Northwest Camping and Expeditions

Mexico

2011-08-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

With all the rain this year I started to go a little stir-crazy. There was an issue with a dog that we were going to get (and then didn't) and the kids were down in the dumps. Our spring break plans didn't pan out, and everyone was just generally grumpy.

After a few days of searching online for a sunny place, we found a cool spot in Loreto, Mexico. My brother went down to recoup from knee surgery and said it was perfect for us! Unfortunately, we couldn't get on a flight-everything was booked. But, if you are looking around for a place in Loreto I recommend Coco Cabanas Loreto . Barrett and his brother, Stephan are fantastic and so very very easy to work with. My brother had a great time, and I hope to get down there in the next few months.

Anyway, flights to Cabo were wide open, so I did some more searching online and we ended up at a great all-inclusive in the corridor. The sun was fantastic!!! We were so glad to get down there, and the kids got their first passport stamps.

Daniel wore his snorkel for the entire 5 days:

The pool was fantastic, which was great because the beach-while great for strolling-was NOT good for swimming. The bartenders mix the drinks strong and kept us well hydrated during the day :)

All Inclusive is a great idea with two growing kids. Madeline could put down some serious food, and she tried everything she could. Love a kid who is adventurous with food!

We played dominos and Uno all afternoon one day....

Dinner at the restaurant....just a bit sunburned.....

One day we jumped in the rental car and drove to Todos Santos. This is an artist-type surfer community, way off the beaten path and far removed from the crazy nightlife of Cabo. I loved it. It also claims to be the home of the famous Hotel California, but I've read that it isn't ;). That's ok...the food was still excellent and the novelty was worth it.

During our stay the kids got to participate in a magic show at the resort, see a traditional dance show and we walked the beach, swam like crazy, and generally had an awesome time recharging our batteries. I'd go again in a heartbeat.

Another catch up post

2011-08-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Skiing at White Pass....

JD...fancy helmet

So, by the time we got the kids in and out of lessons, lunch, got everyone back on the slopes and comfortable, we missed our window for the new (and really incredible, we're told) side of White Pass. Still, an awesome day and can't wait to get the kids up some more.

Catch Up

2011-02-18T16:22:00.001-08:00

I've been rotten at blog posts, so I thought I'd do some catch up. Missing a lot of stuff, still, but at least the dates are closer :)

Skiing!

2011-02-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Alaska Airlines has great employee activities, and their ski night is another fun example. We had to miss the Christmas party this year because Scott was working (you can't get in without the employee), so we really didn't want to miss this!

It was the kids' first time on skis/snowboards and they did really well! I thought Daniel may be the one to decide what time the evening ended, but he would have gone all night. Madeline insisted on snowboarding, and she was a good sport about it all night long. She says she will definitely try skis next time, though. I totally saw her as a snowboarder, too, so we'll see where it goes....

So, it was night skiing, with lessons available (which we took advantage of). We dropped off the kids with the very capable instructors and headed for a lift. The first one in 15 years or so. Yikes.

I forgot how much rental boots HURT, but our skis are about eleventy thousand years old (um, dude, those skis are straight. Like, with no curves. And, where did you find boots with rear entry? Are those, like, relics?). So, rent we did.

I'd like to believe that my calves are just monster muscle from all my working out, but I'm afraid the reality is that even if there is muscle, it's covered in ice cream sandwiches. Heh. So, they actually went numb from lack of blood flow before I made it down the first run. This made for quite a miserable experience, but everyone else was having fun so I tried another few runs, then unbuckled and stayed with the kids while Scott perfected his turns. And then his falls. Right in front of us. After he'd stopped. Yes, we almost did pee our pants laughing at him. :)

A good time was had by all, and we plan to get the kids up again soon.

Harry Potter

2011-02-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

In November Madeline and I went with a huge group to see the new Harry Potter movie.
We made our own t-shirts and sweatshirts, and had a great time with everyone.

Harry Potter

2011-02-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

We surprised the kids with tickets to the Harry Potter Exhibition in Seattle for Christmas. This was really really awesome to see. Madeline was in heaven, and Daniel loved it but got a bit bored. He hasn't read the books one bajillion times like Madeline and I, so the details were a bit lost on him. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the exhibit. :(

After the exhibit we had some time to explore the rest of the Pacific Science Center, and we ended up becoming members (hello, Star Wars exhibit this spring!!). They have a great dinosaur area that the kids loved.

We took the kiddos down to the waterfront with Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on our minds. It was pouring down rain, but the kids were troopers as usual. We checked out the mummies, three headed pigs, strange coins, the fortune teller machine just like the one from "Big", and all of the other fun stuff before grabbing some hot chocolate at the local Starbucks and heading home. A great, great day.

Nutcracker and Fire Station Tour

2011-02-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

We made our annual trip to Seattle to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet do the Nutcracker. One of my favorite things to do, and apparently, my kids' too. They insisted on doing it this year, so off we went!

Not a great picture of me, but cute of everyone else:

Our good friend, Tim, is a fireman for Seattle and he happened to be working that night. We surprised the kids with a visit and a tour of Tim's station! :)

High Rock Lookout

2011-02-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

My dad has been to this fire lookout, and thought it would be a great hike for the kids. We combined it with a side trip to look at a cabin for sale in the Mt Rainier area.

The cabin wasn't for us, but the hike was wonderful! It is about 3 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of 1500ft. With physical therapy appointments, an 8k run that had me limping for a week, and a visit to an orthopaedic guy, I was ready to see if my knee could take a small hike and if the poles I just bought would help.

The hike is really an easy one, with only a little scrambling up the rock face at the very end. There are no cables or rails, so it is very scary to have our two kiddos up there around the edge. That said, they seemed to have complete respect of the height and sheer rock face, and they did their best to not make their mom too nauseated. hehe.

Beautiful day with views that went on forever....

The peak in the distance has the fire lookout perched up on the top

On this peak (above) is another fire lookout we want to try next: Gobblers Knob.

A fun day, and the kids did great, my knee was passable, and my mom and dad both enjoyed the hike.

Neighborhood Camping Trip 2010

2011-02-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

This year we chose a campground that none of us had previously been to. This proved to be a huge mistake. Well, it was a combination of no one having experience there, it was a privately owned campground, and it was too far to recon on a quick day trip.

So, this is how 12 + families ended up at this place. Which I won't name.

There are several permanant residents at this place, with very interesting ways of making structures withstand the elements. It also seems to be a very popular place for large (LARGE) families to come, crammed in a too-small motorhome or trailer which essentially explodes household goods all over the campsite when it parks. I am only guessing, based on the tables, sofa and tv (yes, you read that right) parked on the dirt under the awning (wouldn't want to go all "tacky camping" and do fake grass). This was no ordinary tv-it was flat screen and LARGE and they were kind enough to turn the volume way up during the 11pm showing of "generic horror film 2" so we all could enjoy it.

If you could ignore all of that, the sites were large, the water was low, but fun, and we still managed to have a roaring good time.

The campground is close to hiking, biking, etc. so each day groups took off for some hiking and exploring. Love that!

Ross Lake

2011-02-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic few days on Ross Lake in the North Cascades. This time we decided to take the portage around the dam from Diablo Lake and explore a little more. We also decided to pack much, much less (although we still found that we had too much).

We got up at o'dark thirty and piled the kids in the car for the long drive north. We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Sedro Wooley and got to the ranger station in Marblemount a little later than we'd wanted (about 45 minutes after they opened). The two main campgrounds we were hoping for were taken on the first night...in fact, most spots in most campgrounds were taken. It may have had something to do with the fantastic weather, combined with the Perseids Meteor Shower (the primary reason we were there). We had to settle for a night at Green Point Campground and then move to Cougar Island for night number two.

This was our first experience with the portage, and it went really well. There is quite a hill you have to haul all of your gear up (including the canoe!) which is an excellent reason to pack light. And to have a lighter canoe. (Thank you, honey, for choosing the lighter one!)

The portage driver's dog. She is awesome.

Our driver, who looks just like Scott's brother and has a funny shirt ;)

Green Point is a nice campground, but 3 of the 5 sites are up away from the water-requiring you to haul everything up a steep hill. Not a big deal with two young helpers! There is one outhouse for the campground to use, and it appeared that all the sites were "double" sites. Pretty handy if you have two tents in your party. There is a hiking trail that runs right through the campground, so we had many hikers throughout the day walking in and out.
All in all, this is a nice campground. It's not the quiet getaway we were hoping for as every spot was taken, but it's close to the portage dock, close to hiking, and has a lot of fun places for the kids to explore. Below is a view from our site down to the dock.

Our site's bear box

After dark, we took our kids, chairs, and a bottle of wine and headed to the dock (with 6 other people) to watch the meteor shower. It wasn't quite as busy as I had hoped, but the kids loved it.

We had a visitor in our campsite:

The next morning, we packed up and headed out for Cougar Island. It's the island on the right in the photo below. Pretty easy paddle, and we were there and setting up in record time.

We had our own little swimming hole on the south end of the island, and although we had neighbors in the only other site on the island, we never heard them. Scott saw them once at the outhouse shared by both sites, but it was nice to have the solitude.

Checking out the fish:

Apparently, we hit Boyscout Weekend on the lake. We thought we'd made it to the portage dock fairly early, but there was no space at all on the dock, the road, etc. because of all the boy scouts. They were a VERY friendly bunch, however, and we really enjoyed talking with them and hearing about their adventures that week on the lake. Just a great group of kids.

I have no idea how they did it, but they got the portage driver to get seven canoes (including ours), 12 boy scouts, the 4 of us, the driver, and all of our considerable gear on the truck and around the dam. It was awesome! On the other side they carried it all back down the path to the lake for us!

We had a nice quiet paddle back to Colonial Creek, and then stopped in Marblemount for pulled pork BBQ and ice cream at Cascadian Farms. MMMMMMM good!

Capitol Forest

2011-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

Did a little biking with the kids...
They are getting really good at climbing the hills, now, so we ran them up Green Line 6. They made it to the top of the clear cut section before we turned around and headed down. They are getting FAST on the downhill...

Mayfield Lake

2011-02-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Scott and I decided in July that we needed to get the trailer dusted off and take it on a quick trip. We loaded everyone up and headed south to Mayfield Lake, where we were lucky enough to score a waterfront spot at Mayfield Lake Park (site of the Neighborhood Camping trip of 2007).

It turned out to be a beautiful day-wonderful warm sun, calm waters, and a fantastic sunset. We took the canoe out and explored all the little nooks and crannies of the shoreline, swam, and drank a few beers...

There was a tragic clone battle in which two valuable men were lost.....

Perfect getaway!

Late Spring into Summer.....

2010-07-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

Our cruise in May was wonderful, but being out of contact with the "real world" meant that Scott couldn't bid for his June schedule at work. I suppose we could have made the extra effort, but given the choice between searching for an internet cafe and snorkling, or searching for an internet cafe and swimming with stingrays, we chose the fun everytime. That, and the local beer......suddenly, bidding is way down the priority list.

As a result, our June was filled with end of school activities and general craziness. July has been better, but we still feel a little behind. It rained through much of June, which killed any desire to weed or do outside projects. Lots of catching up to do before September.....

First, I had a fantastic weekend away with some girlfriends. We escaped to Seabrook, WA, where we feasted on wonderful food, enjoyed a walk on the beach, roasted marshmallows, and had fun conversations!

The house we stayed in is owned by my friend, and is rented out when they aren't using it. The name of the house is Into the Woods, and you can find more info here.

I chaperoned for Madeline's field trip to Seattle, and Daniel finished up his soccer season with another win!

I had a fun girls night out at the local wine bar: Swing! I went with the girls from the gym, AND our super trainer. Of course, she made us pay for the fondue we had with lots of sweat!

Madeline and Daniel had their piano recital. They both did a super job!! We will take the summer off, starting up again in the fall.

For Father's Day this year, we took Scott and my mom and dad out to see Toy Story 3 (in IMAX 3-D, even!) It was a great movie-we all enjoyed it! Later we BBQ'd and had a good time visiting.

In my quest to become Mother of the Year (HA!) I decided to go all kinds of Martha Stewart for Madeline's 11th birthday. She got her ears pierced and a new camera as her two big gifts. Her (first ever!) birthday slumber party was a camping theme. We bought a huge tent that would hold all the girls, and I made this crazy cake, complete with mini roasted marshmallows and a campfire. I also tried out some home-screen-printing, making t-shirts for all the girls. I followed a mish-mash of two tutorials I found online, and it worked out pretty well!

More soon...must do some housework :)

Whew

2010-06-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

I should start by saying that I've tried to format this stupid post for two hours. I give up, and you all will have to deal with the zigzaggy photos etc. :)

For the last few years we've been getting these email deals on cruises and tour packages for airline employees. We've always thought that one day we'll take advantage, and we finally decided to do it this last month. So, for 8 days in May the Carnival Glory was our home away from home.

Our stops would be Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan (Honduras), and Grand Cayman. After hearing about our plans to see the Mayan Ruins of Tulum, our good friends decided to join us! So, the 9 of us had this crazy fun adventure together.

The ship is wonderful. Not being a real cruise officionado, I am easily impressed. But, this really was something special. The kids spent the entire first day (a day at sea) running between the three story waterslide and the self serve ice cream. I think we figured out that they had an average of 5 per day.

(**This is the first ice cream of the trip)

It's true that you can eat constantly onboard. There is the formal dining room, the buffets, the burrito bar, the 24 hour pizza, the deli, the grill, the sushi bar.....the list goes on and on. The food was great and the waitstaff were all wonderful. There were two formal nights onboard, with lobster for dinner. More on that later. The ship was spotless, the cabins were always tended to, the nightlife was fun. My only complaint (however small) is that there weren't enough classes offered in the gym-one per morning, and not always "training" in nature (I would say half the time it was a class in "eating well" or something similar), and the only time they were free was when we were in port. Which is when we weren't on the ship. Otherwise, they were $12.

So, after an overcast day of lounging around and eating ice cream, we were fairly sunburned and ready for our first formal night:

After dinner we put the kids to bed and enjoyed some of the craziness at a karoke bar and a dance club, where we made new friends.

Then, it was off to the ruins of Tulum. I think if it hadn't been a day the cruise ships were in port I would have enjoyed it more (how's that for irony?). The sight was beautiful, and the guide was great, but it was a bit of a let down for me. I wanted something....more. Don't know what that "more" is, but I didn't get it. The highlight for the kids was being able to go down to the ocean below the temple and play in the water.

I should mention here that it was HOT and HUMID and we were drinking water like crazy. Thank goodness it was a little overcast-I think the sun beating down would have put us all over the edge.

After we all got our fill of water, we wandered back up to the "village" area (shops) to get something to eat and catch our tour bus back to the tender, and then to the ship. On our way, the kids spotted this iguana, and after a quick pet, we were separated from $5. Sigh.

We grabbed fish tacos from a great little hole in the wall, and had the best salsa ever! Got Madeline a fresh coconut to drink, and we were off....

That evening at dinner, we enjoyed a magic show at our table

and, Daniel just enjoyed the table:

The next day we were off for our day in Belize.

It rained like crazy in the morning. We had booked our cave-tubing/zipline tour through Major Tom and we were all excited to go, but there was a possibility that we wouldn't be able to zipline with all the rain. So, we waited it out at the port with regular updates from Major Tom, himself.

Luckily, there was beer available. Since we had completely lost track of which time zone we were in, we figured it was probably late enough for a beer somewhere....

As it turns out, the rain slowed after some time, we were loaded on a bus, and off we went to our cave tubing adventure. Before I continue, I should say that this was our favorite stop on the trip. Not just for the activities, but for the guides with Major Tom. He runs a super operation, and we enjoyed every second of it. So much so that I wrote a HUGE email to him thanking him, and send a copy to Trip Advisor. They have a few specific tours on the website, but they are happy to work with you to do what you are interested in. One of the guides used to run mountainbiking tours in Belize, and they expressed interest in doing one for us if we ever got back there. Ok, on to more pictures:

Crossing a river. In Belize. We're in a Belizian River. HA!

This was our guide, Mike. He was Daniel's good buddy and helped him cross, carried his tube, and was just generally his hero all day long:

Scott and Rosie were the only two brave enough to eat termites. Suckers.

After tubing, we were ok'd to zipline. Apparently, the platforms had dried out enough to make it safe. We got all geared up and away we went! 9 platforms, 11 zips (I think I have that right). Wow. We could do that all day long.

At the end of the day we were supposed to have a meal included, but there was a mixup and our family didn't have meals. We were happy to do without-we had snacks in our packs-but Major Tom wouldn't stand for that. He took off in one vehicle and our bus was to catch up to him down the road. About halfway to the ship (a 30-45 min drive) we executed some kind of drive-by food pickup that still has me laughing. They take their chicken and rice seriously, there. It was really, really good-I'm glad we had a chance to try it! (Recipes can be found on Major Tom's website, btw)

The next day we stopped in Roatan, Honduras. We were supposed to meet another private tour there, but unfortunately we didn't realize just how far outside the cruise "compound" we had to go to meet our guide. Also, it was a bajillion degrees outside, and so humid you were sticky all over, and Scott and JD were maybe a little impaired from the night before.

So, we scrapped the guide, rented a car, and decided to try out driving in a foreign country (how bad could it be??) Since I was the only one with my driver's license, I was elected to be the driver. Armed with a (crappy) map of the island we went in search of a good beach.

We ended up at Infinity Bay Resort in West Bay. It's a lovely (ie: expensive) resort, where the beach is free to use, but the beach chairs were $15 each. No matter that we would only be there for two hours. So, we now calculate everything in terms of "beach chair" currency. For instance: dinner last night was 2 Beach Chairs. JD did make good use of his beach chair, while the rest of us swam and snorkeled. This was our one truly bright and beautiful day-not a cloud in the sky.

This was the second formal night on the ship.

Our last stop was Grand Cayman. It rained the whole day, and our excursion to Stingray City through Carnival was cancelled. We wandered around a bit, then decided to take advantage of a private tour operator who was still taking people out, despite the rain. We are so glad we did this-the kids had a blast, we had a blast.....and we would have missed it all if we hadn't asked around.

Very Wet:

Our last day on the ship was beautiful and sunny. We had a great time in the pool and we got our fill of buffet food and pizza by the slice.

They held a show the last night with fellow cruisers who tried out for different parts throughout the week. Well, James Brown and Aretha Franklin were some of the friends we met on our first night. Scott and JD, in fact, spent more than a few hours talking with James Brown about his plans to propose on the ship. We were thrilled to be there at the show when he finally did it. (She said yes!)

When we returned to Miami, we spent a night at a nice hotel suite, ate some great Cuban food, and eased back into the idea of "real life". Then, had a long plane ride home.....

New Year, new kinds of fun :)

2010-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

So, Scott and I decided to try out snowshoeing this year. We found a great deal on snowshoe packages, made sure we had proper clothing....and then the snow didn't come. Actually, the snow finally came, but it's been such a fantastic winter here that we couldn't stand the thought of squandering all the mild days we're having down here off the mountain. So, the snowshoes are sitting in the closet until next year.

The rest of our toys, however, are getting more use than we ever thought possible in Western Washington in the winter.

Below, a tour through the last three months or so:

Roman turns 40! All the girls:

Matt get a new bike (it matches his work shirt!) and puts it together in my kitchen. (I'm such a nice sister)

The Jeep is loaded up and ready for a ride in the forest

Shuttling bikes

Taking the kiddos to see Percy Jackson Lightning Thief

Celebrating a birthday at the local irish pub Ballyhoo

Daniel turns 7

Kiddos at Cabela's

Swim lessons for both kids

Longboarding....in FEBRUARY. Wha??

More longboarding

At the beach:

Wine tasting/wine making with friends

St Patty's Day with my mom and dad. Scary face, funny hats :)

And finally, to wrap up the craziness...

Our neighbor has started a new "club". For full details you can visit the blog:

http://www.pushingtheturdcell.blogspot.com/

I highly recommend the first post-the email that started it all.

Here are some photos to whet your appetite:

Men's Sprint:

Even the kids do it!

Busy December

2010-01-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a busy end to a busy year! We had such a great 2009, and we are looking forward to whatever 2010 holds for us. With the exception of a minor cold sweeping through the house, we ended the year healthy with all limbs intact. We learned a few new things, saw a few new places, and Scott is still gainfully employed! A successful year, for sure.

Photo heavy post....sorry!

Highlights from our December:
The Holiday Ship Parade leaves from the waterfront downtown and loops around the inlet. This was our first time, and the kids loved it! Walked around the dock and got some coffee/hot chocolate afterwards. It was COLD!! :)

Off to Scott's company Christmas party. This was our first year there, too (contentious contract negotiations have stomped on the holiday spirit for us in the past). This was a super event, and one we'll attend regularly. They bring Santa in on a 737-it's pretty spectacular!

My brother started racing motocross at the ripe old age of 38. He did a great job in his first race and finished 7th! Another very cold day....

Then, it was off to Arizona to thaw out for three days. Scott's parents have a beautiful home there and we hope to spend even more time that direction in the future.

Colorado River in the background:

Yuma Prison Museum:

We flew home and quickly readied the house for our annual neighborhood holiday party. Every year Scott mixes up some new cocktail, and this year he found "The Poinsettia". It went down a bit too easily ;).

Of course, the highlight of the party is the White Elephant gift exchange. We tried to set the bar a little higher this year, and actually made the leg lamp from our favorite Christmas movie: A Christmas Story Here is the lucky recipient:

You'll shoot your eye out!

We ran the kiddos up to Seattle for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker performance:

...and after the show we had a great dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory YUM!

We had a beautiful Christmas at my aunt's house in Portland (one of 5 celebrations!)

Searched for eggs and visited another aunt and uncle near beautiful Mt Rainier :)

And then, finally, finished up the month with a few rounds of karting at Apex Karting
Scott is in front, followed by two neighbors/friends, my brother, and another friend.

So, that's our month. Whew, were we busy! One of our goals in 2010 is to continue to expose the kiddos to as much as possible-we really believe that being open to all of life's experiences will make them more well-rounded individuals. Luckily, we've been blessed with two kids who have never said "naw, I don't want to" when faced with something new. They say "how fast can we get there?" So, to start off the new year, here is our new motto:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - martini in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up - totally worn out and screaming "holy shit what a ride"!
-Mavis Leyrer

McLane Nature Trail

2009-11-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

There was a break in the rain, so we decided a little walk at McLane Nature Trail was in order. It's about that time of year when the salmon are spawning and the forest is really wet and mossy and cool looking. My folks picked us up and we headed out for the afternoon!

We spotted the beaver dam and Daniel recovered a huge stick that had beaver teeth marks all over it-he took it to school for show and tell the next day.

The highlight by far was the salmon. The river/stream was absolutely packed with them, and they were pretty active, which was really fun for the kids. It was pretty dark in the forest, so the photos aren't the best...
Near the beaver dam/beaver pond:

Lots of fish:

Snow??

2009-11-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

I try to stick to family-related activities, but this was too good to pass up.

Scott and Derek went riding with some of Derek's friends the other day. They knew it would be wet. They knew it would be cold. But, I'm not sure they knew there would be snow.....

All photos are *fabulous* and by Derek. Check them all out....it's so worth it!

More Fall Photos

2009-11-20T14:35:00.000-08:00

More of our fall fun...
Our Halloween was filled with two soccer games, two end-of-season parties, a costume parade, a pasta feast, and trick-or-treating under an almost full moon. Whew.
Madeline's soccer game featured a double rainbow over the field:

Daniel running through the "tunnel" at the end of the game:

Some of the neighborhood kids gathered for our annual parade:

Fantastic moon over us that night:

Kiddos in leaves:

Daniel found a little more than he wanted in the leaves:

Madeline found a little something, too!

Bike to school day, take II!

Random October Photos

2009-10-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy October so far-lots of soccer and bike riding, as well as a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. It's pouring down rain this week, so we have a chance to catch up on housework and make a few improvements to the bikes.
Madeline's soccer team (she's closest to the camera)

A girl trip for Madeline and I. We had a great time!

A competitive evening of Battleship and Risk with the grandparents:

And, finally, Scott's new headset for the mountain bike. This photo is during the install. He decided on a Chris King headset, to go with the new and improved shock and fork. This is becoming the million dollar bike. To make up for it he ordered some very cool blue Straitline pedals for me :) They should be on my bike and ready to be abused by late this week! Also on order are blue levers and a blue bashring, as soon as we can find them stocked someplace. Anyone know where I can get one??

Capitol Forest Ride

2009-10-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided to blow off another day in favor of riding...this time up in the forest. It was a spectacular day. 48 degrees when we left the truck, and 63 when we got home. Hopefully we'll see more fall days like this so we can ride just a little longer into October :)

Walk/Ride to School

2009-10-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

It was National Walk To School Day, and our whole neighborhood got into the groove. We have the coolest neighborhood ever! We had tons of kids on bikes, and it was such a blast to ride with them! My camera died almost immediately, but if you head over to Derek's professional site you can see that he took some amazing shots of the kids!

First Day of School

2009-09-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Oh, how time flies.
Now I'm home alone all day (when Scott is working, that is). What am I going to do??

We have a very large bus stop:

These are the fifth graders at our stop. Last year at elementary school!

Awwwww......

Hangar Party 2009

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor is in a fantastic band, and we needed an excuse to hear them this summer. Since no one was getting married, turning 35, 40, or any other milestone birthday, and no other parties were planned, we decided to host one out at my mom and dad's house.

They have the perfect party palace, with hangar space, an airstrip for fly-in friends, room to pitch tents, and Gary World-my dad's playground complete with ziplines and turbo slides.

What a great time! I regret that I didn't take more pictures, but we were too busy playing, dancing, and socializing. We had a great turnout and, even though it was a great deal of work, we hope to make it an annual event.
Fantastic food to sample all day long:

Lots of chatting:

Neil:

Paul:

Roman:

Zipline crazy:

Zipline Oops: bad landing :)

This is my dad's cousin. He is playing harmonica to Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap). No, I am not kidding. It was hysterical, and he actually did a great job!

My cousin's son. He picked up the guitar and did an excellent job! The band played along and he rocked the house 80's hair band style!

My cousin and I.

More zipline crazy. Doing it backwards-style!

What a great time! Not enough pics, but maybe next time. The band was awesome, as usual, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Next year there will be a later start, better weather (fingers crossed) and some overnight campers!

Lake Wenatchee

2009-09-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

This year we took the annual Neighborhood Camping Trip to Wenatchee. It was our biggest group to date (16 families!) and so much fun.

We all reserved our own sites at Lake Wenatchee State Park, all backing on one another, all in the North Campground. About half of us had hook ups, which was nice when clean up time rolled around after meals.

We love this campground for a number of reasons:
-Large sites
-Many different places to access the water
-Close to Leavenworth
-Beautiful drive there
-Clean bathrooms
and, the list goes on...

Our sites were all pretty big, with only one or two exceptions. The kids pretty much ran feral in the corridor between our sites, hopefully not disturbing other campers or their sites.

We have meals down to a fine science, with a massive shrimp boil the first night, breakfast burritos, kabobs, pancakes, pasta with wonderful red wine, and more breakfast burritos as follow-up meals. The water was great, lots of rocks to play on for the kids, and the weather was beautiful.

The one negative I can think of: bees. We had multiple traps in every site (all full by Sunday), and still they swarmed us at every meal. Only three stings all weekend, but it made for creative eating and drinking. (Be sure to ALWAYS check your beer bottle before you take a big swig. As me how I know....)

Stupid Human Tricks:

Taking the girls canoeing:

We've started a new tradition this year: Family Game Night. This year, Tim and Robin won the game night with the water-balloon toss. My kids think they cheated since there wasn't a child on their team, but as I pointed out: this means that *they* have to bring the games next year, *and* they are disqualified from competition.

Another new tradition: Glow Stick Parade Night. I'm sure we were hated by nearly all of the other campers, but some joined in, some stood at the entry to their site and clapped...it was really fun and the kids loved it.

Some of the awesome food from the weekend:

All the kids who were with us this year (minus one puker).

After we packed up the site on Sunday, four families headed to Leavenworth for some brats and beer. I love this town, and wish I'd taken more photos. I also tried to get a hoodie from my favorite brat place (Munchen Haus), but they didn't have any my size--just tshirts as it was a bajillion degrees outside. We are going to try to hit Oktoberfest or the Christmas Light Festival this year, so maybe I can grab one, then ;).
The beer, however, was cold and goooooooooooood on a hot summer day:

Only two accidents on the way home. A long drive, and a lot of time sitting in one spot. My brother blew tire on his boat trailer on Highway 18 (huge bummer) but he managed to get it fixed and limped it home on a spare. We had one puker all weekend, three bee stings, and no broken bones. A success of a camping trip if I ever heard one!

Diable Lake/Hidden Cove Campground

2009-08-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Went on an incredible, wonderful canoe camping trip that tested our abilities to pack light (fail), paddle hard (pass!), and build bear-proof food containers (pass, but then fail).

Diablo Lake is used as the stepping off point to the more widely used Ross Lake. Due to time constraints (and me being a big chicken) we decided to stay in Diable Lake for our three day foray into the wilds. I was pretty anxious about being so far away from civilization (and my car)(and a grocery store) our first time out. Truth be told, I've been quite spoiled with my trailer.

In anticipation, we made an insane trip to REI where we spent 4.5 hours perusing tents and bags. We decided on a Marmot Den 4 tent after much deliberation. It's still fairly lightweight, has a large vestibule, has a larger footprint than our other final contender, and it's orange. Kidding. Color only played a minor role for me. ;)

We also bought bags for all four of us, pads, two new paddles (Bending Branch bent paddles...cool!), and a few other odds and ends that my brain has blocked out until we get our credit card statement.

We woke up and left our home at 5am. Ate breakfast and got coffee on the road, and made a stop for last-minute supplies in Sedro Wooley. We got to the launch point (Colonial Creek) at about 11am. After loading up the canoe (think 3-D puzzle on a massive, heavy, unwieldy scale) we were off!

Looking back at the bridge over the lake, and the last glimpse of civilization for a few days:

Everyone we spoke to said to be off the lake by 11am-12noon. Apparently, the winds really kick up and it makes paddling quite difficult. We, of course, blew right through this time constraint. By the time we rounded the bend and headed east to the campsite the wind was roaring, water occasionally splashed over the bow, and we were paddling as hard as we could. Finally, we come upon the cove where it is calm and sheltered from the wind. A little oasis....
Hidden Cove Campground:

Only one tent spot in this campground, and it's lovely.
We spent some time setting up camp and looking around.

Our friends Derek and Sara showed up and set up camp across the lake at Buster Brown Campground. Well, actually, they decided that the barge parked on the water was more fun than the campsites, and set up camp there.
Derek helped Scott set up a "bear box" out of parachute cord and our cooler while Sara and I laughed at them and took pictures:

We had an eventful, restless night full of imagined bear sounds. No one was eaten, so it was a success all things considered.

The next morning we hooked up with Derek and Sara for a beautiful paddle up to Ross Dam and checked out the portage situation.

Saw local transportation:

Then, headed back to camp for a relaxing afternoon...

We hiked around a bit more, watched the moon rise from Derek and Sara's camp barge, then it was off to another night's sleep.

The next morning we packed up our considerable supplies and said goodbye to our little home. We paddled to Thunder Point Campground and looked around a bit, deciding that we just may stay there next time.

Two days with no shampoo is an ugly thing. I think I need to grow my hair out again if we do this a lot.
Thunder Point Campground. One of three sites. Beautiful!

The lookout from the North Cascade Highway is really spectacular:

So, all in all, a fantastic trip.

A few highlights:
1. We packed too much. Next time we'll do more freeze dried meals, a very small cooler if necessary. I was way into gourmet camping, and it was a bit overkill.
2. There are currently no bear boxes on Diablo Lake (although every site on Ross Lake has them). We borrowed three very small boxes from the ranger station, and hung the cooler the first night. The second night Scott hung the bear boxes in a garbage bag from a tree rigging, and the cooler was placed in the locking outhouse. Which was totally gross, but I slept worry free that night.
3. Next time we'll spend one night on Diablo Lake and the rest of the time on Ross Lake. Lots of neat places to explore there!

We can't wait to head up again, but I'm afraid that a big trip will have to wait for next year. Our summer is full and school is starting soon for the kiddos.

Mayfield Lake

2009-08-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Went out on my brother's boat for the day with a group of really great people. We met up with two other boats full of friends and hung out in the "party cove" for the afternoon. What a great day!

Shane and Jenn:

Daniel's face cracks me up here:
My husband, my brother, and these three other great guys all graduated from high school together. We don't see them very often, but we always have a good time when we do. Their wives are all wonderful, and I can't wait to give them a hard time when their kids are doing what they used to do!!!
Nancy and Brady:
The kids were towed on the tube, beer was had, brats were bbq'd and all was right with the world.

More Silverwood

2009-07-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

A few more photos from our trip to Idaho...

The view from one of our favorite rides:
The whole crew:

Water rides are wet!
Local wildlife:

Panic Plunge. Very big. Very scary!!

Baby, it's HOT outside!

2009-07-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

Our crazy little corner of the world has seen record temps the last several days. The "official" high temp was 104, but we saw as high as 106. We web-footed Washingtonians aren't used to this heat. Most people don't have A/C in this area. Luckily, we have both A/C and friends who live on lakes. :)
Ward Lake:

And Summit Lake:

My brother brought his boat to the lake, and he and Scott got some important male bonding time while the kids and I got pulled around on the tube. A good time was had by all, and the water was SO NICE.

Dale Evans, take that!

2009-07-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

Madeline got an hour-long horseback ride for her birthday. Well, it sounded fun, so we ALL went, including my awesome Aunt Patty, horsewoman extraordinaire!
It was eleventy billion degrees outside, but we all put on our long pants and jumped on these huge, sweating, heat-producing animals for an hour ride through the forest. It was actually a lot of fun...the people were great and the horses were very gentle.

Funny story here:
we stopped for ice cream after the ride at this cool place in Elbe. The staff stopped us as we walked in and said the place was closed because it was so hot inside that it was making the workers sick.

Tale from the Trail

2009-07-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is such an ugly picture.
It was my first time riding UP the trail, and I was worn out. I hit a huge rock and crashed...mostly because I was so tired I just let the bike take me down. I was *extremely* proud of the blood and dirt caked on my arm, however. Excuse the dumb expression.

Perfect Saturday Morning

2009-07-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Group ride with our friends/neighbors on a beautiful Saturday morning.
Photo by Derek Pearson Photography

Mtn Car

2009-07-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Took the kids up again on a very rainy wet day. It was a lot more difficult to ride in, but they seemed to dig it.
After the ride:

Derek and Sara have this mountain car that may rival our Jeep. It's pretty impressive to see it all loaded down with bikes!

This is what we found when we got home:

You can't really see it as well in the pictures, but it looks like they are both wearing brown leggings. It was hilarious-I think they'd do it in the rain again just for the brown leg/white feet thing.

Longboarding

2009-07-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Scott was home with the kids while I went out with a friend, and this is what I missed:
(all photos are from Derek, of course :) My camera and abilities don't come close...)

So now, I guess we'll be buying longboards, too.... ;)

Night Rider

2009-07-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Derek and Sara got us up to Capitol Forest for a night ride the other night. They have these really great, bright lights for the bikes, and I can't begin to describe how fun it was!

To paraphrase Derek: An epic night ride tonight up in Capitol Forest that included a sweet downhill shuttle ride, a 12 acre forest fire, a giant moon, a blown radiator, a muffler knocked loose and a return home time of 1:30 am. Excellent use of a Friday night.

Cruising

2009-07-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

Got a phone call at 8am:
"Hey, get out of bed! Get on your bikes and let's ride downtown!"
So, we did!

Derek and Sara were kind enough to wait for us to get it together and brush our teeth, and then off we went for a great ride to Starbucks, the waterfront for lunch, and around Capital Lake. Kids had fun looking at sea creatures and throwing rocks. At least 90 degrees out-what a day! I can't believe I didn't get one picture of Derek and Sara, but he was kind enough to email me his photos of the four of us. (His are so much better, anyway. So nice to have a photographer for a friend LOL!)

Silverwood or bust!

2009-07-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Madeline turned 10 on June 30th, and a big birthday was in order. Her good friend turned 10 the day before, so both families decided to pack up and head to Silverwood for a fun four days.

JD and Becky have some great photos on their camera, so this may end up being a two-day post to get them all in :)

Our drive was 8.5 hours, with two stops for gas and a stop for lunch. We go fairly slow pulling the trailer-JD and Becky made it in better time.
On our way...

Scott's road snacks:

Columbia River Gorge:

The campground at Silverwood is nice. Big sites, easy walking distance to the park (complete with underground tunnel).

The only downside for me is the traffic noise from the highway is pretty loud at night. By the third night I was used to it and slept like a baby, though. No fires allowed at this campground, in fact, they don't even allow fully enclosed, portable fire pits (which are supposed to be approved for use when campfires are not allowed). We were told to put ours out.
Fully enclosed, fire-approved, Silverwood denied Pit-2-Go:

However, BBQs and propane stoves are ok. So, the next night we fired up the BBQ and had a "fire" in it ;).
Silverwood itself is a super place for families. We spent one whole day on the amusement park side, and the second full day on the waterpark side. Rollercoaster photos are all coming later-my camera was too bulky to lug around.

Madeline wearing one of her birthday gifts before we hit the rollercoasters:

Boulder Beach is the waterpark, and it's just a lot of fun. We rented a cabana for our day there, and the expense is absolutely worth it. We had a place to lock up our valuables, a central meeting place for adults and kids, somewhere to stash our towels and shoes, and (best of all) a cabana boy at our disposal. Seriously. It also included two flotation devices, and did I mention the cabana boy??
Daniel preferred one of the two large wave pools, but he did every waterslide they would let him on. I loved all the slides, but I was particularly fond of Avalanche Mountain. I have never laughed so hard...JD actually got some photos, so I'll include those later.

On our way home we stopped here and there.
My son apparently likes ketchup on his dogs:

Snoqualmie Pass is beautiful this time of year, and the ice cream is awesome!

Cruisin...

2009-06-22T19:48:00.001-07:00

Because I can't ride my mountain bike everywhere....

Look what Scott got me as an early birthday gift!

And, he loved it so much he went out and bought his own:

Airshow

2009-06-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Spent the afternoon at the Gathering of Warbirds at the Olympia Airport:
The Stearman my dad flies:

Mountain Biking

2009-06-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Up to Mima Porter for another run!
This time I tried riding up instead of shuttling. It turned into a lot of pushing, but I did it! What a great workout :)
We picked up some $2 special glasses that are so dorky they are cool:

Some fun shots:

Camping-Take 1

2009-06-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

First trip of the year! Between soccer, piano, and end of school year stuff we only had one night for a quick trip this week.
We decided to run the canoe down to Mayfield Lake's Ike Kinswa State Park for a night of smores and troubleshooting the trailer. (Mostly because we are lame and we haven't purchased a cover for winter storage. Worries about leakage abound.)

The Augsburger clan (minus Becky) decided to come along for the ride. They borrowed a canoe and off we went!

For future reference with canoeing:
The spots located on the water in the full service sites are best for launching. We had water access from our site, but it was REALLY steep and not so much fun to struggle down. We should have taken it to the day use area, but laziness prevailed.

Another great waterfront park (reservable through the state park system) is Mayfield Lake Park. They have several water sites, but book early!

We had a great time canoeing-went down to the "party cove" before turning around and heading back. JD helped some poor fishermen who had their lines caught in a tree:

You pretty much can't go wrong with campsites here. We were in sites 76 and 78. They were HUGE, with a lot of buffer room in between where the kids ran and played.

JD's site (78). The tent is set up, but couldn't get it in the picture!:
Our site (76) pull through taken from JD's site:

Half of our site. We spent most of the weekend at the other site, so ours is pretty sparse looking:
All in all, a good start to the season!

'Cause that's how we roll....

2009-06-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

We decided one fine day that the kids were probably old enough to mountain bike. Madeline has an ok bike, but Daniel's stinks. He was determined, though, so we thought "why not?".
Up to Capitol Forest we go.

We shuttled to the top so the kids wouldn't be tortured (and then torture US) with pedalling up.
We chose a nice long trail with no obstacles and rolling trail down through the forest. Mima Porter #8 is a personal favorite of mine because I can practice turning fast and not worry about flying off my bike after hitting the occasional stump or root. Which I've done. It hurts.
Also, as an added bonus, Scott won't completely destroy his already-separated collarbone. Because he hit a stump, too. And flew off headfirst. We maybe need more practice.
But, I digress....
The kids were so stoked to go that we had to get them to slow down a bit at first and pay attention. Daniel was flying over anything in his path. He fell several times, but jumped right up, brushed off, and was back to flying down the trail again...
Madeline took to it instantly. She was leading our little pack at the end, and never seemed to have a bit of trouble.
Near the end we came across a family of four who were trying to figure out a broken chain. The dad had all the right tools, but no idea what to do with them. We parked our bikes and Scott took over, quickly repairing the chain and getting them up and running again. While we were chatting, they mentioned two kids mountain bikes that their kids had outgrown and would we like them? They had suspension, which our current kids bikes don't have. "Sure!" we said. "Why not?!" Well, turns out these are two Specialized HotRocks kids bikes-REALLY REALLY NICE BIKES. Madeline fits the smaller one perfectly, and can move up to the larger one soon. Daniel will need a new bike this year, then he can transition up to the Specialized bikes later. What a great, generous gift from this family!
The kids are ready to go again...and again...and again...and we are thinking a trip to Whistler this summer may be in order.

Rock Climbing?

2009-05-31T11:13:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Memorial Weekend. Warm sun.
Hey, let's drive to a place in a 12 year old guide book no one has been to, with no food in our packs and crappy shoes on!
The idea was sound, my execution: not so much.
Scott was at work, so I packed up the kids and followed the Augsburgers out to Fossil Rock. After much driving in circles and down dirt roads we finally came upon a gated gravel road that led to Weyerhauser land upon which we should find Fossil Rock.
We hiked roughly 2.5 miles in, and with some help from fellow hikers/climbers we found the mysterious and hidden path that led to the climbing area.
Views: 10+

Hike in: 7 (marked down for being boring on the dirt roads. Next time we're biking in. Easy for our kids. Minimal steep climbing at the end. Narrow path with BIG drops in areas. Nice area before the final climb up with makeshift fire pit and potential camping site--although there is NO CAMPING ALLOWED)
Climbing: ? Looks fun!

We got most of the way up before Old Dog Chilly plopped down with a smile on her face and declared herself done for the day. The kids did well, but there were a few areas where I insisted on hand holding. We didn't reach the climbing area until 5pm. So, we decided for a recon/scouting mission we did well, and we headed back down to rock climb another day.

Next time we go, I will plan for a hike in, lots of extra snacks, and possibly mountain biking the gear in.

Daniel's First Ride

2009-05-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Daniel is old enough to get some pleasure from (and hopefully remember) his first airplane ride with Grandpa, so we took advantage of the nice weather this weekend.

Takeoff!

Madeline helping with tie down:

Hey! We made it with no puking!!

Uh oh. Here comes trouble.

2009-05-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

No pictures, yet.
But.
We jumped in with both feet and bought ourselves a couple of new bikes!
We are now completely invested (in more ways than one) in mountain biking. Scott's even going the full-face helmet route, and looking into body armour. He's going a little too fast for a pleasurable outcome if he becomes intimate with a tree.
We both decided on the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR (one black and one silver). Wow-what great bikes! After one very discouraging ride I finally got my bike all set up the way I'd like it to be, and we are *flying* down the trails now.
(I say flying, and by that I mean I am slug speed to Scott's running dog, and we both pale in comparison to our friend's speed of light.)
We have been lucky enough to spend much quality time riding with our wonderful neighbors, and Derek has gently guided us and helped push us to ride better. And, shown us where to find a patch of clover that tastes exactly like not-quite-ripe blackberries! MMMMMmmmmmm.
The kids are dying to go with us, so hopefully we'll have an opportunity to run them up into Capitol Forest soon.
Pictures to come!

Poulsbo

2009-04-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Madeline is studying Washington State history in school this year, and for her city project she chose Poulsbo. Well, our theory is: the best way to report on it is to do it!

I packed up the car and off we went. Poulsbo is a cute little town on the water, about an hour from us. We decided to take the Narrows Bridge over, and, if time permitted, we would take the ferry to Seattle and drive back home via I-5. Well, we figured we'd run into 5:00 traffic, and with it being a Friday we decided to save the ferry ride for another time.

Poulsbo is known for it's rich Norwegian heritage, proximity to the water, and it's bakeries. Ok, I may have made up that last part.

Upon arrival, we went immediately to the Chamber of Commerce, where we met Volunteer Sandy:

She was a HUGE help getting us information about the area, as well as maps and tips for tourists. When we left Sandy, we drove to the waterfront and immediately set out to try pastries at Sluy's Bakery. According to Sandy, it's well-known the world over. All three of us were extremely happy with our choices, and Madeline declared it the best in the world.

After wandering around for some time, we came across the Marine Science Center.

This is a fantastic hands-on facility, with really cool displays. It's free (donation is requested), and the volunteers are wonderful. They walked with us through the museum, gave us a full tour, and provided information and opportunities to hold all the little creatures. The kids could have stayed here all day. The highlight was Sam the Octopus. Apparently, we arrived as he was being fed a crab. Whole.

Fun, squishy stuff....

After walking some more and picking up a few souveniers for Madeline's project, we headed home!

Madeline stopped her prednisone this week, so we're hoping to see the swelling go down over the next few weeks. She's feeling great, has a lot of energy, and is starting up with her soccer team again-a little late, but her coach made space for her. She's pretty self-concious of her cheeks and her weight gain, but all in all she's a much happier kid now that she's feeling better. We're hoping to get back to normal by summertime.

How I Spent My Spring Vacation 2009

2009-04-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

You'd think that we'd know better.
It's the first really nice day of spring, afterall.

The sun is out, it's the first Saturday of Spring Break for the kids....and we made plans to do some fun stuff!

And, then...
disaster struck.

To hear Daniel tell the story you'd get the impression that he was Tony Hawk on a bicycle. But, alas. His accident didn't come during some extreme sports competition, or on a gnarly trail on the Peak. It was in our neighbor's driveway. It did not, in fact, involve jumps, spins, or another human being. Poor kid just got his foot caught in the front fork and flipped right over the handlebars.

We got to spend all afternoon in the ER people watching. That is a world that I had never had the priveledge to observe up to now. Let me say that a Saturday afternoon in the waiting room beats most tv shows I've watched this year.

Daniel required two stitches. He was brave and didn't shed a tear (in fact, he is thrilled that he now has a scar with a "cool" story).

If this is how our spring and summer are going to go, I think we are in trouble.

Iditarod 2009!

2009-03-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

This will be a pretty photo-heavy post-I took a ton of pictures!

This is our second year heading up to Anchorage to see the race start, and it just gets better every year. It's a fantastic opportunity to visit my cousin and his family, for the kids to get together, and for all of us to have some new experiences. My cousin, Trey, and his wife are wonderful, amazing hosts. They have a beautiful home with lots of room for the kids to go crazy, and they are up for just about anything, which is a good match for us!

Scott had to work again this year, and my brother jumped at the chance to come along for round two! We got an early morning flight out of Seattle on Friday. We were shooting for Thursday, but the flights were packed and we were tied up a bit with xrays for Madeline. Everything went very smoothly (with the exception of the people sitting next to us on the plane-I'll never smoke a cigarette after that), and we jumped into the rental truck and headed to Wasilla.

We met Remy the Wonder Dog (who I love) and the kids got to play outside on the frozen lake.

There was much wrestling (kids) and wine drinking (adults), and then off to bed for an early run to Anchorage.
Some highlights from the race:

As we were waiting for the race to start, two of Anchorage's Finest asked if I wanted to put the kids on the snowmachines for photos. Heck yeah!!

We got some great photos of our favorite musher, Lance Mackey:

We went to eat at Bear's Tooth in Anchorage (awesome place!)
(Matt and Sage)
and saw ice sculptures downtown. We visited the Ule Factory and met a guy with retired sled dogs who trains the volunteers working with the teams at the starting line.

We found a new use for Daniel's hood (we think we'll patent it the "Iditarod Cup Holder"):

Madeline lost a tooth that day, too!

Saw 5 moose!

Sunday we got up, had a spectacular breakfast, and loaded up for Hatcher Pass. A day of sledding was just what we needed! What a spectacular day, with great views and perfect weather.

On our way out of Wasilla for the final time, we stopped by the Iditarod Headquarters and picked up some souveniers.

Flights looked horrible out of Anchorage on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday morning. We figured our best bet was to go through Southeast Alaska on the "milk run" on Monday afternoon. They are really loading up with cargo this time of year, so even that was shaky. Luckily, we got on and managed to stay on all four legs until we finally hit Seattle at 11pm. Best of all? It was Scott's plane all the way down! The kids got to meet the captain, pose for photos, and get bragging rights hahaha...

All in all, another really great trip to Alaska. Next year we've decided to rent snowmachines for a day, and maybe spend an extra night.
Madeline starts her Remicade infusions on Wednesday the 11th. We are tapering off the prednisone, and can't wait to be done with it. Madeline is hanging in there, but she is non-stop hungry, moody, and her poor little face is really puffy. She looks like a whole different kid. On the other hand, she is pain-free and doesn't have to be near a bathroom at all times. Her health is improving, and we are sure glad to have her feeling good!!

Can you Canoe?

2009-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Scott and I have been going back and forth...do we get kayaks or a canoe? We love the kayaking, but you can only fit 2-3 people max, and we'd need to buy two. Canoes are great because all of us fit in one, cargo is easily accessible, and they'll fit our vehicles better-especially when towing the trailer.

Last week we finally decided to go for it. Scott searched Craig's List and found a fantastic used canoe in Port Townsend. We thought about pulling the kids from school and making a day of it, but with the Crohn's stuff they have missed too much already. He ran up there in the morning and by 1:30pm we were in the water at Tumwater Historical Park (Lower Falls).

It's a great Old Town Tripper canoe-about 10 years old. It needed some cleaning up, but it has really comfy molded seats, Kevlar keel guards, a pristine interior, and loads of room for kiddos and gear!

We paddled all around for about two hours and then rushed home to meet the bus. We explored the falls up close and personal (probably not the brightest idea we had all day), all the marshy areas, and we saw geese, ducks, and a hawk. What a great afternoon!

It fits nicely on the Jeep, too-an added bonus!

Now, we just need to come up with a good name for it. We're planning an official christening ceremony this summer complete with champagne and lots of friends.

President's Day

2009-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day! Becky, JD, and I piled the kids in two cars and drove to Tolmie State Park for an afternoon of beachcombing. It was *very* cold, but the sun was out and we had amazing views in all directions from the beach. The tide was out, and we saw more sand dollars than we could count! I actually felt bad walking around, because my shoes were crunching little sea animals with every step. We found a sort of memorial to dead sand dollars:

We ran around the beach for awhile, then took one of the forest walks/hikes-about 2miles long.

This is one of my favorite parks in this area. It is also one of several being closed due to budget cuts. It was chosen because of "lack of visitors". The day went were there, a holiday Monday, the gate was closed (the park is normally closed Mondays, but come on....it's a holiday!). There were cars filling the upper lot in front of the gate, lining the road, and parked wherever one could find a spot. It's really a shame that this park is closing, and I hope the city or county picks it up and keeps it open.

Our newest Adventure

2009-02-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

In January, our daughter was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. She has a wonderful pediatrician and has been hooked up with Children's Hospital Seattle-which is a wonderful facility.

In the last 1.5 weeks we've started prednisone, which has completely turned Madeline around. She has put on weight, has color in her cheeks, and a spring in her step. She (so far) has not experienced any side effects, except for a slight "moon face". She'll go on additional medication soon that will control the Crohn's, and she'll be weaned off the prednisone.

As with everything, we are looking at this as another opportunity to check out cool things and learn about something new. We've had numerous books out on anatomy, you-tube videos of flouroscopies, and we've driven by all kinds of neat things in Seattle (although she was too wiped out to walk around). She's a real trooper, that kid, and she is bouncing back with tons of energy and a zest for life we haven't seen in months. Hopefully, this is the worst we'll see.

Flying, Indoor style

2009-01-31T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Olympic Flight Museum was holding a Paper Airplane Contest, so I packed up the kids and headed down for the afternoon. I got really caught up in the action, so I didn't take many photos, but wow! what a cool deal.

They had about 10 tables set up, each with a different airplane you could make. Plenty of paper, clear instructions, and planes of every skill and experience level.

Daniel made 3 airplanes and did some test flying to find the perfect one for the contest. His favorite was the old standby we do at home all the time. Madeline decided on two airplanes-one for distance and one for accuracy.
Test Flights:

Madeline lining up to take on the boys:

They divided the kids up into age groups, and off they went. Daniel got second place in accuracy, and did really well in distance. Madeline got second in distance!

All in all a great afternoon, and a lot of fun! Both kids can't wait to do it again next time.

The Flight Museum is a really great place to look around for an afternoon. It's small, but the people are all very knowledgable. They have several really cool helicopters and my kids' personal favorite:

Skiing and Snowshoeing at White Pass!! OK, Not Really...

2009-01-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Heidi and I dreamt up a grandiose plan to finally escape from the kids for a day. We like them and all, but everybody needs a break. We rented snowshoes, cross country skis and all the trimmings. We even bought freeze dried dinners to cook in our Jet Boil for a meal on a snowy trail somewhere. In my mind, this was shaping up to be a great day full of adventure, scenery, and time alone with my wife. The forecast was holding up well so I figured weather wouldn't be a problem. I still elected to take the Jeep because I have chains for it, just in case. Five miles from the top of White Pass the wind began to HOWL. By the time we reached the top the wind was gusting in excess of 40 mph...and it started dumping snow.

Standing outside the Alpine Center, which could be confused with a flimsy yurt, we took some pictures of our rapidly deteriorating day away from reality.

We passed some woman who could barely remain upright on her cross country skis as we made our way to the yurt. Now that's funny, except we have that problem without any wind. The yurt master, evidently the resident head cheese, eye-balled us warily. He seemed to think that we looked like newbies, which we are, and figured we were about ready to do something stupid and venture out, which we most definitely were not. He gravely advised us that snow bombs were falling out of the trees that were still standing up. Many of the trees had evidently succumbed to the wind and were blocking the trails. Oh, and the ski patrol is calling it a day too, so if we go out we will be on our own. Oh, and the power is out all across the mountain, which we didn't notice because, you guessed it, we're standing in a yurt. I blankly accepted his diatribe, not that I needed ANY convincing, and thanked him very much. It seemed funny to me that the ski patrol was packing it in. Isn't this the very time that idiots get themselves in to Darwinesque situations and require the AID of the ski patrol? We looked around the yurt, confirmed that it was, in fact, a yurt, and headed for the Jeep.

One last picture of our plight was taken because, on some later date, it will be hilarious that we drove for a couple of hours, rented a small fortune in gear, had no physical activity whatsoever, bought warm socks, and managed to pick the one day to go skiing for the first time in 11 years that we couldn't go skiing.

And we're driving again, trying to beat everyone else off of the mountain...yippee! All joking aside, Heidi and I had a great time. We always do!

Blast from the Past

2008-11-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

Fall is a little slow at Chez Cope-a-Cabana, and I'm a little behind in my camping posts, so here's a bit about the Neighborhood Trip '07...

Mayfield Lake, WA (Mossyrock)
We reserved the group site at Mayfield Lake Park in January. This was our second attempt to reserve something in this park-weekends fill up fast the minute the reservation lines open. We got a great weekend in August-too bad it was a cool summer.

The group site is great. It's removed from the rest of the campground, has it's own bathroom/shower facility, and has a nice kitchen shelter. There is plenty of parking and ample room for the three trailers we had-we parked lengthwise and had lots of space. There is a water hookup, but no electrical or sewer (unless you run a loooooong extension cord from the bathrooms.) (Not that we'd do that.) (Especially after the kids left the lights on and our battery was dead.)
There is a large grassy area where we managed to stuff 6+ tents plus a poker "tent". There was a separate area removed from the tent area with a huge fire pit, complete with benches.

**No Corona was harmed in the making of this picture, but several limes were sacrificed for the good of our Gin and Tonics.

We spent two nights here and really enjoyed ourselves. It would have been oh so much better if the water/weather were warmer, but I suppose you can't have it all!

**Yes, we are all total dorks. There were at least 6 Harry Potter books on this camping trip, and we all read them around the campfire one night.

Our first night there we all walked/biked down to the day use beach and played volleyball until we couldn't see the ball any longer (parents won!). The sport court is great. The playground is old, but the younger kids all still seemed to like it. The beach is pretty nice, and the swim area is well marked and far enough from the boat launch to not be a problem.

My brother brought his boat down and we spent Saturday waterskiing and tubing (WITH wetsuits...it was COLD) and generally laughing ourselves silly.

On Sunday the sun actually came out, so we packed up our stuff, checked out of the site, and parked in the boat launch area. We jumped in the boat with my brother and spent the rest of the day in the sun (And in the water. And under the water.)

Photos!

2008-10-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yay! Derek passed on a cd with photos from our biking and flying day! Once again, all photos from this post were taken by Derek Pearson, photographer and bike addict.

Derek is upsidedown...hope that seatbelt is tight :) My dad is in the rear.

Historic Naches Trail

2008-09-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Scott has been wanting to take the Jeep on this trail for the better part of a year. We finally got a chance to go and you can see all of the pictures-along with the hubby's looooooooooooong write up-on our Jeep site: www.xjav8r.blogspot.com

This trail has a really great history and was a lot of fun. We live in such a beautiful state!! The pictures don't do it justice, but hop over to his site and check them out anyway :).

A taste of the fun:

Fun with Airplanes

2008-09-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

My dad has flown small planes since he was a teenager. I grew up going for rides with him, and eventually I soloed in two different gliders and a Cessna. Like many teens, I became more interested in clothes and football games than putting money in an airplane, and I fell away from my goals of learning to fly.

My dad has owned his own plane since I was 15, so I continued to go with him pretty much until I had kids and moved away. Of course, I married a pilot (who was then a flight instructor), so I flew when he had a space in the plane, too.

My mom and dad are now living their dream, on 5 acres with llamas, a cat, several toys (like the ziplines and tree houses) and an airplane in it's own airplane hanger...all on a grass airstrip. One of the neighbors out there owns the most beautiful biplane you've ever seen. Ron is blind, but he has named my dad his "official" pilot, so Dad gets to fly his airplane around as well as his own...it's important to exercise airplanes, you know, so they don't feel neglected ;)

Over the last few years, I found that if Dad was out giving rides I'd make sure everyone had a chance: "No, I can go *anytime*....YOU should go!" Well, last night I decided that enough is enough. I jumped in and enjoyed a flight down to a local airport to gas up, then a loop and a hammerhead on the way back!

The photos were all taken by Derek Pearson (again). He is just so good!! He and his wife both got rides-loops included! No picture I take can come close to Derek's, so I encourage you to check out his website. Be sure to check out posts from both days-part one and two-lots of great photos! As soon as I can I'll put some photos on my blog, but for now...jump on over and see what he did!

Cruising-on two wheels

2008-09-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have been introduced to two more very fun hobbies:
Cruiser bikes and longboarding.
We are hooked.
Our friends/neighbors have a garage full of these bikes and, oh MAN are they fun! Each bike has an xtracycle extension on it, complete with bags and foot pads. Seriously fun!

Derek (the neighbor) is a professional photographer. I'm embarrassed to publish any of my own very poor photos when you can check out his website:
click here!!

You can find amazing photos of the bikes, links to bikes, and see some longboarding photos as well! In fact, our family is in a few photos in 9/8 post :)

Northwest Trek

2008-08-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad called us up and asked if we'd like to go see the animals at Northwest Trek! Scott was on a trip, so I bundled up the kids and off we went! We picked up my aunt along the way and the six of us set off for a day of "Trek"-ing.

I didn't get many good photos on this trip. There were so many animals out and so much to see! I forgot I had my camera most of the time. The weather was a bit cool on the day we went-a nice change from the really warm weather-and I think the animals were ready to venture out.

We went by every enclosure and took the long tram ride, and there was only one animal that we didn't see. The tram ride driver was great-he told us about the history of Northwest Trek, fun facts about the animals we saw, and he pointed out interesting native vegetation and gave us information about that, too! (Including some disgusting stories about slugs and stinging nettles).

All during the month of September they run special trams so you can go listen to the elk bugle during the rutting season. I'd love to get back, but I think we'll be too busy with soccer. Maybe next year :) !!
Aunt Patty and Mom:

NW Trek is really one of the coolest natural places we have here. Every season is different, and it's really fun to see the animals in their natural habitat, free to roam around on 435 acres.

There is a book out called At the Forest's Edge by David Tirrell Hellyer. This is the founder of Northwest Trek, and the book details his life, his love of nature, and the establishment of the park. I've just barely started it, but it looks interesting. My dad and his sisters knew the Hellyer family when they were young, and it was a lot of fun to hear their memories while we walked through the park.

Mt. Hood

2008-08-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a great four days!

Our annual neighborhood trip took us to Mt Hood this year. Our plan was to camp at Trillium Lake Campground and spend all day friday at the Skibowl/Adventure Park. Saturday was going to be spent hiking and exploring, but record temps kept us at the lake all day.

When planning our trip this year I was looking for a campground that provided a central location to our activities, with enough room for us to spread out. I couldn't find a lot in the way of reviews on Trillium Lake, other than the usual "this popular campground...." stuff. So, in the way of detail, let me say:

WOW. This place is absolutely one of the coolest places we've been with our large group. Campsites were HUGE and secluded. The campground was absolutely spotless. The lake was spectacular, and (as far as I could see) accessible from every site on the water side of both loops. There was not a "beach", but each trail led to a spot to spread a towel, set out some chairs, and launch an air mattress or a raft. The amphitheater is a really cool place to have a group campfire, although a word of warning: it is in close proximity to at least two sites. Our kids were a bit loud one evening and I think we disturbed our neighbors. We elected to move our fire to a less-open space the following nights :) .

Our trailer is only 18 feet long (folded up). Unfolded it's probably 26 feet? You can see we had plenty of room to park the Expedition in front of it, and we fully extended the awning. This was probably the standard pad size-some bigger, some smaller, but most were about this size. Behind the trailer we left enough room to walk behind it since that was the "trail" to the actual site:

To the right of the table was the tent site(s):

See what I mean? HUGE.
There were pit toilets that, while better than some I've seen, were still pit toilets. All the smells were there.
The lake was amazing:

There was much beer consumed that day, so there is a thumb, a head, or a crooked frame on nearly every photo.
To give you some idea of the "beach area" we completely took over as our own:

Complete with dogs, kids, pregnant ladies, and various flotation devices.
It was a perfect place to be when the temps hit 109!

I brought bags of my raw food goodies to the beach and they went fast! I think I have at least one firm convert, and several people impressed with what one can do with a dehydrator.

So, Friday was our day at the Adventure Park/Skibowl. Cara, who works there in event planning, was absolutely wonderful. She set us up with tickets, picnic lunches, and answered my unending questions. We had eight families, and every single one of us had a fantastic time. If you have never been here, I HIGHLY recommend a visit. The Alpine Slide is not to be missed!

If there was an activity, we tried it. We did the Alpine Slide (one injury), mountain bikes (one injury), kiddy karts, zipline, and bungee jump...just to name a few:

My brother taking the plunge:

Even the kids got into the act! They all went on the zipline: fearless!!

I even did the bungee jump! My first time ever, and the guys who work it are fantastic!
My fav zipline photo is of Becky:

Does it get any better than that??? This place was so fun, and the people were all, without fail, WONDERFUL. Down to the guys on the chair lift.

So, this post is long enough, but I have to mention a few other things. We ate twice at the Ice Axe in Government Camp during the four days. Once, Friday night after the Adventure Park, and once Sunday late afternoon on our way home. The service was slow both times, but the employees were all, without fail, nice and friendly. The food was GREAT, and the beer was extremely good. We all ended up buying t-shirts and sweatshirts (except me...DORK. Now I want to go back).

Timberline Lodge (perhaps most famous for being the location in The Shining) was, as usual, a very cool place to stop. We are determined to make a couples trip out of it during the winter-without the crazy. So, a final family portrait: ..........and, we're off to the next adventure!

On the Water

2008-08-06T20:19:00.001-07:00

So, this was our newest adventure:

What a blast!

We have thought about doing this for some time. A few weeks ago we tried out kayaks with the kids at Capitol Lake. Alpine Experience has a great deal where they let you use their kayaks at no cost on Thursday nights. The kids LOVED it! Cut to Monday-we rented a few kayaks from Tugboat Annie's for a few hours with my folks. We wanted to try out the salt water/sound to see if it was still as appealing as we first thought.

None of us could get enough. We saw sea lions basking in the sun, swimming around our kayaks, and slapping the water with their...fins?...tails? Now, we are on a quest to own or build two tandems so we can do this more often. Scott has it narrowed down to one or two kits he can do over the winter. Stay tuned for more kayak adventures!

Lake Cushman

2008-08-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

We were looking for a quick get-away.
We were bored with our usual close-in spots, so we thought we'd try out Lake Cushman again. We've been there a few times before, but it's been a few years.

We made reservations at Camp Cushman for two nights, and Scott called up a friend and invited his family down for dinner and a hike the next day.

When we arrived, we found that we weren't really happy with our reserved spot. It was small-ish and crammed in with other RV's. I think many full-time RVer's are used to these types of spots, but we like some room to roam. The lady in the welcome booth/store/reservation spot was *wonderful*. She gave us a map, a complete list of her openings for both nights, and talked at length about the pros/cons of each site. She was extremely helpful and flexible with us.

We drove around the campground (both upper and lower) looking at all the sites and finally settled on one we liked-Site 1. It was a pull-through with full hookups with a nice big area for the kids. It is right at the beginning of the loop, so we had a bit of traffic. Not so much that it would ruin our time, though.

The spots on the upper loop are all pretty nice. Spots #65 and #67 are particularly appealing based on the privacy and places for kids to play, although they are not the most level. Unfortunately, the upper loop spots are all standard-no hookups. We were feeling pretty lazy-didn't want to fill up our tanks with fresh water or dump later-so we opted for full hookups this time around.

Huckleberries were just coming out, so the kids cleaned off just about every bush in our site.

It wasn't supposed to be great weather so we didn't bring swimsuits etc. Of course, it ended up being pretty nice and the lake was surprisingly warm. The kids wouldn't let me off the hook, and talked about how much they wanted to swim the ENTIRE TIME.

Our friends came up for a visit during our full day at the campground, and we drove up to Staircase for a short hike/walk. As we remembered, the pit toilet there at the trailhead is completely disgusting. There was a ranger in the area who provided us with quite a bit of information about the area and how the banks of the river had changed after last winter's severe storms and flooding. Our walk up was beautiful, and the kids had a good time.

Scott's friend, Matt, has long been an instigator of all kinds of craziness. And, once confronted with a challenge my husband rarely backs down. Today's bit of fun was stripping to underwear and jumping in the river. The cooooold, cold river.

We had a great day, a good dinner, and fun around the campfire.

The next day we took a trail that ran along the lake. We saw all kinds of bugs, spiders, and slugs, then headed for home.

Gary's World

2008-07-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

My kids are spoiled rotten.

My dad thought a treehouse would be great for them. He started off small-then he added a slide. And real doors and windows. And a zipline. And a suspension bridge. A swing. An observation tower. A rope climb. And finally, the "adult zipline". It's totally, insanely, fun. We went out there with two other families and actually ended up banning the kids from the zipline so we didn't have to share! I think we may end up charging admission-the llama's reactions alone are worth money:

There are several photos of the treehouse etc., but I need to pull them off the camera. Will add more later.
All I want to know is: where was all this when *I* was growing up??

Iditarod

2008-03-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

So, not exactly a "Northwest" adventure, but fun all the same!

Madeline was reading Balto in school, and I was itching for some fun, so I packed up the kids and headed for Anchorage the first weekend of March. The Iditarod was starting out of Anchorage-a short drive from my cousin's house in Wasilla. Scott had to work, so I asked my brother if he wanted to come along. We had a fantastic time!

First, Anchorage is cold in the winter. Really, really cold. I didn't want to pack too much (standby is a pain with a lot of luggage) but I managed to get all of our cold weather gear in my suitcase and the kids' two small bags. Still, we ended up purchasing a few fleece-y items while there.

Our first day there was beautiful. We bundled up and headed out on the frozen lake for some beer and ice fishing:

All the kids got involved, which was a lot of fun. Madeline really had a great time with it, and she still talks about doing it again soon. Daniel thought it was a blast, but he was a bit too small to handle the big ice auger. Maybe next time!

The kids all get along great, so the first day we pretty much just played and had fun together.

We got up early the next morning and headed in to Anchorage for the start of the race. Anchorage trucks in snow and puts together what looks like a 7 mile "track" for the dogs and sleds-right through town. It's really cool to see. There are tons of people there, and more fur than you can ever imagine. I love animals, and I am all for humane treatment, but if I had had 2 grand you can bet I would have bought one of those nice warm coats and ditched my 50 layers of high tech material in an instant. Did I mention that it was cold?

We were glad to meet up with Scott's brother and his girlfriend to watch the race. Chuck and Amy recently relocated to Alaska and we haven't seen them in several months.

The race began, and we got some great photos, but, alas. We missed Lance Mackey completely. He was the musher we had read up on and we were rooting for.

After we got our fill of watching the sleds go by we wandered all around Anchorage and enjoyed the amazing ice sculptures. We grabbed some lunch at Mooses Tooth which is a cool place that my cousin's ex husband played a major role in building/planning.

After a nice relaxing evening we called it a night and then headed home early the next morning.

Oh! And, we had a moose sighting or two. The kids were fascinated (ok, *I* was fascinated) but this is the best photo we could get:

This one was just down the road from my cousin's house.
Scott says he wants to go along next time, so hopefully he'll get some time off next year. We had such a good time I'd love to do it again. Maybe next time we'll even catch a fish or two, or tour the kennels to meet some of the dogs ahead of the race.

We followed the race every day from home, and I bought a big map of the course so we could plot it out. Lance Mackey won again!

Mt Rainier Sledding!

2008-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Every year we say we want to get up to the sledding hill at Paradise, and every year we get too busy to go. This year, we planned a trip with a group of neighbors and made it a priority.

We left the neighborhood at 8:45am, and with a stop at Walmart in Yelm for sunglasses (in January! In Washington!) we made it to the snowplay area at 10:45 or so. Out of 5 vehicles, 10 adults, and 11 kids we only had one puker on the way up! (Those roads can be windy and twisty.)

The weather was perfect. And when I say perfect, I mean without a doubt the best weather day I have ever seen on a mountain in Washington in the winter. Sunny, clear, even warm! Got up to about 35 degrees and we were shedding layers like crazy.

The sledding hill there is a blast, and perfect for the kids we had with us. I heard one guy in line say that it used to be even steeper, but some people were getting hurt.

Daniel (4 years) had to be convinced that a lunch break just meant "break" and we would, in fact, be returning to the hill after we ate. Our boy who wouldn't ride a ferris wheel 2 years ago is now a certified daredevil. Longer, faster, higher!!!

Just as the sun started to go down we packed up our cars and headed down the hill. Stopped for dinner at the Copper Creek Inn (fantastic food, and great staff) then headed home. A perfect day!The Road to Paradise.....

Snack Break!

Birds coming in for a snack during our tailgate lunch

Hubby up to his waist in snow (the other adults took full advantage of the opportunity to pummell him with snowballs).

Tahuya II

2008-01-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Jeff had some business with a client in Belfair so I decided to meet up with him afterwards for another run at Tahuya. What a blast!

There was A LOT more water than the last time we went, with a light dusting of snow in some spots. Our mission was to explore the southern half of the 4x4 loop. On our last trip we inadvertantly bypassed most of the loop after getting a little disoriented.

Let's just say the southern loop is MUCH more difficult to navigate. There was deep standing water...large roots...large rocks...washed out sections of trail with creeks running through them...steep...slippery...FUN! We also added some Jeep Forest Green (from Jeff's rig) and grey (from mine) to the landscape in a rutted steep washed out section of trail. The rock garden (not pictured) claimed some of my red paint as well:(

We started the trail at 2:00 pm and finally exited about 6:45. This was much later than we had planned, but we also hadn't planned on the southern part of the loop being so gnarly. Unfortunately there aren't many pictures of the southern part, as the sun had gone down, but you will see some at the end where I left some of my grey fender flares behind on the side of a rutted wash.

As usual the pictures don't do anything justice, and the best parts were largely unphotographed because it was dark or I was too busy driving. I'm waiting for Jeff's pictures from his camera. Maybe there will be some good ones. Evan's Creek is definitely in the future but we are going to wait until the snow melts a bit. We want to spend time driving, not winching! That's it until next time!

And it begins...

Did I mention that Jeff likes to go through water?

Admiral Jeff Scott and his green U-boat...those are 35" tires, by the way.

A blurry picture of the XJ in the woods.

An easy part of the trail with a small creek running down the middle...we had no idea what we were in for later!

XJ on the rocks with a twist.

15 psi in the tires makes for a nice sidewall bulge.

Sure flexes better than when it was stock. The JKS quick disconnects really add some articulation to the Skyjacker lift in the front. The next project is to remove the rear anti-sway bar completely. It's also time to trim the fenderwells...:)

Nice articulation but nowhere near what this Jeep Unlimited Rubicon is capable of.

Note the chunks of ice on the front bumper. They were scooped from the surface of a "puddle" we had just navigated through.

Twisted up and getting dark FAST. This is what the south loop looked like in the easier parts.

Ooops! The pictures just don't do the angle justice but I was worried that the scraping was from the door. Turns out it was just the rear fender flare.

No, I am not tilting the camera. The gouges blend in beautifully with the scraped and peeling paint on the rest of the Jeep. I don't think anyone will even notice. It could have been a lot worse!

Snowy Capitol Forest

2007-12-29T23:18:00.000-08:00

We went up to Capitol Forest to check out the snow and got more than we bargained for. The snow was being rained upon and the combination made for extremely slippery conditions. Jeff slid into a ditch requiring help from his winch after pulling over for some idiots in a Subaru. We had our own ditch excursion but it was much smaller. With a little momentum, lot's of spinning wheels, and help from an unseen (but rather large) rock we were able to exit the ditch at a time and place of IT'S choosing. After all of this we aborted our drive to "The Peak" but ended up playing around at a lower area for a few minutes before returning to the warmth of our Jeeps. Here are some pictures!

Ahhhh my hand is freezing!!

This snow is deep and cold but I can still find the warmth to laugh!

It looked a lot steeper from inside the Jeep...

Jeff sure has a great looking Jeep.

Jeff and his daughters, Katie (left) and Marie.

From left: Madeline, Heidi, Daniel, and me wearing the same sweater I was wearing last time we went off-road...RAD...and of course, our Jeep XJ in the background.

The early stages of a short lived snowball (ice ball?) fight.

And finally, the kids all together: Katie, Marie, Madeline, Daniel.

After this brief break to stretch our legs we scurried back to the warmth of our Jeeps and called it a day. We will be sure to take some pictures on our next adventure, but until then take care!!

Note to self: Deep snow that is being vigorously rained upon + Mud tires = BAAAAD!!

Riffe Lake (Tacoma Power Park Mossyrock)

2007-11-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Dates: Late June 2006
Nights: Two
Site: Group Site

Details:
This trip was supposed to be a two night trip to Beacon Rock State Park. The entire campground was full, so we drove to or called nearly every campground we could find going north on I-5. We ended up at a nasty place at 11pm where we didn't even unhook the trailer. At first light we packed up and left, driving to Tacoma Power Park Mossyrock

They had a few open spots on the Smores Loop (the first come-first served area). They also were allowing people to park in the group sites, since they didn't have any reservations there at that time. We chose to take a spot in the group site since the Smores Loop was more suited to tents.

Review:
This park is beautiful, well-kept, with amazing green lawns. The group sites are situated around a large gravel area. There are electric outlets, but no water hookups. There are some tent sites, but it appears to be mostly for RV's. The restrooms are clean and nice.

The tent sites are nice, but some are on an extremely slanted lawn.

There are a few really cool nature trails, and the lake is beautiful (but very, very cold). There is a great little concession stand near the beach area that sells ice cream and other camping necessities. We went down for ice cream after dinner one night and let the kids play at the playground-a nice way to end the evening.

Nearby are a few things to do-we took a drive and looked at the nearby Mossyrock Dam (the tallest dam in Washington State, according to the brochure). Fishing is also a popular pasttime, although we don't usually partake.
Nearby Mayfield Lake has many public access areas, and is a bit warmer.

Catching Up

2007-11-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

This blog started when I was looking for reviews about campsites and hikes in the NW. I couldn't seem to find anything containing the information I was looking for. Since we don't like to visit the same place twice, I thought we could be a good source of information and voila! a website was born.

I'll be reviewing campgrounds, hikes, and mountain biking trails as I can, from 2004 forward. New stuff will be thrown in here and there, until I can get up to date. I don't have photos for everything, so you will have to take my word on it :) .

Enjoy!

Heidi

Tahuya State Forest

2007-11-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!

Here are some pictures of our trip to Tahuya State Forest on November 11, 2007. Tahuya has a network of off-road trails dedicated for use by motorcycles, ATV's, and 4x4's. In attendance was Jeff, Marie, and Marie's friend Allie riding in Jeff's superbly equipped Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (JK) pictured here.

Riding in the second truck was me (Scott), navigatrix and co-driver Heidi, Madeline, and Daniel. Our ride is a 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo (XJ), somewhat modified:), pictured here.

The Tahuya trail was tons of fun with mud, a lot of water, rocks, and steep climbs. Right off the bat we ran across a seriously broken '78 Chevy with a late model Ford F250 trying to tow it off of the trail. The Chevy had a tie-rod that was bent in a lovely U shape and had ripped the tire from one of the front rims. The Ford got stuck trying to maneuver into a position to push the Chevy and Jeff was able to lend a hand with his winch.

Speaking of DEEP water, here are some pictures of me going a little too far with the Cherokee. Note that between the first and second pictures the water was lapping over the hood and about halfway up the front windshield...OOPS...time to floor it!

Here's Jeff making quick work of the water with a rather impressive bow wave!

As the sun set we finished the end of the trail with some hill climbs...

...and back down for another run!

Here are some pictures of the Jeep Cherokee gang, minus the illustrious photographer, Heidi.

That's all for now, but next time we are planning a trip to Evan's Creek. If you want to go, just give either Jeff or I a call and we'll save a seat for you! It's a lot of fun and the scenery is beautiful!

Lake Wenatchee/Alpine Lakes Wilderness

2007-08-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Lake Wenatchee State Park for two nights. Wow-what a great park! We stayed on the north side of the river, on the east loop (sites 101-148). I'd made reservations online, but when we arrived we discovered that a full-hookup site was available our first night. It made for a little craziness the second day (packing up the fold-outs and moving across the street to our original site), but it was worth it.

The north loops are a bit of a drive (or bike ride) from the main campground where the concessions, swimming area, and group camp are. This was fine with us-we were there to do some hiking!

After consulting my hiking book from the library and a newly-purchased USFS map, we decided to try the hike to Eightmile Lake. This is a hike-in-only lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness with limited camping available. It's just under 3.5 miles each way, and not too steep, so the kids would do well. We packed up the car and the kids and drove to the parking area off Forest Service Road 7601. Going up we took our time. The kids were doing great and we didn't want to wear them out. The hike is pretty easy-a few steep spots, but well marked and well-traveled. Our kids handled it well. We took pictures of local wildlife:

At mile 2.8 we arrived at Little Eighmile Lake:

We stopped and ate a bit from our packs. There were chipmonks everywhere!

After our little break, we headed out again for Eighmile Lake-another 0.5 miles or so. This was probably my favorite part of the whole hike. We met several fishermen coming down, and the afternoon was a perfect temperature. It was steep, but really beautiful. When we got to the lake, there was only one tent with a couple staying overnight, so we tried to be courteous and avoid them as much as possible.

The lake is unbelievable beautiful. It's clear and quiet, and the contrast with the sharp hills surrounding it takes your breath away. The kids were even awestruck-well, for a few minutes, anyway.

We hung out on the rocks for awhile throwing rocks and soaking it all in, then a quick check of our watches told us it was time to start heading down....sooner rather than later.

We got down to Little Eightmile Lake and decided we should pick up the pace a bit-the sun was starting to go down behind the hills. I managed to drag my feet and take a few more pictures:

Scott finally put Daniel on his shoulders and we sped up. We had a small spill-Scott sprained his ankle and Daniel got a bump or two-but we made it down in one piece.

Back at the campsite, we started a very late dinner. My knee was killing me, Scott's ankle was swollen and painful, and the kids were wiped out, but we grabbed our chairs and a couple glasses of wine and headed down a trail to the lake. What a perfect night! The stars were out and we caught the tail end of the Perseids Meteor Shower.

The next day we went in to Leavenworth for a day of sightseeing. I love this town, and even though we were both hobbling and unable to do too much we enjoyed it. We had lunch at Munchen Haus (again) and then headed home...