CBD's Big Adventure

Trip Home

2008-08-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

I apologize to our loyal blog fans (hi mom, hi tara) for our delay in posting. We got a little frazzled toward the end of the trip and haven’t updated for a while. So, we are back in Raleigh and below is a recap of how we got here.

….. we drove from Bigfork down through Missoula to Anaconda. In Anaconda , we met up with Mike and Dot again. They had settled in at the cabin by Georgetown Lake. The cabin sat at 6,500 feet and had nice views along with a hot tub on the deck. At that elevation, the mornings were brisk (~40 degrees) so the hot tub was booked up in the early am. Mike’s father (christine’s grandfather) grew up in Anaconda. Mike visited once back in around 1960. He was able to find the house that his dad's family grew up in.

Anaconda was built up to support a copper smelting company. The smelting factory closed in 1984 but the remnants are all over town. Mike and I played golf on a Jack Nicklaus designed course (http://www.oldworks.com/) – The course is laid out through the original foundation of the smelting plant and instead of sand in all the bunkers he used ‘slag’, which is a black byproduct of the smelting process (see the picture of mike attempting to hit out of it). It was a nice day for golf and we got paired up with an ex-con pawn broker from Detroit who had been charged with usary and had his case go to the supreme court before being exonerated due to procedural mistakes made by the prosecutors - so we heard some interesting stories.

The other days in anaconda we checked out the town, ate some nice dinners at the cabin and played cards. It was a nice visit.

We left Anaconda on Monday morning heading for springfield. We originally had designs on doing some sight-seeing on the way back but with all the miles to cover, we decided to just drive and sleep. The first night we made it to South Dakota and camped at Badlands National Park. We got there in time for sunset and then went for a short hike in the morning. It didn’t seem that bad to me.

On Tuesday, we got to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Then on Weds we got to springfield, IL.

We made it for the last day of harness racing at the fair (as per usual, we lost our a$es). Then on Friday we accompanied Tara and Keira (my niece) to the fair again. On Friday night, we hung out at the cadwells and celebrated Christine’s birthday again.

Saturday was the main event – Keira was baptized and then my parents hosted a bbq at their house. Keira was calm and composed for the baptism and the party was a success.

Sunday morning we got back on the road headed for Raleigh….and we arrived home on Monday night.

As we unloaded the car it felt like we were moving in again because we had so much jammed in the car and we were just getting used to the new place. We have gotten settled and are enjoying sleeping in our bed and showering whenever the fancy strikes us. We are enjoying cooking on a stove with proper pans and cutlery along with suitable fridge space.

We had a great long trip and succeeded in keeping it together for the most part. The weather was perfect and even with gas prices hitting all-time highs we spent less than I thought we would.

We were gone from Raleigh for 70 days. We put 11,430 miles on the car. We spent a grand total of $1,884.76 on gas in 45 stops. It hit 104 degrees in Moab, UT and one night in Bigfork, MT it was 37 degrees. We were in 25 states over the course of the trip and took about 3,500 pictures. We visited 10 national parks.

For those of you that are worried about filling your days post-CBD Adventure Blog, do not fear, yet. I’m going to look through and pick out my favorite pictures and post them in the next couple weeks. Then I might continue to post about what goes on day-to-day here in Raleigh. Again, I wouldn’t recommend reading it. But you can. If you want.

Trout Lake

2008-08-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

In response to our many requests for Deefur update: A little hiking and a lot of resting! She remains the best traveling dog in the history of road trips. Going with the flow...

On Wednesday, I was standing in line to ask the park ranger at Glacier National Park a question when I overheard this fella in front of me reporting that he had seen a black bear and a grizzly bear within a ½ hour on his way up to a lake to fish. I heard the time and place, so Christine and I decided against better judgement to head to this trail Friday morning to see if we could catch a glimpse of a bear. We didn’t go at dawn as that is when they are most active and although we wanted to see a bear, we didn’t want to catch them in an active state. The trail is through an old growth forest and it is steep. We walked 90 minutes out and 90 minutes back through stands of huckleberries (bears favorite food other than foreign toddlers) but didn’t see a darned thing. Might be better off that way.

We went back to the cabin and grilled out a last meal, then went into bigfork to look around again. Saturday morning, we stocked up on cherries from the orchard and hit the road heading south to Anaconda to catch up with Mike and Dot at the cabin they rented here.

It is another beautiful spot right along the continental divide in southwestern Montana. The cabin sits at about 6,500 feet and has great views.

Wild Horse Island

2008-08-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we took a boat ride out to Wild Horse Island. We chartered a boat with a captain and left bigfork at 8 am. Bigfork is at the northern tip of Flathead Lake and it was a 20 mile trip over the water to get to the island. Wild Horse Island is a state park that is about 2,000 acres and is inhabited by quite a few large mammals, including horses. The captain was knowledgeable about the lake and was a competent boat pilot, but he was carrying a variety of personality disorders so he kept us on our toes for the 7 hour trip.

We got to see the lake from a new perspective, learned about the origins of the landscape, the history of the mountains, the native American population, some details about flathead lake, the flathead river system and the local fauna. We saw bald eagles, ospreys, wild horses, massive bucks and a herd of big-horned sheep.

We saw an osprey snag a fish about a ¼ of its size out of the water. Then we saw another osprey tearing the guts out of a fish and feeding it to its fledelings.

Captain Bill was a kook. He was mustachioed like a seventeenth centrury vicomte and talked a mile a minute. He took a shine to mike. And mike couldn’t get far enough away from him on the boat. He spoke to all the animals we saw in a creepy Cesar Milan voice and told them that it was ok, it was just their friend bill. I will try to upload a video that captures an example of this one-way conversation. He talked to the animals ~50 times while we were on the boat.

When we landed on the island we had a couple hours to kill. We started off on a hike. Christine and I decided to climb to a plateau in the center of the island to get a better view. Mike and Dot stayed in the lowlands with Captain Bill. Apparently Captain Bill was watching us ascend through his binoculars and he knew that we are newlyweds. He asked Dotti if she was ready to become a grandmother, because he was quite certain that we were going to get to the top of the hill and would find a spot to generate a grandchild. At that point Mike asked bill where he would be spending the remainder of the day on the island and explained that unfortunately the cadwells were going the other way. He was a looney toon.

We got back into bigfork and went to have a couple beers at the saloon without captain bill. Then we went over to the cadwell’s condo for a swim in the lake and a nice dinner of seabass.

Glacier with Dot and Mike

2008-08-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

We headed back to Glacier on Tuesday with a plan to drive through the whole park, stopping for a picnic and a few trails. I was excited for my Mom and Dad to come to Glacier with us because it is so spectacular when you see it for the first time.

I knew they would love it and of course it did not disappoint. We hiked through Avalanche Creek and some old growth cedars, then went to Logan Pass and hiked Hidden Lake. Bob and I went ahead at Hidden Lake and missed out on the experience of mature big horn sheep (with the huge curling horns) walking right across the trail in front of my parents. 10 feet away and they have great photos that I’ll try to post later.

We picnicked at the Sunrift Gorge and walked down to Baring Falls. We ended the afternoon at St. Mary and then Many Glacier Lodge.

On the way to Many Glacier I saw a bear sitting on his haunches about 50 yards from the road. Bob put on the brakes and we tried to go back, but everywhere we turned cars were piling up behind us. No one else got to catch a glimpse. By early evening we started heading back and it was a very long ride on a very winding road. Dot and I were none too happy as both of us are prone to a little car sickness. By the time we made it back to Bigfork we just stopped for quick burgers and beer, which seemed to lift everyone’s spirit.

We all made it back after conquering Glacier National Park in one day and we fell asleep exhausted. The next day was left open for shopping, resting, and grilling out at our cabin. My parents spent the afternoon at their condo swimming in Flathead Lake and sipping on frozen Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It was a record high for the summer on Flathead: 94 degrees.

“Swimming Hole“ hike and Bob’s favorite day of the year

2008-08-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to a swimming hole that the ranger told us about. We packed a lunch and our suits and hiked to this gorgeous waterfall with a turquoise pool. We had the place to ourselves. Bob tore off his boots and socks and jumped in with glee… he ran out with tears in his eyes because the water was, per our estimation, approx. 42 degrees. Beautiful, yes. Swimming, no.

We sat on the rocks and had lunch preparing ourselves to hike back out when my pack rolled off the rocks, over the falls, and into the swimming hole. It didn’t have anything irreplaceable in it, just towels and swimming suits etc but we couldn’t just abandon it. Bob went down to the edge to sweet talk it out. He wouldn’t get back in the frigid water for fear of death, so he let the current take it for a few minutes until he could reach it with a long stick. What we ended up with was two massive beach towels that could have taken until Tuesday to dry so I just threw the pack that went from 12 pounds to 35 pounds soaking wet on my back and we got out of there.

Monday was my 29^th birthday, woohoo! I had a nice bagel in the morning and did some interneting catching up on my celebrity gossip. Bob and I went into Bigfork and browsed around. I took a nap in the afternoon and my parents arrived here in Montana that evening. My Grandpa is from Anaconda Montana and my Dad visited here when he was young and always wanted to come back. I suggested they come out when Bob and I were here, and they obliged! Dot and Mike are staying at a condo on the lake just down the street from our cabin. We met them when they arrived on Monday and had an awesome birthday dinner at the Many Springs Restaurant. I had King Crab Legs and an ice cream sundae with a b-day candle in it. I had a great wild west Montana birthday.

Glacier National Park - Highline Trail

2008-08-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Glacier National Park is called the crown of the continent. It straddles the continental divide with sharp peaks reaching 10,000 feet. In every direction from the highest point in the center of the park, the terrain slopes down to lower peaks strewn with lush valleys, innumerable waterfalls, mountain streams and a glacier here and there.

We headed back to the park early Friday morning. The NPS is working on a shuttle system to move folks around the park and alleviate traffic but the kinks aren’t quite worked out. We drove to the shuttle stop at end of the highline trail then took the shuttle the last 10 miles to the trailhead at 6800 feet. One way the trail is 12 miles and drops about 2,500 feet.

The first 7 miles of the trail follows the continental divide through the center of the park and provides views of most of the western ½ of the park. It is a relatively flat trail. About 6 miles into the trail there is a fork with a sign indicating a quick detour of 0.6 miles to the “Glacier Overlook”. We decided to take the detour. 50 feet from the main trail Christine decided the trail was a bit steep and said she would wait for me at the crossroads.

I continued up and up and up to a notch in the ridge which crested about 1,100 feet above the trail. Through the notch was a view overlooking the Grinnell glacier and much of the eastern ½ of the park. The wind was fierce and cold. As I stood there I realized that bees were being blown through the notch and launched towards north Dakota against their will. I’m guessing that the wind picked them up from the side of the mountain and off they went.

I walked back down and met up with Christine. At the end of the flat portion of the trail, we stopped at a chalet for lunch then descended the last section of the trail through an area that had been burned in 2003.

Saturday we slept in and went into bigfork for an art fair. We bought a decorative coat hanger with dragonflies on it for Christine’s birthday. It is lovely.

We ate an early dinner then headed into the casino back in bigfork so that I could play some poker with the cowboys. I bought a handgun and a holster from a pawn shop and headed to the game. It was full of locals that were much better poker players than I am. I didn’t lose too badly thanks to one dude who got worse as he slammed shots of rumplemintz.

Christine sat behind me cheering me on when I won and consoling me when I lost. As she mowed down pints of busch beer, her whispering cheers and derogatory comments about my competition got louder and louder. I thought I might have to get into a duel at one point, but it didn’t come to that. I did open the bathroom door and smack one of the poker players in the forehead and put a big gash in his brow. So the short version of the story is I went to Montana lost a little money in a backroom poker game then almost knocked some fella out.

Glacier National Park - Gunsight Lake

2008-08-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Why even bother trying to describe? It’s just that good. The pictures we have are crap because most of the time we were slack jawed and teary eyed. It is spectacular; and we are going back to Glacier several times so I’ll save additional adjectives for later.

Day 1 was spent parking at the west side (Apgar Visitor Center) and catching one of the park’s shuttles to Logan’s Pass. From our cabin it’s 1 hour to the entrance, but 2 and a half to Logan’s Pass. The park is expansive, but the drive is part of the breath taking experience. We had in mind to do the Highline Trail, which is very popular and well traveled. However, when we got there the ranger forecasted 80 mph winds and the trail literally walks out on an exposed ridge at 7000 feet. It looks like certain death from a distance with no wind.

We opted for another trail that a shuttle rider recommended: Gunsight Lake. The hike was just shy of 13 miles with little elevation change; except an 800 foot climb right at the end that was a bit of a killer. The payoff is at the half way mark when the trail opens onto Gunsight Lake. We had lunch and rested. The thing about this hike was that there were people we came upon that we wanted to ditch for solitude reasons. This led to a record pace! We were all high fives and congratulatory the whole way home. Thursday we stayed at the cabin all day lounging around, reading, and planning for Friday.

Big Fork, Montana

2008-07-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Montana on Sunday afternoon and stopped in Kalispell for laundry, lunch, and grocery shopping. We continued to the east side of Flathead Lake through Big Fork and south for about 15 miles.

We have this adorable cabin rented for the next 2 weeks. It’s a simple one room cabin with bed, table, bath, mini kitchen, and an old fashion potbelly stove for heating the place. Best of all: a large front deck with chairs and a grill and a fire pit out in the yard with a great view of the lake.

Bob’s friend, Catherine, from work had arranged with the owners for an awesome gift basket to be in the cabin when we arrived. Wine, cheeses, fruit, the works! It was so nice and we have enjoyed something from it every day. I enjoyed the wine and dark chocolate before I unpacked. Our first night here we grilled salmon and planned the next day.

Monday we headed to the Jewel Basin in Flathead National Forest. We hiked to the top of Mt. Aeneas, the highest peak in the Jewel Basin.

The hike went pretty much all the way up and then all the way back down; not a lot of bells and whistles. We had lunch at the top and you could see Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, Big Fork River, and a whole lot of widerness. There were no goat or bear sightings. On the way back down we got turned around on account of some ambiguous directions, but we ran into a prepared and ambitious hiker who allowed us to follow him. His pace was a bit faster than ours (a brisk jog) and we had blazed out to the car in no time. Monday night we grilled out again and had our neighbors (from a cabin across the road) over for a bonfire.

We inadvertently told these neighbors from Seattle that we were not impressed with Washington wine, which they would not accept. Naturally, we invited them over to prove their reds are worth a damn. We had a fun night and went to bed late.

Today we hung out at the cabin reading, laying in the sun, and eating cherry cobbler that I made from scratch from the cherry trees around our cabin. (I know, I’m amazing.) In the late afternoon we went horseback riding. I haven’t been on a horse since Camp Ondessonk 1990 and Bob has never been on one. We were with a family of 4 that had big issues; Compared to them Bob and I felt like real cowboys the way we could take a little trotting and make the horse stop and then go again. Real professional stuff. With the exception of a long train ride, there’s nothing I’ve romanticized more than horseback riding. In fact, we went today to start practicing, as I had planned to trade in the Element for a horse upon our return. However, horses revealed their downfalls to me today: horse flies, poo, chafing, the disarming realization that you’re not the boss. This is not to say horseback riding isn’t great… it is. We had fun and I’d like to go again, but we’ll keep the Element for now. Tomorrow is Glacier Day #1….

Idaho

2008-07-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

We left Washington before noon on Thursday morning heading for Idaho for what we thought was two nights. We had been on highway 20 while crossing the western half of the state of Washington, so we decided to continue on 20 for the eastern half. The garmin kept telling us not to take this route for expedience, but we stayed with it. I think we turned a 5 hour drive into a 10 hour drive. This delayed our arrival to Bonners Ferry, ID until around dusk and forced a hasty campground selection. We even scouted a few one-star hotels, but don’t let the rustic exterior fool you, the hotels in sandpoint and bonners ferry are not for the economy traveler. So we settled on twin rivers campground for a couple nights. This is a traditional private campground with a putt-putt course, a swimming hole and lots of close together sites. It was nice but not what we are looking for. This gets to my three primary pet peeves for the trip so far. Third, placing stuff on the dashboard which ineveitably falls off. Second, Christine packed what seems to be a dozen tubes of toothpaste that are down to the last brushfull, which requires angles and pressure placement that test a recently awoken pair of hands. First, I look at a map and measure how long it’s going to take us to get from A to B and by rule it turns out to be 50% more than what I planned. It is a big country.

So we started talking about the Montana cabin around the fire. I was under the impression we were checking in to the cabin on Saturday which gave us two nights in Idaho – but I was wrong. We got the paperwork out and in fact, we aren’t checking in until Sunday. Our first day in Idaho, we went into Bonners Ferry and checked the town out. Then went back to the campground and sat in the river and read for the day. The ground was too soft to put a stake in that deefur couldn’t pull out, so I took a piece of firewood and turned it into a dog-log and tethered her to it. This worked until a squirrel ran through and then the beast of burden hauled that log around the forest. Later in the evening, we played putt-putt and went to bed. I let Christine win by one.

For the last night, we drove into the national forest and quickly set up camp. Then went for a hike in the Idaho back country. We only saw one other party on the trail and it was two fellas on horseback. One of the dudes asked me if I had a firearm with me. I showed him my bear spray. He said he hoped we didn’t run into the pack of wolves that was known to patrol the area. Also, we were in prime grizzly country. It was a nice hike and we didn’t see any predacious fauna.

This morning we are heading to Bigfork, MT for the final two weeks of the trip.

Okanogan National Forest; Tiffany Lake Trail

2008-07-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

OH, a hard rain’s a gonna fall! We woke up this morning to sunny skies. As with every morning, I waited for Bob to make coffee and oatmeal before daring out of my polar sleeping bag. It was warm and sunny and we headed off to Tiffany Meadows/Lake with the idea of hiking a long loop around the large lake, 2 smaller lakes, and the meadows.

It was a 30 minute drive and by the time we arrived at the trailhead, doom and gloom had come to this unsuspecting land. Bob said, “That’s why we have all this rain gear!” And I couldn’t argue with that as my parents did buy me some very nice rain gear. We suited up and headed out in a mild drizzle. It rained intermittently for the first 3 miles. We stopped for lunch, which we ate quickly as the clouds loomed above our fresh bread. Just as we got everything back in our bags and zipped up, the hail came.

A quarter mile further the lightning came. The rain never left. We decided this was far enough and turned around several miles short of our initial plan. We were in a large burn area from a forest fire a few years back, so there was very little tree cover. The trees that remained were just telephone poles with no branches or leaves and burnt black. They are a bit precarious; they look like a stiff breeze will cause a domino effect. The lightning did not make us feel better about the trees falling on our heads, so we made some time.

In the end, everything was A-OK and it was actually pretty cool because at 7000 feet we were pretty much sitting in this low lying rain cloud. Everything was hazy, like when an airplane passes through a storm. Only there were no bloody marys or peanuts, or in flight movies; just us in ridiculous pants and not so water tight boots. Tonight there will be a fire (Hopefully), but the horizon appears to have other things in store.

Pacific Crest Trail; Harts Pass to Windy Pass

2008-07-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today we did a nice segment of the Pacific Crest Trail that was an hour drive from our campground, but well worth it. There is an old mining road that was built into these mountains and is still maintained by the forest service. It is the highest road in Washington (~7000ft), so what this meant for us is that we could drive up considerable elevation and then enjoy a nice long hike on the ridge. This eliminates the back breaking climb and leaves more energy for hiking further into the mountains.

The Pacific Crest Trail runs for ~500 miles in the western United States and ends at the Canadian Border. So we did about 375 yesterday. Okay, we did about 8, but if the whole 500 are just as scenic, we’ll have to come back and do some more. The pictures really speak for themselves. It was such a beautiful day; warm but with a cool breeze, wildflowers exploding, a smooth low-impact trail… we even stopped and took a nap with our feet toward the mountains and our heads on our packs. It was just sick J

Deefur was able to do the whole trail with us… she chased every marmot, squirrel, bird, and any other noise within 100 yards. She covered twice the ground we covered with these antics, so when we got home she stayed in the car during the fire and dinner b/c she was too tired to get out. I insisted on a stop in Winthrop on the way back to camp for homemade ice cream. Bob browsed in a book store and bought Michael Chabon’s new novel. We ended the night with a fire and Aunt Kate’s chili with sourdough bread for dinner.

Blue Lake / Highway 20

2008-07-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

We’d like to thank all those who participated in our recent online poll. IDAHO WON! By a near margin that has determined our course through eastern Washington and Idaho for the next week. We headed out early Monday morning from Seattle with Winthrop, WA and the Chewuch River as our destination. We traveled along scenic Highway 20, which was a destination in itself… a hike on wheels. Rivers, dams, mountains, forest. Very pretty. We got to Blue Lake about 20 miles outside of Winthrop and did a hike my aunt had recommended. We were worried about snow, but it appeared to be long thawed and it was a great hike. 2 miles in and 2 miles out with a beautiful reflecting lake, clear blue with snow capped mountains around the edge. There were several cars pulling into the parking lot about the same time as us, which was not good because it seemed we’d have company the whole way up. This car pulled up next to us with 2 couples and a massive black lab. Nice dog, terrible owner. This woman was shrieking for “Jack” to come, sit, stay, goooood boy, baby this and baby that. Just putting on a show for the whole parking lot, unabashedly displaying her unhealthy affection for this dog. (Not that Bob and I can talk, but we try to keep it private). It was unfortunate and needed to be avoided. So, the only solution was to get out in front. We did the trail in record time; we had 30 minutes to ourselves at the top and it was just lovely. As we descended down the first switchback, we were too high on life and the good fortune of being at Blue Lake on a Monday morning to care about the high up echoes of “Jaaaaaaaack!”. When we got back to the car we had some lunch and set our packs and whatnot on the hitch. Well, after lunch we drove off leaving everything on the back. Lord above! We realized this about a mile down the road and our packs were still sitting back there (shocking), but we lost my hat and shirt. As the picture would indicate we did salvage the shirt and hat in the middle of the road and it was no worse for the wear. After crisis averted, we continued on to Winthrop where we stocked up on food supplies and headed north up the Chewuch River Rd. We set up camp at a small, uncrowded site about 15 miles up (Chewuch Campground) and we plan to stay for 3 nights.

Seattle, WA

2008-07-24T12:44:00.001-07:00

My Dad has 4 sisters (Kate, Elizabeth, Ellen and Theresa) and a sister in law (Joyce) that made the pilgrimage to the Pacific Northwest at different times in the past 30 years. I have always wanted to visit and Bob and I were able to make that happen this past weekend.

My Aunt Kate and Uncle Jim graciously welcomed us into their home for the long weekend. Talk about an upgrade to our recent digs!—a great house on Puget Sound with a view and a downstairs guest apartment to ourselves. Even Deefur was allowed in, despite Jim and Kate’s obvious resolve to maintain a calm, clean, and dog free household. This gesture was very much appreciated. So we arrived on Thursday evening and sat on the deck enjoying some wine, chatting, and had a late dinner of Spaghetti with Clams. Like Grandma and the rest of the Cadwells, Kate can impressive spreads this weekend that really deserve their own blog, but Bob and I thought it a bit much to take photos at the table.

We slept in a little on Friday and then headed downtown on the bus to Pioneer Square. We had lunched at the Owl N Thistle Pub, which was quite good. I had also read online about a tour called the cook. She laid out some “Seattle Underground” that takes you below the street level in Pioneer Square where the city used to lie prior to the great Seattle fire (round about 1890? So much for learning something on the tour) The guide told lots of off colored jokes (toilet humor that knocked Bob’s socks off) and enlightened us to the not so savory beginnings of Seattle. Anyways, many details can be obtained when you too go to Seattle and take the tour, but in short it’s an underground walkway system that used to be the 1^st floor of buildings and they just built right on top of it after the fire. After the tour, we browsed around cute little shops, bookstores, etc. But, the real work was done in our quest to hit as many coffee shops as possible. The chill in the air really does inspire rampant coffee drinking and I was shaking when we arrived back at Kate’s.

Again we had another great meal and an inspiring discussion. Jim and Kate are our new adventure heroes! They are seriously tough with some of the backpacking trips they’ve taken. We called it a night and Bob got up early Saturday to play golf with Jim… I slept in and then hit the Pike Place Market with my Aunt Elizabeth and her two youngest children, Matt and Hannah. What a cool place! I thought it was going to be some fish shop on the corner and that’s about it. Instead I was blown away by block after block of stalls selling fresh seafood, fruit, flowers, pasta, coffee, fish and chip joints, bakeries. The works. Just about anything you could want. There was quite a crowd, but we weren’t looking for anything in particular so we just wandered. I picked up some souvenirs, including a Pike Place apron that I’m hoping legitimizes me as a cook, and we had fish and chips at the Athenian which is apparently an old classic.

On Saturday night Jim and Kate hosted all the aunts, their spouses, and children for a get together. Bob and I had fun catching up with everyone, drinking wine, hearing old stories, and sharing a meal. It was cool to see all the Northwestern Cadwell’s “in their element”.

On Sunday, Kate, Bob, and I went to the Ballard market where we picked up fresh salmon for our last supper and browsed for fruits and veggies. Then we headed to Discovery Park, which is a lovely walk from Kate’s house through the locks and fish ladders. (I’m still trying to understand all that business myself, so I won’t elaborate except to say this is how the salmon gets from salt to freshwater for spawning). The walk then goes through Discovery Park which is out on a point with a lighthouse and real nice views from the bluffs. That walk really took it out of Bob and I, but we mustered up the energy to catch some horse races at Emerald Downs in the late afternoon.

Big losers once again. We ended a great weekend with a salmon feast on Sunday night and then headed out early Monday morning. Kate had prepared some frozen meals and snacks to send with us, so we are at our new campsite on the Chewuch River tonight and we just had a delicious beef stew. Bob commented on our way out of Seattle that this weekend had been his best “guest/host” experience and I must agree.

Hoh River Trail

2008-07-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning, we decided on a day trip to the western side of Olympic Peninsula and into the Hoh Rainforest. We had planned a long day hike so Deefur went to the babysitter/groomer for the day. This was beneficial for 2 reasons:

1)she couldn’t be on the trail with us and

2) we are going to Aunt Kate’s and Dee needed cleaned and clipped.

She was not fit to make a good first impression. I talked with a nice lady, Mary, in Port Angeles, WA that would take care of her for the day for a small fee. We dropped Dee off at 7am and headed west.

Olympic National Park is massive and it took 2 ½ hours to get to the Hoh Rainforest entrance. The Hoh River Trail goes for 37 miles round trip up to glacier meadows, but we opted for the 6 miles out and 6 miles back day trip that meandered alongside the Hoh River. It was a beautiful day with sunny skies and a true walk in the woods. The wet conditions make for dripping moss on all the trees. If you ask Bob he will tell you the joke he’s told a half dozen times already, “I went to the rainforest and got sunburned.” But, yes it’s true, it didn’t rain on us once in one of the rainiest places in America. Since we “had a sitter for the night”, we dropped into Port Angeles for dinner and a walkabout before picking up Deefur.

Bob had an open faced seafood sandwich with a thick Bechemel sauce that he still claims was worth it despite sprinting back to the restaurant 30 minutes later to use the potty.

Olympic Peninsula – Dungeness Spit / Hurricane Ridge

2008-07-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

We left Mount Rainier for the Olympic Peninsula before noon Monday. We were in between two campgrounds for our three night stay. One was in the Olympic National Park and named the Hoh Rainforest Campground. The other was a county park (Dungeness Spit Recreation Area - http://www.clallam.net/CountyParks/html/parks_dungeness.htm ) on the north end of the Peninsula on the coast. The convincing detail for Dungeness is that it is in the rain shadow of mount Olympus and therefore only receives 15 inches of rain a year. We are holding up well but didn’t want to sit in the rain for three days (and it has a shower).

We set up camp and checked out the spit – a spit is a coastal formation like a natural peir and the Dungeness Spit happens to be the longest one on the planet – then watched the sunset over the mountains of British Columbia across the straight of Juan de Fuca.

Olympic National Park is massive – and the access points are strewn around the perimeter so it is difficult to see much of it from one point. On Tuesday morning, we drove to Hurricane Ridge and asked about a trail that caught our attention in our Washington Trail book. De ja vu, the access road to the trailhead is still closed for winter – but the ranger recommended a similar trail so we took him up on it.

The trail was named ‘switchback trail’ and it lived up to its name. We started at 4300 feet and within 1 ½ miles had ascended to 6000 feet.

From the ridge, we could see north out over the straight into BC and south into the peaks of the Olympic Mountains. Quite a view.

We continued on the ridge for a couple miles. When we turned back four mountain goats came over the ridge on the trail, two adults and two babies. Without a working knowledge of mountain goat behavior or disposition, we surmised that the presence of the babies might bring out the worst traits in their personality. We climbed up out of their way assuming they would bolt when they caught wind of my stench, but they continued staring at us indicating we should make way. I am carrying an aerosol can of ‘bear-pepper-spray’ mainly for psychological peace of mind, but as they approached I pulled this can out and removed the safety. They walked directly below us on the trail and headed off over the ridge. One of the goats was wearing a collar with a tag on it.

We walked back down to the car and then went to the visitor center. I told one of the rangers about the goats and he pointed out a memo taped to the desk that explained the aggressive nature of one of the resident goats – and that it could be identified by the yellow collar. The ranger also said that it is indeed a rare occurrence to see the mountain goats on the trail.

We ate lunch amongst a herd of uncomfortably familiar deer. One ate some steamed rice out of a Japanese girl’s hand. Another tried to stomp deefur. I threw a stick at it. Then we went back to the spit.