Coal Creek Trail

We don't have much time right now to go out for a whole weekend on a big hiking or camping trip but we try to steal away if we can. This time, we set out for Coal Creek Trail just outside of Bellevue. 
While you could still here the sound of the road noise on the beginning of the hike, it was a lovely scenery. We were reminded once again of what a beautiful place we live in that we can drive for 15-20 minutes outside of the city and be surrounded by lush green forests.
The creek was pretty low and not too exciting but we still enjoyed it! It was mostly downhill on the way in so it was a really relaxing stroll through the woods followed by a work out at the end. 
 
We found cute messages etched into mushrooms along the way.
 
And, while the "end" of the trail wasn't as picturesque as we are accustomed to at the end of our hikes (i.e. waterfall, lake, view...) we were still pleased to get out in the fresh air. We quickly turned away from this danger zone and went back into the forest. 
 
The trail was very very dry, so instead of being caked in mud at the end, our feet and shoes were just covered in a fine dust. Don't believe me? 
 
 We decided to drop by Costco on our way home but neglected to realize that in addition to a Mariner's game just finishing up, a Sounder's game was about to get started. So, as soon as we had just revived ourselves from traffic and city-life by getting out in the woods, we were sitting trapped in the middle of city-life again...whoops.
 
Oh, and I couldn't help but post this because every time I look at it I make those "awww, cute" noises. We walked around the park last night and came across this cutie patiently waiting for her owner to finish up playing baseball. If I ever wanted a dog, she made me want one more! But, alas, no long-term pets in our apartment and it wouldn't be fair anyway to have her locked up all day while we are off at school.
 Also, in other exciting news, last night I finished off the last two subjects for the Raven project! I am officially done collecting data! I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen, but it has. Now, the real work begins of interpreting the literally 64 GB of data I've got! I've already got the introduction, methods and part of the discussion sections of my paper written, but I have been waiting to dive into the results section until now. So, you can guess what I'll be doing for the next few weeks! In theory, I'm supposed to be all wrapped up with the project (i.e. data analyzed, paper written) by August 9th. Seeing as how I have such a mound of data to go through and that the software that I need to use to analyze it is something I've never heard of before, that might not happen, but I'm sure going to try!

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