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November 20 Last Hike of the Season?Although I had a pretty active summer, I wasn't able to squeeze in as much hiking as I would have liked. So a few weeks ago I decided to grab Dennis, one of my super-athletic buddies from the office, and head out for one last hike before the season is over for good.
Let me tell you, the Mt. Si Trail isn't known for being a beautiful climb -- dense forest for the entire way up obscures any semblance of a view until you reach the tippy-top. This close-to-town hike also isn't known for being a good place to "get away from the crowds" or "commune with nature" -- the parking lot is usually packed with Subarus and you're likely to encounter a couple dozen kids, dogs, trail runners, and other city-slicker-cum-hiker types along the way.
Luckily, Dennis happened to know of a secret back-door trail that gets to the summit but is extra steep and not widely known, so we had that route to ourselves except for one quick run-in with a mother/daughter hiking team that couldn't keep up with our pace (we OWN!). So it did end up being a really nice way to "get away from the crowds"... and now that I think about it, he was also able to get a wild bird to land on his outstretched index finger for a few seconds, and I guess you can't get much closer to "communing with nature" than that!
So it ended up being a pretty great hike anyway, and the 3,400 feet of elevation gain over 8 miles went a long way toward gettin' these legs in shape for the upcoming snowboarding season. With any luck, next time Dennis and I are on a mountain it will be covered with snow and we'll be flying down it on freshly-waxed boards!
- Jas
At the summit: Dennis and the foggy void
On the secret trail: Mushrooms
November 07 The Frigid FoolsThe Enchantment Lakes Basin is one of the true jewels of the northwest. But at 7,000+ feet of elevation, there's no easy way to get there. Both trails into the basin are long and have sections that are more than a little scary to traverse especially when they involve steep bare granite, snow, ice, and 45-pound winter backpacks. But once you get there you'll understand what the fuss is all about, because it's a vision of wild beauty that the bulk of civilization will never set eyes upon.
Most visitors head to the basin in the summertime when the brilliant still life of razor rock spires, mammoth glaciers, and necklace-beads of little lakes framed by alpine larch are at their most inviting. But Fraser, Champagne and I (Shawna couldn't make it due to a busy work schedule) made the pilgramage after permit season came to a close on October 15, which is well into winter in the Enchantments. The area is still amazing in October, but in a different way: fresh white snow and yellow autumn-turning larch nestle in stunning contrast to the black granite and icy streams. The biting temperatures and jet-engine winds ensure that we have the place to ourselves.
Maybe we're gluttons for punishment. Our buddy Steve once dubbed us "The Frigid Fools" and I can't say he's wrong. But I can't think of a more unique and visually interesting patch of wilderness where a person could spend a long autumn weekend. Plus, there's nothing more cozy than laying swaddled and toasty in my sleeping bag while the water bottles freeze and the snow quietly piles up on my little one-man tent; that's the kind of calm that only comes from backpacking in the winter, and it's the very best way I've found to reboot my brain and recenter my perspective as to what's really important in life.
Of course, I should mention another one of my favorite things about camping in the snow: the hot-hot shower waiting for me when I get back home ;)
- Jas
Our campsite under a giant larch
Self portrait with Prusik Peak
An Enchantments evening
Looking suave in my toasty down coat
October 07 Finally FramedIt's been three years since our wedding, and we finally got around to framing and hanging a wedding photo. It's just one photo but since we're counting on it to fill up the tall empty space in the staircase landing, we super-sized it to a hefty 2'x3'. And if I may say so, it looks great!
Slowly but surely, our little house is starting to feel like a little home.
- Jas September 25 Welcome to the OutbackAfter nearly a decade, I finally broke down and bought me a new rig. In order to get us safely to the snowboarding mountains and the rocky forest roads that lead to our favorite hiking spots, Shawna and I decided that the Subaru Outback is the car we need. It's got all-wheel drive and a surprising ground clearance of almost 9 inches, so it should get us where we need to go.
P.S. We're selling my 1995 Chevrolet S10 pickup, so send me an email if you're looking for a great little truck!
- Jas September 23 Rafting the TietonWhat better way to round out a busy, fun-filled summer than with a whitewater rafting trip? Shawna and I headed down to Yakima with a dozen friends to take a guided rafting trip down the Tieton River, on the Big Weekend when they throw open the dam doors and the river goes from a meandering fishing stream to a raging whitewater buckin' bronco.
Both of us were a little nervous -- Shawna moreso since her swimming skills are, well, a little rusty -- but it ended up being a huge amount of fun and we're already planning to do more whitewater trips next year. The weekend was made even better by car camping with the group on Friday and Saturday night at a gorgeous moutain campground kissed by a crystal-clear creek and reserved entirely for us. Megan even brought a giant inflatable Fun Island that we tied to a stump in the stream, which was perfect for afternoon napping.
We rode the rapids, we napped, we ate steak and corn-on-the-cob, we made some new friends (Zee and Suzanne, thanks for the Tarantula!), and we played on the beach until the sun went down. Then we froze our butts off until bed time, but it was still a blast. Cheers to Megan for organizing the trip, and cheers to everybody else for making it a great trip to end the summer with a splash!
- Jas SkydivingI've wanted to jump from an airplane ever since I was a little kid. It's just always sounded like a heck of a lot of fun, and since I'm dangerously un-afraid of heights the only thing that's stopped me up until now has been the price point. But this summer, along with a group of buddies -- Bill, Dan, Sam, and Stephan -- I decided that it was high time we made the leap.
After shelling out a hefty $200 each, we signed our lives away (quite literally: the contract said we couldn't sue the skydive company for an accident even if it was found that their equipment was faulty and their staff was criminally negligent) and boarded the little prop plane to the sky. As we neared an elevation of 2.5 miles over the tiny town of Toledo, WA, the jump masters and other passengers exchanged special skydiver handshakes while chanting the little prayer "hope... your shit... works" and began vanishing through the airplane's rear door.
The fellas and I were jumping tandem, which means each of us had an ostensibly "professional" skydiver strapped to our back who would be monitoring our descent and pulling the ripcords when it was time to do so. My tandem master had asked me to please keep an eye on his altimeter and let him know when we had fallen to 5,000 feet because "there was some stuff he needs to do then", and I was only about half certain he was joking. He and I were the last ones out, and after duck-walking to the rear of the plane we did a "one... two... three!" before hurtling out the door and plummeting toward Planet Earth in a 130-mile-per-hour freefall.
I've seen it on T.V., but never expected what a sensory-overload it would actually turn out to be. Flipping around in midair, the horizon tilting/disappearing/reappearing, violently loud wind distorting my face and sucking the air out of my lungs, spotting the now-tiny airplane thousands of feet above me... sixty seconds of this before the parachute opened and we began the gently-gliding ride down to the airfield where Shawna was staring into the sunny blue sky trying to pick out which of the tiny colored dots was me. If you watch the attached video, you can faintly hear me yelling "hey, Shawna!" from beneath my canopy.
The experience was well worth the 200 bucks. It was a thrill-a-second, it was emotionally liberating, and I'll never be able to look at an airplane the same way again. When I try it again next summer, I hope I can get my little wife to jump with me!
- Jas
September 06 Lake Pearrygin, WAShawna and I journeyed to Lake Pearrygin over Labor Day weekend to hook up with a group of friends that have been meeting there every summer for well over a decade. It's actually part of a continuing tradition that started with Fraser's parents and their family friends over 30 years ago; I've been participating since around 1995, but have missed the last few years. Things have changed considerably in my absence, including the addition of several children who are already nearing grade school age, but the now-older crew has just as much fun chatting and chortling around the late-night camp fire while sipping beers and sharing sizzling spicy dogs on a stick. Coupled with some hot, dry September weather, car camping just doesn't get any more comfy.
As far as car-camping goes, Lake Pearrygin State Park is the cream of the crop. This sweet little oasis just outside the old-west town of Winthrop, Washington, is surrounded by the poshest "camping" facilities you've ever seen: sprinkler-watered grassy fields in which to pitch your tents, assuming you're not hooking an R.V. up to water and electric; sturdy aluminum picnic tables and on-site running water; lake beaches laden with yards of trucked-in white sand; and public restrooms, always within a barefoot walk, that pamper with hot showers and proximity-sensor flush-toilets and sinks. If you're looking to "rough it", Lake Pearrygin ain't the place you oughtta be looking.
But it only takes an afternoon walk up an old dirt road to leave the high-tech camper's paridise behind and find yourself in the middle of an eerie graveyard of decaying farm houses and outbuildings -- Fraser's parents say that it was old and abandoned even 30 years ago when they first visited the area. It's a fun place for photo-taking: the wood is brown and weathered, the roofs have mostly sloughed away, and the walls are bowed and sun bleached like half-buried rib cages jutting from the soil. I could have spent all evening up there snapping pics of the decrepit buildings and rotting furniture, but alas, dinner time came too soon and the beefy shish-kabobs lulled me back to civilization. Most of my photos from the trip are from our visit to the old farm house, so have a peek and enjoy.
- Jas September 04 Hell's Canyon, IdahoOur camping trip to the Sawtooth Range last year was so much fun that we decided to follow it up this year with another multi-day camping trip in Idaho with Uncle Kevin. This year we selected the Seven Devils area of Hell's Canyon to call our home for a few nights; we figured the warm weather, majestic peaks, and scenic views would be sure to keep us occupied while the primitive camp sites without paved roads or drinkable water would be sure to keep the crowds away. We were not disappointed!
Camping in the dry and fire-ravaged Idaho summers is always a craps shoot. Although our camp site was slowly being sandwiched between two massive wildfires -- one from the north and one from the south -- the smoke wasn't too bad and we generally felt pretty safe. The ranger assured us that the nearest blaze was over seven miles away, which didn't seem very far to us but her upbeat demeanor and reassuring smile was pretty convincing. I kept reminding myself that Kevin had been a volunteer fire fighter in his youth, so if the fires got too close then at least he'd probably know which way we should run.
The campground was nearly empty, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves apart from one friendly neighbor whose girlfriend referred to as "Jabber Jaws". Highlights of the trip included a day hike to Lower Cannon Lake; a sunset hike to a fire lookout where the two active fires were visible; watching squirrels dig up and eat underground mushrooms; living among huge craggy peaks with dramatic names like "The Ogre" and "She-Devil"; and eating ungodly amounts of bacon. We also had clear views of the starry sky each night and spent a couple of relaxing evenings spotting satellites and shooting stars while warming our paws over a dozen tiny tea candles since campfires were prohibited.
Take a look at the photos to see some shots of the area, and some shots of us doing the sort of things we did the most such as eating, hiking, eating, and eating. The trip was a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to hooking up with Uncle Kevin for more outdoor fun and adventure next year!
- Jas
July 24 We'll get you next time, St. Helens...!As if we weren't exhausted enough after riding our mountain bikes 204 miles from Seattle to Portland, we decided to do a climb up the 8,365-foot Mt. St. Helens volcano on the following weekend.
Climing passes for St. Helens sell out fairly quickly in the summer months, so it was lucky that our friend Sto had planned ahead and secured some passes several months earlier for himself, our friends Daniel and Dennis, and Shawna and I. However, it was very unlucky that the forecast for the weekend was rain, and lots of it... but since the passes were for July 21 and could not be changed, we decided to brave the weather and make the trip anyway.
The first overwhelming obstacle we had to overcome was not the mountain itself, but the aggregious traffic along Interstate 5 that pushed us a couple hours over schedule on Friday and made us lose our campsite (which closed at 9pm). We were able to instead set ourselves up in tents at a cute little R.V. park that had a covered cooking area, pay showers and a restaurant, so we weren't complaining.
The climb up St. Helens on Saturday morning was suspiciously quick and easy for the first couple of miles through the woods, but the pace slowed drastically as we reached the barren and bouldery Monitor Ridge that was also where the cloud level began. The following scramble was windy, foggy, and sideways-rainy with about 30 feet of visibility in any direction. Dennis, Sto and Daniel did manage to reach the summit for a few quick minutes before scurrying back down to less inclement weather; Shawna and I, sans GPS and warm clothes, played it safe and turned back somewhere around 7,000 feet.
Your weather deterred us this time, little volcano... but don't get too complacent. Because now we know your tricks, and we'll be back to summit next summer!
- Jas
Video: Pooped on St. Helens July 23 From Seattle to PortlandThe weekend we had been training for all summer has finally come and gone, and I dare say we pulled it off with style and aplomb! That's right: on July 14 and 15, Shawna and our mountain bikes and I successfully completed the arduous trek from Seattle to Portland without injury and with few technical hiccups to slow us down.
At a distance of 204 miles, the length of the ride far surpassed our previous "longest ride" which was a comparatively paltry 75 miles. However it was definitely the most scenic ride we've done all summer, with amazing views of pasture land, rivers, forests, and mountains including a towering Mt. Rainier. It was also the biggest "group ride" we've done all summer, with close to 9,000 other participants to banter and jockey with along the way.
Riding with our friends Sto and Daniel (Bill ditched us at the 3-mile marker to do the trip in a single day), we saw a lot of fun stuff and had a bundle of great experiences. However, to avoid taking your entire afternoon to describe all the details, I'll go ahead and boil it down to a concise and mildly amusing format for your reading pleasure.
Total miles in the route: 204
Total hours each of us spent on bikes: 14.5
Total number of matching saddle sores on Jason's backside at the finish line: 2
Number of flats the night before the ride: 1
Number of flats during the ride: 1
Number of flats caused by a single thorn hidden in tire: 2
Estimated number of energy snacks consumed: 25
Ratio of stale PB&J standwiches reluctantly choked down, to number of DQ treats devoured with fervor: 1 to 1
Number of downed riders witnessed along the route: 5 Number of riders who wrecked immediately in front of us as we crossed the finish line: 1
Number of time Shawna screamed as she ran over a dead cat: 1
Number of times Shawna screamed as she ran over a live snake: 1
Number of times we've ridden our bikes since we returned to Seattle: 0
So there you have it! Although we haven't decided whether we'll do it again next year, we're in agreement that it was a worthwhile experience and a great sense of accomplishment for both of us. If you'd like to hear more details or stories, drop us a line!
Take care,
- Jas July 10 A Motley CrewEach year when the Sun starts getting up early and going to bed late, I start looking forward to the annual 4th of July "float party" that's thrown by our friends Fraser, Bill, and Mike.
These guys are nuts. They drive their power boats to a calm bay on Lake Washington, drop anchor, and lash them together along with a dozen varied inflatable watercraft to make one giant floating "island". They camp on the island, they barbeque on the island, and for most of the 4th of July people are coming and going to and from the island party via inflatable rowboat (the rule is that the most recent arrival becomes the next ferryman, heh heh).
With views of a large wooded park, a cute Seattle lakefront neighborhood, and the vast expanse of glittering lake, it's a great summer setting for grilling spicy dogs, relaxing with a beer, and taking a dip in the lake when you start to overheat. But the island is also the perfect place to catch up with over 30 of your friends and coworkers who show up throughout the day -- there are usually over 20 folks chatting and laughing on the island at any given time, if you can try to picture that!
As we've grown older and become more busy with work and whatever else seems to keep us so damn busy, it can be easy to go for months without catching up with even your best of friends; Fraser's 4th of July float party is a great place to anchor relationships and keep old friendships from drifting out to sea. Thanks, Fray!
- Jas
June 10 The PoliceIn case you didn't know, Shawna is a HUGE fan of Sting. She refers to him as "her baby", pays exorbitant ticket prices to see him whenever he performs within a 200-mile radius, and has a framed picture of him displayed in the house. I'm not kidding.
So when she found out that he was coming to town with his hugely famous pop band "The Police", who are together after 25 years for a big reunion tour, you can bet we were out of bed at 8:45am on a weekend morning to buy tickets the second they went on sale; and it was a good thing, too, because the entire stadium sold out in a mere 20 minutes. (Although they later decided to play a second night in Seattle due to the ridiculous demand.)
Now, I don't have quite the crush on Sting that Shawna does, but I have been a Police fan since early childhood: I can clearly remember belting out the lyrics to "Every Breath You Take" while playing on the swingsets in the first grade (well before I figured out it was a creepy song about a stalker). I have to admit it was pretty great to belt out those same lyrics along with a sold-out crowd in Key Arena, and accompanied by the original band members.
Obviously the guys looked a teensy bit older than they do in those early '80s album covers, but I can assure you they rocked just as hard; in fact, their performance was damn near flawless and Sting's vocals were so clean they may as well have been straight off of a CD. I wish modern-day performers had half as much raw talent or ability to connect with an audience -- even an audience of 17,000 people. The attached clips will do it little justice, of course, but if you're a fan of The Police you might enjoy taking a peek!
- Jas
We'll Miss You, Boobster!Our nine-year old kitty cat, Boobie (or "Boobster", for those afraid to call the name "Boobie" out the front door in the evenings) is no longer with us. He died last Wednesday, May 30, at around 3:30am.
After having gone missing for two days which was very out-of-character for our little cat, we began to worry and printed up some "Missing Pet" posters to place around the neighborhood. Within a few hours, a neighbor called my cell phone and told me the sad and fairly shocking story of how Boobie died: he was killed by a full-sized mountain lion in the woods bordering our street.
We miss the little bugger so much. He had so much personality! He would run out to the driveway and greet us every evening when we came home. He would instantly start purring when we looked at him, even from across the room. He liked to curl up on our feet while we watched TV, which comforted him and kept our toes warm. He wouldn't eat fresh salmon when we tried to feed it to him, but he would chow down on yogurt or ice cream. He would lick our toes and hands when we were petting him, just like a dog. He would cheerfully tolerate it when Shawna did "mommy hugs" or "squooshy face" with him.
We miss having him around the house and interacting with him every day. Boobie was Shawna's first pet, and she had raised him from a scrawny five-week-old kitten up to the full 13-pounds that he usually became in the winter when he sported his "winter blubber layer" (even when we had him on special "weight control for mature felines" food).
He loved his family, we loved him very much, and we'll miss him for a very long time -- there will always be a little hole in our hearts for our favorite kitty.
- Jas & Shawna
May 01 Vegas, Baby!For our birthdays this year, we took each other to beautiful Las Vegas, NV! Shawna and I had always heard friends raving about how great it is, and how ridiculous it was that we'd never been there before, so this year we decided to find out first-hand.
Always willing to sacrifice sleep to maximize vacation time, we flew in at 6:00am Saturday morning and flew out at 11:00pm on Monday night. To ensure a proper Vegas party atmosphere we brought along our friends Bill and Katy, who are always up for travelling and excitement and were great fun to have along.
If you haven't been to Las Vegas, it's basically a theme park for grown-ups with a few key activities that fuel the excitement:
1) Drinking: We had this activity pretty well taken care of by early afternoon... in fact we took care of it so well that most of us overdid it by 4:00pm the first day and we swore off alcohol for the remainder of the trip. This was also a relatively cost-effective choice, since drinks in Vegas are around 9 bucks a pop... the legend of "free drinks while gambling" is a flat-out myth.
2) Gambling: Never one to miss out on the thrill of chasing a dream, Shawna dropped a full $2 on slots. She exercised mind-boggling self-control by stopping while she was ahead: that $2 grossed her $5, which made her a Big Winner in her book.
3) Sight-seeing: Vegas is full of heavily-themed hotels and replicas of international landmarks. They have a miniature of the Statue of Liberty, a miniature of the Brooklyn Bridge, a miniature of the Eiffel Tower, and a miniature of a Coke bottle, among other things... and by "miniature" I mean "several story-high, intricately detailed replica". They have little zoos full of rare animals and sea life; they have a hotel that makes you feel that you're walking through the streets of Venice, and one that makes you feel like you're inside an Egyptian pyramid; and they have a hotel that makes you feel like you're in a bad dream full of drunk clowns, creepy fat kids, and stuffed monkeys that endlessly churn a vat full of stuffed monkey-guts (it's true, see the video). We saw most everything, and we have the blisters all over our feet to prove it.
4) Shows: You can see everything from aged rock stars to cheesy magicians in Las Vegas, but we unfortunately weren't able to squeeze one into our schedule this time around. We did, however, spend several hilarious conversations making fun of the ubiquitous Carrot Top billboards and posters that were littered throughout every corner of our hotel, and that was pretty entertaining in its own right.
5) Food: There were a lot of great restaurants, and we discovered our favorite at the Mirage hotel. It was a Brazilian barbeque joint, and all of the food was flavorful and plentiful. Shawna had glazed salmon on a bed of garbonzos and plantains, and I had the "Radizio", which meant that a waiter came by our table every five minutes and dumped one of nine different spit-barbequed meats on my plate -- everything from fish, to bacon-wrapped turkey, to ham, beef, sausage... I lost track. But it was all amazing and we rolled out of there like happy stuffed little pigs. 6) Weather: Las Vegas is smackdab in the middle of the desert, and they boast over 300 days of sun every year. So having just spent a cold and wet winter in Seattle you can imagine how thrilled we were to climb into our swim trunks and flip-flops, jump into the giant wave pool at our hotel... and get caught in a wind and rain storm in 60-degree temps. Vegas is full of surprises! Las Vegas was a cool place to visit purely because if you don't see it first-hand, you'll never believe how over-the-top it really is. And we surely had a good time cruisin' town with Bill and Katy, and we came back with some good stories. But if I never make it back again... well, I won't cry myself to sleep. I mean, I'm sure Carrot Top does world tours now and again, so I can just wait until he makes it a little closer to home. Seriously, I can wait. Happy travels! - Jas
April 15 Tulip PedalEach April when the tulips are in full bloom, the Skagit Valley tulip farmers hold a big festival and tourists come from all over the state to "ooh" and "ahh" at the many rows of multicolored flowers. Shawna and I enjoyed tromping through the fields last year on foot (on cold, soggy, muddy foot), but this year we thought it would be fun to participate in the festival's 40-mile "Tulip Pedal" bike ride. The Tulip Pedal ride is billed as a "ride amidst the beautiful Skaget Valley tulip fields", although we discovered this was a mild case of false advertising as we pushed into the last mile of the ride and noted that we'd only passed two measley tulip fields and one field of daffodils. But overall, the views were great: the route took us past a Puget Sound bay inlet, assorted rivers and streams, and miles of farm- and pasture-land full of cows, chickens, goats, horses, llama, and sheep. We also saw a big Bald Eagle up close and personal as he swooped down surprisingly close above our heads... I think he was assessing whether Shawna was small enough to carry away for lunch.
Despite the weather forecast -- which is never accurate in Seattle since all the forecasters hedge their bets by saying "slight chance of rain" -- the weather was great and we both ended up with minor sun burns. The attached video is Shawna giving a sassy shout-out to several of our friends who bailed on the ride because they were afraid of a little rain... "shoulda been here!". We wish you could have been!
- Jas
April 10 Look both waysCycling this weekend was a treat! On Saturday we rode with our friends Bill (who will be riding the STP) and Katy (who is undecided), which made the 40 mile trip fly by. On Sunday it was just Shawna and I and our overworked legs so we weren't quite as peppy, but still made an additional 40 miles with minimal bellyaching. Highlights included having blue skies and sun for most of the weekend, seeing an Osprey sitting high in a tree scanning the Sammamish River for fish, and witnessing an event that is the essence of Seattle in a nutshell: a decked-out Hummer going through the drive-thru at Starbucks.
We did see at least one guy who probably didn't have such a great day: apparently he didn't see the "Don't Walk" sign or the little white pickup that was making a right turn through the crosswalk he was about to sail through. We got there just seconds after the collision... the guy's bike was pretty bent up and he had some road rash on his face (ouch), but said he was okay and walked off mumbling that it was his own fault. It was a good reminder to be extra careful on the sections of trail that cut across the busy side streets of Highway 522.
- Jas
April 02 One week down, 15 to goWe kicked off Week 2 of STP training this past weekend, riding 24 miles on Saturday and 30 on Sunday -- we rode all the way to Lake Forest Park before stopping at Starbuck's for a warm-me-up and then heading back.
Still sore (oh, so sore) plus I was under-dressed for weather in the low 40's so I was freezing cold the entire time (and I mean fingers-going-numb, shivery cold). Shawna was smart and wore several layers. She kept complaining about being "too hot" but I had trouble consoling her through my chattering teeth. I bought some bicyclist warm-legging thingies after work today so hopefully those will keep me warm and looking only marginally questionable.
Still saddle sore, still joint-achy. People who have done this sort of thing in the past say it will wear off in the next couple of weeks and we'll be able to do three times those distances with no problem. I do hope they're correct!
- Jas
March 28 X-Country, here we comeAfter some initial deliberation, Shawna and I have signed up for this year's STP (Seattle to Portland) bike ride that takes place in mid-July. It's 209 miles total, which we're going to spread over two days on our mountain bikes. The halfway-point is in Centralia, WA, where we'll be sleeping on a gym floor along with many of the other 9,000 participants in the ride. Sounds like fun! (Doesn't it...?)
Neither one of us have done any cross-country biking before and at the moment 209 miles seems like a bit of a pipe dream, so we'll be trying to get into shape and learn our way around the sport by riding big miles every Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday for the next few months. Luckily the Northwest weather is getting into shape, too, so we hope to enjoy less rain and more sun on our backs as we pedal our aching legs and sore butts ever toward the STP!
- Jas
March 24 More Fun in the SnowRather than sitting home and moping about the rain and clouds all winter, Shawna and I are committed to enjoying the long Northwest winters by partaking in numerous snowsports. Besides snowboarding like fiends, we also get out a few times for some snowshoeing and overnight snow camping.I'm attaching some photos from our recent trip at just over 3,000 feet, on the shores of Lake Kecheelus at Snoqualmie Pass. Unfortunately, the weekend we'd planned to camp also turned out to be the weekend that the "Pineapple Express" rain storms decided to blow through the area. Fortunately we'd packed in some big plastic tarps and many pounds of Duraflame® brand fire logs to keep us dry and warm, so things were pleasant and comfy even though it poured several inches while we were up there.
It was a great weekend with a good-sized group of friends, and the surface of my right eyeball only took one direct hit with a high-speed snowball (see the pic, it's pretty funny). Not only is Shawna a trooper, but she actually likes hiking and camping in the snow, so the trip was really a lot of fun. For an added touch of luxury, some Chinook winds kicked up to defrost us during the hike back on Sunday afternoon! (For you out-of-towners, the Chinook are some oddly warm winter winds that come through every once in a while).
Take a browse through the attached video and photos to see us in action, and feel sorry for my bloody eyeball (which is healing nicely, thanks)!
Take care,
- Jas
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