Labor Day weekend was absolutely action-packed. It went something like this:

-Friday night was dinner at Roger and Yumay's. In addition to pork chops, risotto and mass quantities of deep-fried zuchinni which was already a ton of food, Carol and Yumay also brought out the hot pot. In a nutshell you take a portable burner and put it on your table, boil up some chicken broth (I'm sure you can use other kinds), then cook a bunch of miscellaneous ingredients in it, kind of like a fondue. It's a pretty neat idea and you could improvise on your stovetop if you didn't have an actual "hot pot". I particularly liked the tofu- I think I'll have to buy some this week.

-On Saturday we actually slept in. It was great-Daisy was courteous and didn't squak until about 8am. Later in the morning we met Robin and Don for a 55-ish mile road ride around Lake Washington. Roughly halfway through the ride we stopped for a big lunch and a few miles later, a slurpee. I did learn a lesson that day- just when you think you're fast, you're not. Somewhere in the U-district we got passed by a another rider. Normally this isn't a big deal, except this rider had only one leg. No prosthetic leg either- his amputation was way up on the hip. Very inspiring. Later that night Jerry and Stacy came over for some fondue.

-Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. We got up way too early and met Shannon, Mike and the gang for a hike on the Olympic Peninsula. The hike up to Mt. Ellinore may have been short, but it was also really steep and just kicked the crap out of my already tired legs. The summit rewarded us with great views despite the haze from nearby forest fires. Click here for some photos.

-Today we went car shopping. Eric's car is on it's last leg and we definitely need to replace it. I have to say the overall experience was a bit frustrating. You can't just look or take a test ride at a dealership without the salesman being overly pushy and asking ten times if you want to buy it. Needless to say we came home empty-handed-maybe we'll have better luck later this week.

On another note, we were totally shocked and saddened to hear about Steve Irwin's death. He may have been cheesy but he really did a lot for conservation in Australia. Very tragic :(