Olympic National Park & Sarah's Wedding

Labor Day weekend was a blast! I flew out to Seattle and lovely Jessie (former college roommate and teammate) picked me up from the airport. The next day Jessie and I went for a run/bike ride around the lake near her house, visited the first REI, wandered around Pike Place Market, and ate authentic Mexican food. Then we met up with Carol-Ann (good Willamette friend) and Ethan Nelson (her husband...I was in their wedding last summer). Carol-Ann, Ethan, and I drove to Sequim, WA in the Olympic Peninsula to attend our WU friend Sarah Reichner's (now Schafer) wedding. We camped the night before at Sequim Bay State Park, and got all sorts of strange looks as we put on dresses and makeup in the camp bathroom! Sarah and I used to be co-leaders of Fellowship of Christian Athletes during our days at Willamette. Their wedding was on her dad's lavender farm and it was beautiful! It was so fun to see many of our Willamette friends there and the ceremony was wonderful and Christ-centered. That same night, crazy people that we are, Lori, Ethan & I changed into hiking gear, donned our backpacks and hiked out in the dark into the middle of the Olympic Mountain wilderness. We camped at the second of three mountain lakes, with ridges and forest surrounding us on all sides. Sunday was spent exploring, cooking, and resting. Carol-Ann and Ethan taught me how to play Texas Hold'Em. Then, after a great dinner in Gig Harbor, WA they drove me to the airport for a red-eye flight before classes the next day (just my style).

It was so fun to spend time with my dear friend and get to know her fun husband. The area was incredible - I would definitely like to go back! With two different cameras going, we have a ton of pictures.

(again, I worked smarter, not harder on this post...thanks Carol-Ann for a lot of good commentary from our trip!)