I have been a BMW M3 Fan for most my life. What else do you need, RWD, powerful award-winning engines, superb handling, and reliability. Every model from the E30 – E36 – to present has been top of its class. Finally BMW creates a modern day CSL. It’s Quite humorous the car is made to compete with Carrera GT3 RS, the GTS taunts Porsche by sharing the same orange paint scheme. It will be interesting to see how these two cars will compete. In the meantime check out the new video of the GTS – thanks to BMW.
Again, Automakers are doing it big with commercials these days. You have to love the most recent attempt by Porsche. Ironically, Porsche highlights their heritage while marketing their first 4-door car in the companies history. They did a hell of a job, check out the video! I personally love the new 4 door, especially the Turbo version. Who wouldn’t want to ride in the back seat of this car!
My old man has been hiking this trail for many years now. I believe he stumbled upon it in his “logging” days. I have done this hike once before in 2004 and have been wanting to go back for some time now. So I finally did with my Cousin Billy, and Sean. None of us have ever made this hike this late in the year, we typically head out early summer when the snow is melting or melted. This hike takes you up to 6500′ ft, and total mileage of upwards of 20+ miles.
We got a very late start on day one and didn’t hit the trail until 11 am. Typically the hike can take 6-8 hours, so we knew we were risking the chance of the sun setting before we reached camp. The trail takes you by an old mine, over a river, up to Parks Lake. Park’s lake is our main resting spot on our way up. You can tell which is park lake by the “lack” of snow by the lake. From Park’s Lake you have a few miles until Glacier lake. Once your near Glacier you will run in to a 700′ ft drop into the lakes exterior. This point offers amazing views of Spectacle Lake, and the surrounding mountains.
Once you reach Glacier you set up camp and get as much rest as possible, because the next day you have another full day of hiking/fishing ahead at Chikamin Lake. After a freezing night with temperatures around 20 degrees at night, we eat breakfast and head up the mountain. You climb up huge rocks, and “follow” the trail. We got off the trail and ran into the wrong lake. From here we really had no idea where to go, so we decide to rock climb a 200 ft’ wall, which we had no skill at doing. Frankly, I am glad none of us go hurt. Once we finally reached Chikamin Lake, we got right into fishing. The temperature couldn’t be more then 30 degrees, and with the wind blowing it felt colder. We all caught some fish and head down.
To keep this brief, that night temperature dropped down to 10 below. Surprisingly none of us got hypothermia, but we also didn’t sleep. 20 + miles later, and 3 days this hike was a success!
Hiking Time to Rattlesnake Ridge: 1 hour Miles: 4 Round trip Elevation gain: 1,175 feet
Beautiful day, and nothing to do so Josh and I decided to do a quick jaunt in the woods. My buddy Austin and I did this hike earlier in the summer, unfortunately it was raining. I recommend this hike to anyone who has the slightest interest in hiking. The hike is rather easy, with a few switch backs and a beautiful few up top. You also may run into some wildlife, we saw a mountain goat and a few deer. Check out the pics!
Rattlesnake Ridge is only a 30 minute or so drive from Puyallup, Wa and is one of the best day hikes around. Up top you virtually have a 360 degree view. Below the ridge is Rattlesnake Lake and a view of I-90 snaking its way through Snoqualmie Pass. To the north you will see more of the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Si. To the west you will see North Bend.
How to get there:
Take I-90 east and get off on Exit 32 (436th Avenue SE) just past the exits to North Bend. Take a right off of the exit, heading south on 436th Ave SE which turns into Cedar Falls Road. Travel about three miles and follow the signs posted for Rattlesnake Lake.
I have never had a Chilean wine before until I came across the 2008 Panilonco Reserve Merlot/Malbec at Trader Joe’s. Honestly, I typically do not venture below $5 for a bottle of wine. Why? Well when your spend under $5 you figure you are buying the bottle of the “barrel.” Being skeptical of buying such a young wine for so cheap had me worried that tonight’s wine wasn’t going to memorable. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
This wine is 60% Merlot and 40% Malbec from D.O Colchagua Valley Chile. This wine has a deep dark fruit flavor with a smokey taste. We had a nice steak with this wine certainly paired well. Doing a little research on Panilonco and its wine making yielded nothing worth noting on google. I contacted Evaki Inc. who imports the wine for more information. I will tell you this, the wine certainly is young. This reserve has a lot of potential, so I recommend stopping by Trader Joe’s and picking up a bottle before they are gone. Hell, for $3.99 pick up four! I did. Should be amazing in a few years!
Merlot is the wine that first grabbed my attention to wine. I typically do not like to drink Merlot outside of Washington State because we have the best Merlot in the World! But how plain would that be just to continue to review Washington Merlots! Trust me, I will have plenty of Washington Merlot reviews. Barefoot Cellars started making wine in 1986, and produce 14 various wines. Supposedly, Barefoot has won over 1000 medals for their wines, so why not try their 2007 Merlot?
Barefoot was very fruity on the nose but surprisingly not so much when you take a sip. Chocolate with a hint of Boysenberry overwhelmed my taste buds with this wine. Very favorable experience for a California Merlot. I paired this wine with one of my favorite quick foods, the “Chili Cheese Bun.” This Merlot worked great with the pepper jack cheese that that smothered the o’ so good cheese bun. Defiantly a great value Merlot wine!
After having an excellent experience with my last Bordeaux I decide to try another from a different French wine marker. Unfortunately, the 2006 Chateau Nenine Bordeaux was less then spectacular. I typically can stomach poor tasting wine, and can finish my glass politely. Well, not this glass! Lauren and my self both considered this wine to be one of the least pleasing wine we have had for long time. The 2006 Chateau Neine Bordeaux is a blend of Merlot (40%), Cabernet Franc (40%), and Cabernet Sauvignon (20%). Maybe a little more Cabernet Sauvignon and I may have liked this wine. Lastly the wine is Imported by Latitude Wines in California.
Rating: 3/10 – Pass, Try the Mouton Cadet instead!
Origin: California Price: $9.99 Where to buy: Trader Joes
Looking for a great Zinfandel? Then look no further then California, as the region is known for some of the finest Zinfandel in the world. Zinfandel is one of my favorite wines because of the very berry taste and high alcohol content. An inexpensive Zinfandel is the 2006 Castle Rock Mendocino County Zinfandel. The 2006 Zinfandel was a difficult vintage for most of Northern California due to the uncertain weather conditions. But do not let this fact sway you away from the 2006 Zinfandel.
The initial taste of this wine offers hints of blackberry and raspberry with a pinch of plum. The Castle Rock Zin is quite mild for a Zinfandel but still has a lot of character. If you have never had a Zinfandel then try this wine. Castle Rock offers a nice introduction to Zin with this vintage. Lauren and I paired this wine with Chiptole which for me was a little to spicy. Could have been the hot salsa?!
I finally did the HWY 101 Loop around the Olympic National Park, and what a beautiful drive! Lauren and I only had three days to enjoy the park, and we were able accomplish a lot with our time.
Initially we were planning on staying for four days and three nights, but ended up leaving one night early as we had seen all of the major sites. On the first day we ventured into the Quinalt Rain Forest. With every type of tree, moss, waterfall, leaves, insects, and animals one could imagine, it truly was a wonderful introduction for our trip. Once we finished with the Rain Forest we drove to Kalaloch, which is where we set up camp for the night. The rock formations were stunning, and we really enjoyed walking around on the beach. We ate dinner at the Kalaloch lodge, and headed back to our camping ground. READ MORE.
Should be amazing in a few years!
