family visits for the summer. we've enjoyed that almost all of our family members have made a visit to the pacific northwest to see us! all family members have individual personalities, and it has been cool to see what has transpired in each visit!

with bryan and emily's visit, we had to stop by and see the
fremont troll!

sister and brother; starcho and brub ...
respectively.


we also hit up the seattle underground tour.
the jury is still out on this one...we're not really
sure what we thought of it.

we thought it would be cool to camp out at the base of mt rainier and do a short dayhike the morning after.

we burned wood, drank beer, and made 'smores.
all had fun!

the next day we drove up to sunrise visitor center and hiked the sunrise rim loop trail. the wildflowers were explosively in blown. it gave us a good test drive of our national audubon society field guide to western wildflowers! it also gave brooke a chance to work on his depth of field technique.

Daucus carota; Wild Carrot or Queen Anne's Lace

Erigeron speciosus; Showy Daisy

happy hikers!

Lupinus polyphyllus; Blue-pod Lupine

Dugaldia hoopesii; Orange Sneezeweed or Owl Claws

andrea found a new friend: lichen.

she likens the lichen!

it was a harsh winter this year; a lot of snow at higher
elevations. so these blueberries are a little late. but
soon they will be a delicious snack for a little black bear!

Linum perenne; Wild Blue Flax or Western Blue Flax

shadow lake.

indian paintbrush. we're still looking for the specific name.

at the conclusion of our day hike we raced home for some much needed showers; for it was time for salmon and bluegrass!

if you come to visit and request seafood, you will be
taken to ivar's salmon house! and it will rock your world!

after dinner we snuck off to the tractor tavern. the tractor is a nice little dive in ballard. it's home to many-a-fine american roots, country, and bluegrass bands. we saw the infamous stringdusters. what an amazing band of musicians!

for the encore they walked out into the center of the floor
and said, "ya'll...we're going to give you some traditional
bluegrass!' the crowd cheered and they broke into three
songs with no mics and no pa system! just them, their
instruments, and a crowd of folks on the balls of their feet!
it. was. awesome.

we posed for this photo after the show, brooke walked away and a woman walked up with an armful of records, thrusted them into his hands, and asked if he'd sign them. his response was, 'um...ok. but, why?' the dumbfounded woman explained how she wanted all of the band members autographs, and 'you played the dobro.' brooke thought quickly about signing them and running, but kindly explained that he wasn't in the band. brooke turned, and a college-age kid, who seemed to be having a way too good of time stepped in and said...in his best monotonous stoner voice, 'you guys rock. amazing. i mean, you guys were, are amazing.' brooke's response, 'thanks man. we try hard to play our best for you guys.' guy who had way too much fun, 'awesome.'


monday morning was our last day with bryan and emily, as they had afternoon flight back to ohio. andrea took them to bainbridge...you know, it's not a visit to seattle without a ferry boat ride!

bryan and emily, thanks for coming to visit! come back soon!