new website :: www.TheAmySite.com

www.TheAmySite.com

YAY! After a few weeks of work, my official website is up and running. WooHoo!

A huge shout-out to my wonderful hubby Dan for making it happen. He's definitely the man to go to with any web needs. You can check him out at www.BecomeUnleashed.com and he's got a fun blog at www.danselleck.com/blog.

the ape caves

With the near 100 degree temperatures this weekend, Dan and I decided to put on our hiking shoes and cool off while exploring some caves. In the Mount St. Helen's National Monument, there's a lava tube called the Ape Caves that is a nice cool 45 degrees year round. So we put on our jackets and head lamps and headed into the cave.

We had two options, a nice half mile easy walk, or a 1.75 difficult "walk". Of course, we had to do the difficult trail. It was a nice easy start, then bam, we ran into a huge pile of rocks that we had to scramble over. COOL! Thru the course of the hike, we hit probably a dozen or so patches of rock that we had to scramble over and squeeze through. By the end, we were thoroughly winded, dirty, and super geeked about what we just did. There were even a few parts that you had to use a rope to get up and over some ledges, however, being as skilled rock climbers as we are, bypassed the rope.

We can't wait to go back!!!

My Smith Photo is Highlighted!

I'm super dooper excited today! I started up my computer and the homepage I subscribe to, called "Startlike: The Great Outdoors" chose my photo of Smith Rock as today's featured photo. I'm so excited!!!

You can see it by clicking here.

a massage is supposed to feel good, right?

My massage therapist applied some Traditional Chinese Medicine to my back called "Cupping". The oxygen is removed from a glass bulb and applied to the muscle. The resulting vacuum pulls the blood through the muscles as it picks up the toxins that get trapped between the muscle layers. It feels awesome, but it left me sore for a couple of days, not to mention bruised.

Thu the Viewfinder

Yesterday I came across the brilliant idea called Thru The Viewfinder (TTV). Basically, you take a digital photo thru the viewfinder of an old camera, usually they have a large glass viewfinder. What you get is magic!

the fourth

This past weekend Dan and I were lucky enough to spend the weekend with four of our good friends, pictured above. From left to right: Scott, Hui En, John, Carla, me, Dan.

We packed the car up and headed to Leavenworth, WA on Friday in search of adventure and rocks. We were lucky to find both, along with high 90 degree weather and a freezing cold river.


When we arrived in Leavenworth, I think we found one of the last campsites available. We drove past at least five other campgrounds that had the "full" sign hanging up. I was getting really nervous that we weren't going to be able to find something. Thankfully we found a gorgeous spot that was only a short walk down to the river, which proved to be refreshing during the day. It also gave us a reason to wash all the dirt off. Yes, we got very dirty.


Our time was spent bouldering in the Mad Meadows area, see Dan above, and we also did our first crack climb. Climbing a crack is a lot more difficult than it looks because you have to use the crack itself for your feet and then you have to jam your hands into the crack too. I think I need more practice.

Until next time!