Apparently I should whine more often…after the last post, just when I needed sunshine and views the most, I was given exactly what I yearned for. The forecast called for sun above the cold layer of fog in the lowlands, so Carlos, JK and I drove down to Paradise on Mount Rainier to see if we could, well, see anything this time. Two weeks ago we could barely spot each other in the whiteout…

The Mountain rewarded our patience with the best, sunniest, hottest February mountain weather I have ever experienced! The boys brought skis (I would too if I had any to bring) and we snowshoed our way up above Panorama Point to McClure Rock:

Enjoying the view of beautiful Mount Adams:

The boys trying a bit of skiing:

Carlos and JK with Mount Adams and Mount Hood in the background:

We stayed there as long as we could, regretting not getting an earlier start so we could have gone to Camp Muir – but now we have a very good excuse to go back!

One of the parking lot residents:

It was a perfect day (even though I managed to twist my ankle as I was running down in front of the boys to try to take some pictures of them – so my whole early morning gym experiment has been a big fail so far), and hopefully it recharged my batteries enough to last another week. I really needed this.

Trip report on NWHikers.

Just like last February, I’m going through the winter blues. Bah. I’m having trouble sleeping, I wake up with no energy at all, and then get frustrated because there are so many changes I want to make in my life but it’s so overwhelming that I don’t know where to start. I know I am being too hard on myself and some of the things I am disappointed with are way beyond my control.

For now I’m staying focused on training for various mountain adventures we will hopefully be able to go on this year. This involves huffing and puffing up steep hills with a 30-50 lb pack on my back, and more cardio in the gym. I’m learning to enjoy running. I feel like mountains and exercise are the only things that are keeping me sane right now. Maybe we’ll have to consider a sunny vacation this spring after all, if we can afford it. It certainly helped last year.

On Tuesday we joined Mark and some of his colleagues for a Dawn Patrol to Rattlesnake Ledge. In order to see the sunrise, we had to get up at 4:30 AM, drive to North Bend and hike up in the dark – but it’s always worth it. Even when I have to do it on less than two hours of sleep.

Next week we’re going to try to get up early (sleep or no sleep) to meet Carlos at the gym before work instead of doing it at night. It’s going to be absolutely brutal those first days but I’m hoping it will eventually help my sleeping habits and energy level. Now that I’ve outed our plans here, hopefully I’ll feel like I have to do it.

I know it’s a cliché , but the serenity prayer feels very appropriate these days.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

If that fails there’s always Serenity Now…