Indian Heaven

This past weekend my brother Patrick, Richard, and myself went hiking into Indian Heaven Wilderness Area, a perennial favorite of mine and definitely one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  We arrived in the afternoon on Friday and were set up in no time. 

Patrick and Richard were all about survival skills, but I myself (having suffered before) chose to camp the way I do and was pretty cozy.  They proceeded to build a "self-feeding" fire, which worked really well.  Instead of starting small, and adding logs to the fire, you pile the large fuel wood, and build the fire on top of it.  As the fire burns down, it ignites the larger logs and just keeps burning.  When I went swimming the following morning, it was still smoldering, and could have been restarted quite easily.

Instead of relighting the fire, I took them for a walk into the berry fields.  We were there at the perfect time of year and collected about two quarts of berries in no time.  Talk about a grubbin breakfast!

By the time we got back to camp, the sun had warmed us up and they started in making small traps for animals and building fires using a bow-string and spindle.  Quite impressive fire building I must say, and I was glad to have learned how to do it.

Like I said before, I camped the way I usually do, so I was well fed.  Unfortunately, Patrick and Richard didn't eat so well!  The only thing they were able to trap was a large frog, which, split between the two of them didn't really go as far as they would have liked.  I had checked my "trap" and found tortellini with marinara sauce :)

All in all, it was a great weekend to be out!  The weather couldn't have been better, and those two guys are fun as hell to hang out and chill with.    Hopefully we will be getting out again soon.  That said, I was glad to get home to my baby! 









Zip-zang!

hey ya! we are back from Whistler where we took a vacation all of last week.  Vacation really started out on Saturday morning of last week when we drove down to dad's and picked up his 1963 Aloha Camp Trailer and brought it back to Seattle to load up before continuing North.  This took until Sunday morning, but hey, we are on vacation!

By Sunday evening we had accomplished the 6 hours trip (at speeds greater than 50 mph at times) to Whistler and set up camp, made dinner, and settled in for a well deserved nap!  We woke up in the late evening to pounding rain and decided that, hey, since we had seen rain before we had no obligation to see more of it and were compelled to stay warm and snug inside the trailer.

By morning, the place had been overrun by Germans in rental RV's!  Unbelieveable, but there was an almost 100% turnover rate (minus our pleasant hut) at the RV park every night and when we would wake up in the morning, the place would be nearly empty...of course, we didn't strive to be the first out of bed in the morning, so we don't know exactly when they were leaving, but them folks were all about the migration for sure.

After a few "home repairs" on Monday, and heading to the hardware store to purchase an electric cord that I still haven't copped to anyone that I forgot, we decided that we should probably take a nap. Which we did, and so we were well rested for an evening of dinner at an Irish Pub (two for one fish and chips) and relaxation before heading to bed!  No sense getting all worked up for Tuesday before Tuesday we figured :) 

Tuesday morning we gave the migrant Germanic Peoples their space and after a leisurely morning we headed into town on our bikes to see if we could talk our way into a deal on lift tickets for the peak to peak gondola ride.  We couldn't.  We were able to pay full price though, and get onto the gondola headed uphill to Whistler Peak.  The fall colors were amazing! (Crummy picture because the windows inside the gondola are all scratched up)

Once at the top of the first gondola on Whistler Peak (about a 25 minute ride) we headed over to the "Peak to Peak" gondola...

headed to Blackcomb.  Impressive to say the least...even saw a critter or two up there...

After some intestine wrenching chili at the lodge on Blackcomb, we waited for the glass bottom gondola to arrive (comes every 15 mins) and headed back across to Whistler Peak,



snapped a shot with an Inukshuk,

and headed back to camp to hold down our pillows before dinner.  We didn't want to get all worked up about Wednesday, well, until Wednesday so an early bedtime seemed to be the best bet. 

Waking up early, yes when on vacation 8 AM is early, we headed into town and geared up for a zip-line tour.  For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a series of high cables strung through the tree tops that one connects to and "zips" from place to place, taking off and landing on cleverly constructed decks and walkways through the forest canopy.  Funnest thing you can do with your clothes on! 

Now, Sandy and I have been talking about a zip line tour since we met and it was special to me to be with her as she checked something off her bucket list.  When the instructor asked, "who's first?"  She stepped right up, got hooked in, and bailed off the steps!  Talk about heart!



 

It wasn't too long before she was flying across upside down!

We all were for that matter...

Yeah, thats me on the way to lunch...

Hmmm, then what happened?  I think we went back to camp after deciding that hey, maybe we should take a nap...oh yeah, thats what we did!  We rode our bikes back to camp, all downhill...and held down our pillows...that evening saw the diurnal migratory pattern, and we woke up Thursday to a less sunny day...but decidedly not worried about the weather as well, we are way chill folk.  

Thursday saw the Olympic Park... 

Some more critters...

and a burger at http://www.splitzgrill.com/ (which was totally, totally grubbin, along with our slurpies that we carried from across the street :)) and by then were pretty sure it was nap time, but we weren't all that tired since we had been on vacation all that week and chose to hang out and play cards and...what else? Chill...

Friday morning, we actually got an early start, really, we did.  We were up, put away and on the road to Tim Hortons and fuel for the way back by 10 AM.  Uneventful border crossing, the state department computer system was down and Rodriguez had gone to lunch so we sailed through...no people, no drugs, and no firearms on board.  And apparently no time for Americans just tryin to get back into America, God bless it.

Ready for the weekend!

Not a whole lot going on this weekend.  Tomorrow morning I am installing a trailer hitch on the truck getting ready to pull my dad's camp trailer on vacation.  Tomorrow is also Sandy's company picnic, and from what I hear, we get to do some pretty fun things there - and free food!  I was supposed to be helping a friend with a leaky roof but I never heard from her so I think they got it covered.  Other than that, just gonna chill and go see the kids :)  Good stuff!

Enchanted Valley

This past weekend, Sandy and I  stuffed our backpacks and headed out early Saturday morning for a hike up the East Fork of the Quinault River to a place called Enchanted Valley. 

We made it about 10 miles up the river to a place called Pyrites Creek, where we set up our camp on a nice beach and settled in for the night.  Sandy is quite a trooper! Its fun to hike with her because the chatter is always fun and she doesn't seem to mind that I stop frequently to check things out.  The Quinault rain forest is really something to see.

Sunday morning we got up and hiked the remaining 3.5 miles to Enchanted Valley, where we met up with the ranger that lives there periodically through the summer.  What a job that must be!  There were a few people here and there, but no overwhelming crowds of honyockers. 

After lounging around, eating lunch and napping in a meadow, we hiked back to camp, we decided to pack up and walk a bit to get us closer to the trailhead for Monday.  We ended up hiking about 6 miles and found a campsite on the river just as it was getting dark.  We slept really well, but woke up to rain Monday morning. 

After an easy 4 miles or so out on Monday morning, we stopped for lunch and headed home.  A good weekend for sure! 

Heading out...

ahhh, almost time to shoulder the pack and head out.  all packed and ready, just waiting for my turn in the shower and then head to bed for a good nights rest before an early morning drive...enjoy your weekend! 

News From Nathan

Nathan sent a couple of pictures this past week.  This is his sunrise view from the apartment they found in Hongzhou, a quaint village of about 6 million people.  He and Breanne are doing good, and are happy to have found a place with a western bathroom.  He is enjoying teaching in China, although some of his classes are hard he says.  I am proud of that boy! 

Good Work!

Today I got kudo's from co-workers and peers.  It was nice to have them say that my work was making an impact and we all tried to think of ideas about how to make more of an impact.  Some good ideas were thrown out and I am hoping that it will turn into a full time gig here in the next few months.  

On another note, I am looking forward to this weekend.  A long weekend in the backcountry is what I am in need of I think.  I am lucky to have a partner that doesn't mind shouldering a pack and getting out with me.  I normally don't go anywhere on long holiday weekends, but we chose a destination far enough back that hopefully there won't be hordes of people there. 

I will be posting pictures of my knitting projects here pretty soon, those pieces that I haven't given away at any rate.