The Summit- Snoqualmie Ski Resort, Washington

The Summit- Snoqualmie Ski Resort

 Chair Lifts

Restaurant and the Rental Shop

My daughter and her boyfriend going to snowboard

 My son and his friend

The Summit Snoqualmie Ski Resort

Another shot of the chair lifts going to the top

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I finally posted after few months of absence.  Last December 29, 2012 we went snowboarding, I meant them....... my children and their friends but this time I didn't snowboard, I was just a photographer hehehe. My right shoulder is still sore due to tendonitis (or maybe from snowboarding last year hehehe) and tried to avoid to get it worse so I opted not to snowboard this time.

Snoqualmie probably the closest ski resort from home, around 70 mile and it takes 1 hour and 20 minutes depending on the traffic.

Mt. Rainier with Lenticular Cloud

Lenticular Cloud on Mt. Rainier taken 2 weeks ago

Two weeks ago while I was dropping off my son at his school I saw this lenticular cloud on top of Mt. Rainier, the sun just started to rise at the back of the mountain that made it yellow on the background. I usually see this type of cloud on top of Mt. Rainier but I never had the chance to take a picture of it. It disappears fast maybe due to the wind is pushing the clouds away from the mountain. So that time, when I went home I immediately grabbed my camera found a nice spot along our neighborhood area and took this picture. But the view was not that good as when I saw it earlier but at least I still had the chance to take this shot and after few minutes (as soon as I came home) the thick fog with sun rays covered the view of Mt. Rainier. I guess I was lucky that time ;-)

Lenticular clouds are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, usually perpendicular to the wind direction. Due to their shape, they almost look like an UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects).

Our neighborhood with Mt Rainier view taken yesterday

Yesterday, I saw again the nice clouds forming around Mt. Rainier but I didn't have my camera with me. I just took a picture after an hour but the clouds were not as beautiful compared to what I saw an hour earlier. Lesson learned: I should always bring my camera whenever and wherever I go.

This was taken last summer, August 2011 on our way to Mt. Rainier's Paradise Resort

Last August was our second time to go to Mt. Rainier National Park, and the weather that time was so clear and bright. We brought our friends who visited us from California. It's amazing to see the Mt. Rainier closer than I would imagine. This snow-capped mountain really amaze me every time I see it. The pictures below were all taken at the same day.

Taken at Mt. Rainier National Park's scenic view point last August

Another close up shot of snow-capped Mt. Rainier during summer

Taken last August, even if it's summer there's still some snow at Mt. Rainier National Park's area and the mountain itself

The kids really enjoyed the stay at the picnic area where they were throwing snow balls, sledding and sliding on the snow. We were not ready of the cold weather, we ended up having wet shoes and the kids with wet pants ;-)

By the way, we didn't get the chance to park and see Paradise Resort Visitor's Center it was jam packed with tourists and we could not find a parking spot, we were expecting that because it was summer and the weather was nice and clear to see and enjoy Mt. Rainier. We just opted to park just right after the Visitor's center down the hill where we found a small falls where we took some pictures.

Puyallup Fair, Washington

Puyallup Fair entrance gate

Line to order the "elephant ears"

elephant ear

The barn

My son playing at the arcade and won a big stuffed animal

The roller coaster ride

My daughter, son and their friends at the giant slide

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Puyallup Fair is held annually in Puyallup, Washington and it's the largest attraction in the state. We were here at the fair last month, Sept. 19 but I didn't have time to post it on time (as usual hehehe).

It's my first time to try and eat the famous "elephant ears" I was so curious about what it's made of from and found out it's just a fried dough. We ordered the cinnamon flavor, my son almost finished the whole "ear" hehehe. I liked it, though it's a lot of calories hehehe. Maybe it was called an elephant ear because its shape is similar to elephant's ear (duh! lol). A lot of the foods at the fair are a bit expensive even the bottled water was $3. The corn was $5 (!!!) and the elephant ear was $6. I didn't bother to buy the scones because the line was long.

My son enjoyed the rides and he was so lucky to win the big prize from the game arcade, the humongous stuffed animal (it was the tiger) but I was the one who was carrying that stuff the whole time we were there. And I was so embarrassed, most of the people were staring at me and one even asked how did I win that prize. I wish that time that I just sold it to her, the girl who asked me about the tiger, so I don't have to carry that while my son, my daughter and her friends were enjoying the rides while me was sitting on a bench with that huge tiger on my lap. Too bad I didn't have the chance to get on to any rides, well obviously I have to carry that.....hmmmp......stuffed animal, hehehe. It was so heavy!

We stayed at the fair for 5 hours, until it closed around 10pm, it was only 20 minutes away from our house anyway.

It's a great experience to be at the fair, a new lifestyle here in Washington.

Space Needle, Seattle, Washington

Space Needle, Seattle Washington

Taken inside our car while our sunroof was open

Taken at the Observation Deck overlooking Seattle

Another view from the top

This was taken when we were heading to Space Needle, I was able to take a picture of the bird flying above us

Taken when we were in the elevator going down from the observatory deck, overlooking the Pacific Science Center




The base of the Space Needle Tower




Christmas Ball with Space Needle on the background


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Space Needle is a landmark and symbol of Seattle, Washington. It is a tower with 605ft in height (184m). It has an observation deck at 520ft (160m) which is pretty much shorter compared to Tokyo Tower which has an observation deck at 820ft (250m) .... we've been there to 2 years ago. Actually Tokyo tower is 1091ft (332.5m) when measured from the base to its peak.

The pictures I've posted here were taken last December 2010, my first time to see Space Needle. It took me 3 months to post these hehehe. Well, as usual I've been busy lately.

It was a bit windy and cloudy that day, so we didn't have the chance to see the view of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker which they say we can view them from the deck.

It took us only 43 seconds to go to observation deck through the elevator, with the speed of 10mph.

Few years ago, I was so excited and curious to see Space Needle but since we've been to Tokyo Tower and Roppongi Hills Mori Tower (both in Tokyo, Japan) you won't get the feeling of excitement anymore, Space Needle is pretty much shorter compared to them. My first reaction when I stepped on the observation deck was, "that's it??" hehehe

By the way, I pray for the safety of all the people in Japan who are very much devastated by the disasters they had last March 10, the earthquake and tsunami plus the nuclear plant explosion. I felt sad and very much affected when I saw the news, Japan has been a part of our military life. I have a lot of friends back there in Misawa. I hope they are ok now. We feel lucky that we moved out early from Japan to Washington although sometimes I miss Japan (but not the every week earthquake hehehe).

Mount Rainier View

Mt. Rainier view taken last week when it was sunny day

Mt. Rainier View- I've never been to Mount Rainer National Park yet since we moved in Washington last October but I'm always amaze when I see the Mt. Rainier view from where we live especially we seldom see it during winter and cloudy days. It looks so close to us but yet so far ;-)


This is our backyard, I just recently found out (2 weeks ago) that behind the trees is the view of Mount Rainier, since we hardly can see clear skies here we didn't notice that we have at least a view of Mt. Rainier ;-) How I wish I could cut those trees and enjoy the view hehehe

According to wikipedia:

Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle, United States. It is the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 feet (4,392 m). Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could potentially produce massive lahars that would threaten the whole Puyallup River valley.

Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,211 feet (4,027 m), greater than that of K2 (13,189 feet (4,020 m)). On clear days it dominates the southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain." On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Victoria, British Columbia.

Crystal Mountain Resort, Washington

What a breathtaking view!

The parking lot

My daughter, her friend and my son seating on a chair lift going up the hill, I wish I was there too

bye bye

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Crystal Mountain Ski Resort

Happy New Year Everyone! Sorry for this late post, I've been busy with unpacking our stuff in our new house and with the recent holidays activities.

So, I posted our first road trip in Washington, it was in Dec. 27, 2010 we went to Crystal Mountain Resort to go snowboarding. I didn't get to snow board this time but I will ;-) once we go back to that lovely place (I think I'm missing Misawa, Japan now and I really need to play in the snow hehehe).

Crystal Mountain is the largest ski resort in Washington state, it is located in the Mount Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest. It's about an hour and a half drive from our house.

The chair lift fees:

adult (18-69)- $65
senior(70+)- $40 (wow, their lucky if they can still ski or snowboard hehehe)
youth- (11-17)- $60
child- (0-10)- free

We are scheduled to go back there at the end of this month, so excited to snowboard again. Yipee!