Talapus, Olallie, and Summit Lakes

On Labor Day we hiked into Talapus and Olallie Lakes. It was a pleasant hike, perhaps more fellow hikers than I would like but that is to be expected on a holiday weekend. Luna got to go swimming in Olallie Lake. She loves water but looked a bit like a drowning cat at first.  She got the hang of it toward the end though. The hike was just over 6 miles round trip and it made for a fun day.

Talapus Lake

One cast, one fish.

Several birds and chipmunks were out to score a meal from our snacks, keeping Luna on high alert almost the whole day. 

Hanging out at Olallie Lake

Silly boy, handsome man.

Just the three of us.

The last weekend end September we headed to Summit Lake. We've been there once, several years ago, but wanted to go again. We took some friends with us this time but since we didn't get any pictures with them you will have to take my word on that. We wanted to go when there would be some fall colors on display and it didn't disappoint.

Summit Lake with Mt Rainier in the background

These two are my favorites

It was a sad to have clouds obscuring most of Mt Rainier, but it's still a beautiful lake.

The girls

Luna and I out on the ledge

Happy family

Eli found a rock and was using it as his camera. He often would not stop walking to take pictures just hold it up to his eye, which almost entirely blocked his vision, and say "click". This caused several moments of panic for me as the trail was neither flat nor smooth, not exactly terrain you want to loose sight of. Alas, he survived. I had just typed the phrase "without any major falls" on the end of the previous sentence when I remembered that later on down the trail he took a pretty fantastic tumble. He did a full barrel roll and then got up and kept walking like nothing had happened. It was quite comical.  

 Mother and son enjoying the great outdoors. I included this picture mostly because of the color of the leaves and lake.