In early August, 2010, Phil, Max, Bonnie and I drove to eastern Washington to a trail head about twenty miles past Cle Elum and hiked up to Esmeralda Basin.  This was Max’s longest hike ever, 7 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1750′.  He did great, soaking his baseball cap at each opportunity to keep cool.

We packed a lunch and enjoyed the brisk cool breeze at the crest of the basin and relaxed for another half hour, posing for shots and looking for wildlife, before heading back down.  On the return to Seattle, we detoured slightly to visit Roslyn, where Northern Exposure (TV series) was filmed, and ate at Village Pizza.  Bonnie was thrilled to see a few of the Northern Exposure sets — the external of The Brick, the KHBR studio (Chris in the Morning), the general store, and Dr. JoEL Fleishmann’s (Rob Morrow) office, which is now a Northern Exposure gift shop.  Bonnie picked up a light green Northern Exposure T-shirt and wears it as often as possible.

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Max, Phil, Bonnie, and Ben at Esmeralda Basin.  Click for more photos.