Francophile in the West

I had a lovely weekend with Kris and my roommates! Kris made it back to Seattle from his work trip late on Thursday, and on Friday evening, we drove up to Bellingham to spend a day with his brother and his girlfriend. After a chill evening catching up and then sleeping in on Saturday morning, we cooked a tasty breakfast of pancakes and waffles, neither of which I've had in a long time. There's nothing like fresh waffles smothered in peanut butter and jam with some pure maple syrup on top! A funny gas station sign on our way to Mt. Baker. Then, the four of us spent the afternoon near Mount Baker hiking around with his brother and girlfriend's two dogs. The three of them brought their snowboards, so they flew down the snowy hills on the way back to the car, and I let the dogs be my sled dogs as we ran and slid down the snow! It was lots of fun, and the weather was just gorgeous. It definitely made Kris and I excited about hiking and camping this summer! We're alread

Aloha! I have returned from my wonderful trip to Hawai'i with my sister! What a fantastic week! I'm a little bit more tan and a lotta bit more refreshed than I was when I left, that is for sure. My sis and I enjoyed the sunshine, heat, and the ocean very, very much. And, we took TONS of pictures! Almost 700 over the course of the week. Wow. Haha. Here are a few of the highlights, plus a few things I would recommend for anyone traveling to the Big Island: Palm trees galore! Sunsets over the Pacific on the lava rock coast! LAVA! So much lava, everywhere. 1) Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.  This is a HUGE park on the southeast side of the island with lots to see! Kilauea is the most active volcano on the planet; it's been steaming and gurgling and spitting fire for 30+ years! We had a great time driving around to the various sights: steam vents on a cliffside, a lava tube you could walk through, the plume coming from Kilauea's currently active crater,