So we did this instead

What I really wanted to do was glide gently along Lake Chelan in a kayak, stopping every so often to stick my face and toes toward the warming sun. What I didn’t consider is that at the end of April, the glacier-fed lake is a goosebump-inducing 48 degrees, and they don’t allow us silly city folk to rent kayaks because we’ll probably fall out of them and they don’t want our frozen bodies polluting their crystal clear waters.

The other thing I really wanted to do was play miniature golf. Because vacations are the only time it's acceptable for a grown-ass woman to putt a golf ball around the miniature moat of a miniature castle without any children in tow. But, again, what I didn’t consider is that miniature golf course operators don’t stay open in the off-season for those few random weekenders who think they’re being clever and avoiding the summer crowds by vacationing in April.

So we did this instead:

That sounds rather sinister, wouldn't ya say?

We called this cloud "The Flying Spaghetti Monster".

Tumbleweeds are hilarious... to me.

Our pretty hike in the Beebe Springs Natural Reserve turned my frown upside down. Happy, sweaty and a smidge sunburnt, we ended our day with a little tennis and a sunset walk. I guess we'll just have to come back for the kayaking and miniature golf.

Get in the car and go

On Saturday we packed up Betty (my Toyota), set out three gargantuan bowls of cat food for our loud-mouthed, furry-faced roommate, and hit the road. To pass the time on the 3 1/2 hour drive, I took photos through the car windows, shooting around the bug guts and pollen residue smeared on the glass. Two passes (Snoqualmie and Blewett) and about 5 different weather systems later, we landed at Lake Chelan. 

Snoqualmie Pass treated us to a goopy mix of snow, rain, snow mixed with rain, and rain mixed with snow.

My favorite part of heading East is watching the clouds part, the horizon open up, and Betty's temperature gauge go up, up, up.

Lake Entiat

I'm a bit of a cloud fancier. 

Because the weather gods think they're funny, we ended up in Chelan the way we started in Seattle: in the rain.

On the bright side, our B&B turned out slightly better than expected. Their reviews were questionable, and on their website the best room, the "Romance Room", looked like this:

Apparently this photo doesn't do justice to the lace canopy that each reviewer felt compelled to mention in a less than positive way. However, lucky us, we were the very first to enjoy the new and improved MODERN "Romance Room". The proprietress practically squealed with delight showing it to us. The room smelled like fresh paint, the tags were still dangling from the lamps and throw blanket, and the sheets had deep creases from the packaging they had just been pulled from, but at least we knew everything was fresh and clean.

Randomness: February

On weekends my camera becomes an extension of my face. 

I carry it with me everywhere hoping to get that One Great Shot. 

The One that I'll post on flickr. 

The One Great Shot out of hundreds. 

Hundreds that aren't "good enough", but that I love anyway because they captured a moment. 

A moment I shared with a tree, a flower, a view. 

Or a moment when I was observing someone else's moment.

Here are some of those recent moments.