Roadtrip to the Grand Coulee Dam

The Grand Coulee Dam has been on our to do list since we moved to Washington. It became of even greater interest to me when my employer was acquired by Kaiser Permanente and I learned more about one of KP's co-founders--the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser--who built the Grand Coulee Dam (and the Hoover Dam, and …

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Washington Hikes: Ebey’s Landing

A few years back we visited Fort Ebey with my parents as part of a day-long adventure on Whidbey Island. As we were exploring the area around the fort, we ended up walking along a trail that offered spectacular views over the Sound and Olympic mountain range. Ever since we’ve been saying that we should …

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Washington Hikes: Talus Loop Trail

The stars finally aligned again last weekend and we were able to head outdoors to enjoy some more trail time Saturday morning. We had a few other plans Saturday afternoon so we decided to stick with a reasonable morning hike near Snoqualmie and North Bend, which is only about an hour drive from our home. …

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Washington Tulip Festival and Fields

Among the many things I didn’t know about Washington until we moved here: Skagit County is home to a significant array of tulip and daffodil fields! The annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a major spring event each year that draws thousands of people from across the country to see the amazing fields in bloom …

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Travel 2018: Weekend Warriors

I know we're already through the first quarter of 2018, but it's taken me that long to organize our major travel plans for this year. Not that other things won't pop up along the way, but I usually like to head into a new year with a good idea of our time off/holiday schedules, important …

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Washington Hikes: Lime Kiln Trail

Although it's not Brian's preference, some weekends we opt for length over gain when it comes to selecting a hike. That was the case when we landed on exploring the Lime Kiln Trail near Granite Falls. We ended up loving this snowy, seven-mile round-trip trek along an abandoned 1800s railway bed to a historic lime …

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A Weekend in Wine Country: Jack London State Historic Park

As part of our weekend in Sonoma wine country, we wanted to enjoy the sunshine as much as the wine. The area around Sonoma is beautiful and we spent some time hiking, exploring downtown Sonoma, and of course visiting a few wineries along the way. Our second morning we slept in and then headed to Jack …

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