Horses & Waterfalls 7.10.2010

On Wednesday (my day off) I took the opportunity to become a spectator at the track.  I went during morning workouts/warmups in an attempt to get some good horse shots.  Unfortunately the sun was up too high by the time I made it there... I probably should have started sometime around 6am instead of 9...

{Right click on photos to enlarge}

As you can tell, the weather has finally, finally cleared up.  We've had temps in the 90's for the past few days and it's going to stay sunny and cool in the mid 70's for the rest of the week, if you can believe it!

Since I wasn't having much luck with the track horses, I headed down Green River to see if I could catch any action there.

And my most favorite so far...

We're definitely taking advantage of the weather... this morning, I dragged Rico out of bed to take me hiking at some waterfalls (I know - I'm such a mean wife not to let him sleep in!).  I recently found this cool website that lists all the waterfalls in the Northwest and ranks them, based on flow, accessibility, beauty, etc.  Rico used to explore these falls with his parents when he was younger.

Top of Tomtom Falls (we couldn't figure out how to get to the base of Tomtom so this is the top only): We had to cross an old train tressel to reach it...

Then Rico started having waaay too much fun with the new wireless remote!

We trekked back up and circled around away from the falls to find Little Mashell Falls (which really aren't little at all!):

We started at the top ... Which by the way is really cool to stand at the top and look all the way down!  We discovered a tiny little lagoon where we took our shoes off and relaxed.

And worked our way down to the base:

Excuse my chicken wings, but I can now cross another item off my list: Walking behind a waterfall :)

Where in the world is Rico? Oh you mean the tiny little white dot beneath the falls? Yeah that's him!

After this hike, we definitely didn't need to go to the gym!
On the way back, we stopped at a scenic pull out to get a good view of Mt. Rainier, from an angle I've never seen.  You can see where the top collapsed during the last eruption and the flat glacier that grew on top.

We're leaving on a jet plane...

We're down to the final hours before we head to the airport for Florida. I'm trying to speed this dragging day up a little so I figured I would update you guys on this past week.

Rico finally got his text book situation resolved (now that the quarter is half way over) - thanks alot Green River! So now, he can actually do his homework (which I'm sure he's over joyed about).

This past Saturday, I initiated a girls night. I invited a bunch of girls out for Mexican food and a sappy girlie movie. I was very pleasantly surprised that we were able to get 7 girls (6 of which have kids) all out at the same time. It was a lot of fun and we're planning to do it again sometime soon. Maybe next time we'll all get together at one of our houses and make a huge pot of spaghetti or something. Add some daiquiris or margaritas in there and we'll have a party!
Dear John was a tear jerker - but what else do you expect from Nicholas Sparks? It was actually one of my least favorite books by him but the movie turned out pretty good. Though it doesn't hurt that the lead actor is Channing Tatum, hehe!

I've checked the weather in Minnesota (our layover) and it seems to be cold but clear. So cross your fingers and toes that there's no freak snow storm or something trapping us BFE. I still don't understand why they're making us fly to MN then to FL... makes no sense when our flight back is through Atlanta. I would've much rather fly through southern states the whole way but no such luck.

Recap: Rico's Birthday!

Thursday was Rico's 30th birthday. Thursday night we ate dinner at The Keg - a delicious steak dinner! To follow that up, on Saturday, I woke him up early and took him to a glass blowing class. This was by far, the coolest thing we've done!

The glory hole...
My turn:)After making our bowls, we went to make some pottery. Sorry - no pictures there. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Rico really enjoyed pottery class in high school but we went to Klay Krazy here in Auburn. Unfortunately, the women running the place didn't really know what they were doing. They had us watch a dvd on how to make a bowl and then sat us down at the wheel and told us to go at it. No real lesson, the wheels were unbalanced so even if we could make something, it would have ended up lopsided. Rico even got a slight discount on his session because he attempted to fix the wheel, something the ladies didn't even know how to do. We spent an hour with our hands in muddy clay and called it quits. Next time, we'll go to a more professional studio.

Following the failed pottery class, we went home, showered and cleaned up because Rico had another surprise coming up. He figured it out pretty quickly when we turned into Emerald Downs (which is where I work). A surprise party! I reserved the 6th floor suites for his party and invited 15 of his closest friends. We lounged around in the suites with its 9 tvs, great views and comfy leather couches. We dined on chicken skewers, beef & cheddar and pulled pork & slaw sliders, egg rolls & pot stickers and a Thai noodle salad. For dessert, we had an absolutely delicious ice cream cake from Cold Stone. Btw, this had to be one of the best ice cream cakes I've ever had! We definitely will be going back if we ever need one again.After dinner & cake & opening presents, most of us headed out to an old hang out of Rico's, Papa's Pub where we met up with a few more friends. Rico had a great time catching up with his old friends and new, along with a few (or rather a lot) of drinks. Let's just say the birthday boy was feeling it the next day! Lol, and that feeling is why we didn't go up to the gun range (which was the 2nd half of my "experience" birthday" plan). Oh well, maybe sometime soon!

But speaking of soon... 7 days til Florida!!!