Sunday, August 2, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Winding Down: Washington, Idaho, and Vampires
So, we lost Isabelle last week. To Québec and music festivals via Omaha, Nebraska. And this has absolutely wrecked us--our hearts are broken. Jokes aren't as funny, skies aren't as sunny...but mostly it has taken a serious toll on the blog. Because, apparently, she was the glue holding it together. Or the disciplinarian forcing us to contribute regular blog posts. And for that, we apologize. Things are winding down a bit--not as much crazy excitement to report--but we still need to follow through to the end. Because, happily, we're not done yet. But, sadly, we will be tomorrow. We are currently in Boise, ID at Linda & Michael's charming B&B (&L&D), and we're planning to set off for Denver tomorrow morning at 6 AM. Ugh.
BUT, happy times are being had. After saying our tearful goodbyes to Isabelle in southern Washington, Sophia and I drove back up to Seattle to visit her older brother, Vince, for several days. The trip included several trips to the movies (including Harry Potter, natch), delicious food, mani-pedis (my nails are now neon pink, Sophia's purple), and seeing Vince's new band play in Takoma (in a dive bar shaped like a giant teapot). It was fun, for the most part, but this trip has made cities mostly unbearable for both of us, so we decided to break up our stay in Seattle with a trip to the Olympic Peninsula (and Olympic National Park).
Because we've seen so many mountains, we decided to drive a little extra to reach the rain forest and coastline further west. First we went to the Hoh Rain Forest, which was incredible. It is one of the only temperate rain forests in the world, and it is green, green, GREEN. I can't adequately describe just how green it is. The trees are enormous old-growth forest, and they are covered with moss. It coats the trunks and drips from branches and even leaves. Apparently this causes no harm to the tree itself--the moss does not collect nutrients from the tree. Because the climate is so wet, it gets all of its nutrients simply from the air. Shockingly (or perhaps not so shockingly, considering our track record on this trip) we enjoyed beautiful weather throughout. Even in the rain forest, the sky was blue and the sun shone down through the green ceiling of trees and moss. Onto green ferns and more moss. It was really, really green. I think you get the idea.
In our planning for the drive, we discovered that the route to Hoh would take us through Forks, WA, a small town on the peninsula that has recently become famous for the Twilight series of teen romance novels. Apparently it has become a tourist destination, with Twilight gift shops and tours springing up to accommodate the vampire-crazy pre-adolescent fans. We felt that driving through such a town required a bit of preparation and research, so the three of us took turns reading the book out loud (with voices) in the car. Note to our readers: Twilight is really, really dreadful. Painfully, shockingly dreadful. Especially when read out loud. But it made our trip to Forks pretty entertaining. Vince, in particular, is really good at voicing the lame vampire Edward and his pathetic girlfriend Bella (his Edward sounds like Megatron from Transformers).
On our second day in the park, we went down to the coast, near a town called La Push and walked to Second Beach. Like the rain forest, the pacific northwestern beach was beautiful in an unusual way. The coast is mostly rugged and rocky, and the water itself stormy and full of angry waves, even in the mild weather. Even when the sky was blue 100 yards from the water, the ocean itself was swathed in low mist. It was really breathtaking. It was too cold to swim, of course, but extremely pleasant to walk down the beach for a while.
After leaving Seattle, we drove to Boise, ID to visit Michael and Linda, old friends from Vermont (who were also on our kayaking trip in the San Juan islands). We've now been here for a few days and its been amazingly pleasant. So far we've floated lazily down the Boise River on a raft, played disc golf in the park, eaten shrimp ceviche (by Michael) and roasted vegetable burritos (at Rob & Zelda's), gone to yoga class (finally!), and woken up each day to a brilliant continental breakfast and hot coffee waiting in the kitchen. We're not anxious to leave, to be honest. I'm not ready to return to Denver, or reality. This trip has been just too amazing, I'm not ready for it to be over.
BUT, happy times are being had. After saying our tearful goodbyes to Isabelle in southern Washington, Sophia and I drove back up to Seattle to visit her older brother, Vince, for several days. The trip included several trips to the movies (including Harry Potter, natch), delicious food, mani-pedis (my nails are now neon pink, Sophia's purple), and seeing Vince's new band play in Takoma (in a dive bar shaped like a giant teapot). It was fun, for the most part, but this trip has made cities mostly unbearable for both of us, so we decided to break up our stay in Seattle with a trip to the Olympic Peninsula (and Olympic National Park).
Because we've seen so many mountains, we decided to drive a little extra to reach the rain forest and coastline further west. First we went to the Hoh Rain Forest, which was incredible. It is one of the only temperate rain forests in the world, and it is green, green, GREEN. I can't adequately describe just how green it is. The trees are enormous old-growth forest, and they are covered with moss. It coats the trunks and drips from branches and even leaves. Apparently this causes no harm to the tree itself--the moss does not collect nutrients from the tree. Because the climate is so wet, it gets all of its nutrients simply from the air. Shockingly (or perhaps not so shockingly, considering our track record on this trip) we enjoyed beautiful weather throughout. Even in the rain forest, the sky was blue and the sun shone down through the green ceiling of trees and moss. Onto green ferns and more moss. It was really, really green. I think you get the idea.
In our planning for the drive, we discovered that the route to Hoh would take us through Forks, WA, a small town on the peninsula that has recently become famous for the Twilight series of teen romance novels. Apparently it has become a tourist destination, with Twilight gift shops and tours springing up to accommodate the vampire-crazy pre-adolescent fans. We felt that driving through such a town required a bit of preparation and research, so the three of us took turns reading the book out loud (with voices) in the car. Note to our readers: Twilight is really, really dreadful. Painfully, shockingly dreadful. Especially when read out loud. But it made our trip to Forks pretty entertaining. Vince, in particular, is really good at voicing the lame vampire Edward and his pathetic girlfriend Bella (his Edward sounds like Megatron from Transformers).
On our second day in the park, we went down to the coast, near a town called La Push and walked to Second Beach. Like the rain forest, the pacific northwestern beach was beautiful in an unusual way. The coast is mostly rugged and rocky, and the water itself stormy and full of angry waves, even in the mild weather. Even when the sky was blue 100 yards from the water, the ocean itself was swathed in low mist. It was really breathtaking. It was too cold to swim, of course, but extremely pleasant to walk down the beach for a while.
After leaving Seattle, we drove to Boise, ID to visit Michael and Linda, old friends from Vermont (who were also on our kayaking trip in the San Juan islands). We've now been here for a few days and its been amazingly pleasant. So far we've floated lazily down the Boise River on a raft, played disc golf in the park, eaten shrimp ceviche (by Michael) and roasted vegetable burritos (at Rob & Zelda's), gone to yoga class (finally!), and woken up each day to a brilliant continental breakfast and hot coffee waiting in the kitchen. We're not anxious to leave, to be honest. I'm not ready to return to Denver, or reality. This trip has been just too amazing, I'm not ready for it to be over.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
One Last Adventure
We always knew that our trip would come to an end and sadly that time has come. As you all know, we have spent the last six weeks having the most amazing adventures. We have gone fishing, climbed countless mountains, sea kayaked, ice climbed, gambled, etc... Having experienced all of these things, we knew our final adventure would have to top them all; it would have to be spectacular in every way, a sort of final exam to the trip. We decided to go out with a bang and climb Mount Adams, an inactive volcano in Washington that towers into the sky at 12,287 feet.
After four fabulous days sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands, the three of us plus my dad drove south. We took a scenic route through the Cascades and Mt. St. Helens, our bodies (especially arms. side note: my arms are HUGE) enjoying a much needed rest. After we had taken in all the sites, we headed towards Mt. Adams. The road was narrow and tunneled through a never ending forest of evergreens that towered a hundred feet in the air. It only got narrower as we drove the increasingly windy dirt road; houses disappeared, turns got sharper, and the air got thinner. At about 5,700 feet above sea level we reached base camp. It was 8pm, just enough time to eat and go to bed in order to be up at 4:30am.
4:30am came far too soon. We awoke in total darkness and reluctantly got out of our toasty sleeping bags. We gulped down our coffee (Sophia ate chocolate), ate some oatmeal, gathered our gear and by 6:00am were on our way.
The first couple miles weren't too bad; it was a nice wide trail that slowly climbed the mountain, slightly boring but easy on the legs. As we continued up, the trees disappeared and the trail became narrower. The packed dirt became loose volcanic gravel and rocks. The trail became steep and snow started to appear. We took a break around 7am to watch the sunrise and allow our bodies to acclimate to the 1500 vertical feet we'd climbed.
We spent a bit more time scrambling up the loose volcanic rock and then reached the edge of a vast snow field. This is where our crampons came in handy. We strapped in and began the climb. This part of the hike started at 9,400 feet above sea level and went to 11,400 ft in a very short distance, so we were hiking at a seriously steep angle. Basically climbing stairs. The only thing that kept us going was knowing that we would get to glissade the entire way down. As we slowly made our way up the mountain, gasping for air and clinging to the snow with our poles to prevent us from falling to our deaths, descending hikers flew by us down the glissade route (think a human toboggan or a waterslide made of snow) whooping and yelling "It was all worth it!" as they disappeared at breakneck speeds. We silently trudged on in hopes that we too would soon be able to yell that.
We took a few more brief breaks to eat lunch, take in the incredible views, and refuel. At the false summit we took off our crampons; the last 800 feet were to be done on foot. This was definitely the hardest part. We were exhausted, the path was steep and every step created a small rock slide. We switch-backed the whole thing, finally making it to the ruins of a small smokehouse that was built in 1910 and then a few feet further and we reached the summit of 12,287 feet! (I am proud to say that I was the first to reach the top!!)
Throughout our trip, we have been extremely lucky with weather. Almost everyday has been completely blue sky, and Mt. Adams was the same. It was sunny and clear which allowed us to see the most incredible views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and countless other peaks and valleys. Truly spectacular.
And then the descent. The first part was horrible, but then we got to glissade! We all got in our snow gear, got our breaks ready (snow poles and ice axes) and hopped in the snow slide. It was the most thrilling experience. Not only was it incredibly fun, but it was fast. What took us 4 hours to climb up only took about 40 minutes down! Amazing.
We skated our way down the remaining snow fields and then basically fell down the rest of the mountain. After 13 hours of hiking, our bodies weak and broken, we reached the bottom. We indulged in 3 boxes of chilimac and slept in Sir Tentalot one final time. The perfect end to a perfect trip.
Watertripping
Like most visitors to Alaska, we had planned from the start to make our return trip wildly different from our original journey. It's a long drive, and we didn't want to redo any of our adventures, no matter how awesome some of them might have been. Other than a brief stint in the Yukon, we drove different roads in Alaska home, and once we got to B.C., we turned west toward the ocean and made for a road of a different kind: water.
Since the beginning, there's only been one date set in stone on our entire itinerary: on July 12th, at the crack of dawn, we had to be in Prince Rupert, B.C. to board our ferry south. We camped outside of town, and set Sophia's alarm for 4:30 AM. It might have been the most painful wake-up call of the trip. However, once we arrived at the ferry dock, it proved worth it. While we were hardly the first car there, the ticket taker in the booth directed us to the #1 spot (probably because even at 5 o'clock in the morning we all look adorable). We boarded the ferry right on schedule, and I left Isabelle and Sophia sleeping in the car to wander updeck. This was the biggest boat I've ever been on--it had at least 8 stories, some with cars, some with restaurants, some with private cabins. It was no cruise ship, but after a ferry experience limited mostly to the Burlington-Essex ferry on Lake Champlain, I was more than satisfied. I chose a seat next to a window, ate a granola bar, and continued reading my book while I waited for the others to join me. And waited. And waited.
A couple of hours passed, and eventually they found me. They had slept on the car deck until someone watching a security camera had spotted them and tapped on the window of the car. Apparently this is not allowed. The security guard shooed them upstairs, where they came holding pillows and blankets. I was happy to see them, but then they promptly settled down and slept for several more hours, while I wandered the multiple decks and watched the coast go by. The ferry we were on took us down the Inside Passage, along the coast of British Columbia. Like Alaska, British Columbia has a rugged coast lined with islands, so we were never really at open sea--we were surrounded by land and it mostly resembled a river. The weather was beautiful (as usual) and we even got to see several whales over the course of the journey.
Eventually the girls woke up (close to noon) and joined me. The entire trip was around 16 hours, but we passed the time by watching on-deck movies, making delicious sandwiches, and just sitting by the water in the sun. Not a bad way to travel.
Since the beginning, there's only been one date set in stone on our entire itinerary: on July 12th, at the crack of dawn, we had to be in Prince Rupert, B.C. to board our ferry south. We camped outside of town, and set Sophia's alarm for 4:30 AM. It might have been the most painful wake-up call of the trip. However, once we arrived at the ferry dock, it proved worth it. While we were hardly the first car there, the ticket taker in the booth directed us to the #1 spot (probably because even at 5 o'clock in the morning we all look adorable). We boarded the ferry right on schedule, and I left Isabelle and Sophia sleeping in the car to wander updeck. This was the biggest boat I've ever been on--it had at least 8 stories, some with cars, some with restaurants, some with private cabins. It was no cruise ship, but after a ferry experience limited mostly to the Burlington-Essex ferry on Lake Champlain, I was more than satisfied. I chose a seat next to a window, ate a granola bar, and continued reading my book while I waited for the others to join me. And waited. And waited.
A couple of hours passed, and eventually they found me. They had slept on the car deck until someone watching a security camera had spotted them and tapped on the window of the car. Apparently this is not allowed. The security guard shooed them upstairs, where they came holding pillows and blankets. I was happy to see them, but then they promptly settled down and slept for several more hours, while I wandered the multiple decks and watched the coast go by. The ferry we were on took us down the Inside Passage, along the coast of British Columbia. Like Alaska, British Columbia has a rugged coast lined with islands, so we were never really at open sea--we were surrounded by land and it mostly resembled a river. The weather was beautiful (as usual) and we even got to see several whales over the course of the journey.
Eventually the girls woke up (close to noon) and joined me. The entire trip was around 16 hours, but we passed the time by watching on-deck movies, making delicious sandwiches, and just sitting by the water in the sun. Not a bad way to travel.
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