Alpine Lakes Wilderness- Margaret Lake

We continued our training this week for our 175 mile backpacking trip in August. Yes, you heard correctly- looney, gluttons for punishment...call it what you will- to us, it's a great way to truly escape the rat race and enjoy the beauty of the Northwest. Our recent training hikes have brought us to some great places including Margaret Lake, which... it turns out... had the perfect amount of cold "sting" to be an utterly refreshing dip. I love summer so much I could shout it from the rooftops. There is nothing more wonderful than a hot hike in the Cascade Mountains with this at the end!

We came around the corner.....

I almost had ya' right?  With my luck, some of you probably went into this post thinking this was trail-cat.  Nope.  This magnificent beast lives at a tiny, but wonderful zoo near here.  We had the privilege of taking Mike & Traci and the boys there on their visit to WA.  More pictures from their visit later- for now... just this gorgeous cat for you to enjoy.

Maya, Venta & Boys Visit

What a treat to see Venta and boys again after so many years! Even though their time was short, we enjoyed getting to know our nephews better and learning their interests. Luckily, the timing was perfect as Maya had come to town to help with Mom's post surgery care. We made some great memories to cherish.

When I uploaded the movie I created, I learned that Daily Motion has put ads in the video. It's kind of annoying, but I guess I can't complain too loudly because the service is free and unlike YouTube- they don't discontinue your music when you upload. It's an easy fix- just click the "x" in the upper right corner when they show up. Here's the link...

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/tkasars/video/x9t63m_visits_people

City Dog Magazine

No posting for a while as we've been so busy... more on the wonderful visits from family and friends later, but for now... some fantastic news.

Those of you who have known me a long time will remember the years of my career in photography back in college and my enjoyment of it ever since.  A month or so ago, I threw my hat in the ring as a photographer for a local hiking guide book author who also writes for national publications.   He had seen my work and was very interested in working with me.

Shortly after we talked, a photo call went out from him to local accredited photographers for shots of some rails-to-trails photos.  They were needed for an article he was writing on the top 10 rails-to-trails hiking in the West for a publication called City Dog Magazine.  I went to work finding the two most handsome models possible and bribing them to help me out.  I spent a good portion of a morning snapping away and carefully watching my models for signs of "I'm done now".  Luckily, we wrapped with some great stuff and I submitted my photos to the publication.  I received word shortly afterward that one of my photos was chosen!  It was a paid job ta' boot- so I was thrilled.  This month the article and photo came out.  I couldn't have asked for better subjects and was really excited to see some reward from the hobby I value as one of my favorite activities!