On vacation in Oregon, Andy and I decided to start the week off with a hike, so we headed an hour north for Smith Rock State Park, which came highly recommended by several of my friends. After a lovely hike through what felt like a tiny piece of Utah transplanted to Oregon (I'll be writing more about it soon!), we stopped in Bend for beer and lunch. Sadly, since I'd left my wallet back at the rental house I had to make do with iced tea, but according to Andy I wasn't missing much. While their food was smoky and delicious, Goodlife turned out to be his least favorite brewery of the trip. On our last day in Sunriver, we decided to make a trip to the nearby High Desert Museum which turned out to be much larger than we'd expected - almost like a hybrid museum and zoo. Their wildlife exhibits were everyone's favorite, and I was especially excited to see an adorable burrowing owl and an stunning golden eagle. Soon it was time to pack up the car and head home, and after a short work week, Andy and I were signed up for a full weekend of trailwork. After our lovely day spent working with Alpine Trails Book Club (read about that here!), we returned for a second day of trail maintenance in considerably wetter weather. As usual, even with the rain we still had a fantastic time!
Read moreSnoqualmie Lake - WTA Work Party
It was a cool and misty morning when our group of 10 met up at the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead to join a larger crew for some trailwork with the Washington Trails Association - perfect weather for working outdoors. After reading Dirt Work, Christine Byl's memoir about her 16 years working in trail maintenance, I could think of nothing better than hitting the trail for some dirt work of our own. I was beyond excited that so many other women from Alpine Trails Book Club agreed, and chose to spend a Saturday volunteering for hard work in the woods. Several in our group were even out for their first time!
Read moreLife: Week 25
Woah, I have so much catching up to do around here! I went off on vacation and seriously fell behind, but worry not - someday I'll get caught up! This week, after another quiet week at work, we took off a little early for our family trip to Sunriver. We got an early start Friday morning for the drive south to Central Oregon. After a long day in the car, we made it to Sunriver just in time for dinner and a short walk before bedtime. Over the next several days, we biked, we hiked, we drove in to Bend to spend a day drinking coffee and beer, and we spent many nights staying up late playing my favorite board game - Camel Up - which I'd highly recommend to anyone looking to entertain a group of 3-5 people. With the kids around, there were plenty of books to read and games to play. Our year-and-a-half old nephew turned out to be a great fan of both ping pong and foosball, especially after we swapped the traditional ball for the foosball table with a beach ball. I've never been much of a foosball player, but I have to admit, even I found it amusing with an oversized beach ball bouncing around unpredictably!
Read moreIngalls Creek
Each year, by the time spring rolls around, I find myself struggling against a desperation to break out my backpacking gear, stashed away since the previous fall. After the darkness and rain of winter, I'm itching to spend the night camped out on some wild and peaceful trail. There are always many problems with this desire; spring is a busy time for me at work, and I have several family birthdays to celebrate, so a free weekend before summer is in full swing is a rare thing indeed. The past few years, I've even had a particular trail in mind when dreaming of my early-season backpacking trips — Ingalls Creek. While many other trails in the area are still heaped with a mess of rapidly melting snow, this meandering trail in Teanaway is typically snow free for at least the first several miles. In the spring, like many other trails in the area, Ingalls Creek is decorated with a colorful blanket of wildflowers.
Read moreLife: Week 24
Summer has arrived, and with it the long days of sunshine and hot weather. Halfway through June and already there have been an intolerable number of sweaty, restless nights where the temperature in our apartment doesn't seem to drop below 75. There are many things I love about summer, but I could do without the heat! With a vacation to get ready for, Andy and I spent our weekend close to home, although we did make time for another day trip to Whidbey Island to pick up more of our favorite coffee from Useless Bay in Langley. It wasn't until we were on our way home that we realized while we'd eaten lunch on their patio, we'd completely forgotten to pick up more coffee! Of course that just means that we'll need to make another trip to Whidbey. How unfortunate...
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