Summer finally comes to Seattle

Temperatures peaked at 91 degrees today at Sea-Tac Airport, just shy of a record (93 degrees) set in 1987. It looks like summer has finally arrived in Seattle and may I say it's about time - those tank tops and shorts I didn't have much use for last year can finally come out of the closet!

To celebrate the nice weather and remind ourselves why we had move to the Pacific Northwest, yesterday we decided to go for a hike up Mt. Si. The trail climbs 3,200 ft in about 4 miles, and goes as far as the summit ridge at the base of the Haystack (the summit), which we decided not to try to scale. Kiki was amazing and walked all the way up and almost the entire way back. We found many favorite spots along the trail, but Snag Flats (a plateau where one can recover from the steady uphill climb) and a short creek side trail right before it (where on the way down one can dip tired feet into icy-cold mountain creek) were among the best. Of course, the 360-degree view from the top is spectacular - we could just barely make out Seattle skyline, against the always spectacular Olympic Mountains, on the horizon.