Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park-May 2, 2008

The Olympic National Park encompasses three distinct ecosystems-wild Pacific coast, temperate rain forest and glacier capped mountains. For my birthday weekend our friends Tom, Chris and Megan (weird that we met another Chris and Megan AND they're from Illinois and Michigan) got together for camping and hiking.

Starfish cling to the rocks at low tide. We enjoyed a bomber exchanged at sunset on the beach. Tom used to be a steel worker in Pittsburgh. You can take the man away from the steel mill, but you can't take the steel worker jokes away from the man.

The sign said this is the world's biggest Sitka Spruce tree. It could be the galaxy's biggest

We left our friends the next morning to circumduct the entire peninsula and head to the rainforest. The ironic thing was that it has been raining almost every day this winter and spring, but it was sunny and warm when we visited the rainforest. The moss is so thick that these maple trees actually receive nutrition through it with roots.

We continued north and east to the Sol Duc Hotsprings. Totally relaxing after a hike to the falls. That is me on the bridge. It is amazing how big the trees are in the Pacific Northwest. Lumber is a main source of economy. It is cold and wet too, that is why the locals love coffee, the other main export.

Our last stop was Hurricane Ridge. Two miles to the north on the Straight of San Juan de Fuca they receive 20" of rain annually. Up here they get 200" plus of precipitation.

Goose made friends on the mountain road..... Then she barked.

International Road Trip to see Missy & Bob

April 19th, 2008
Our brother-in-law got an assignment for several months, so we packed our passports and Goose's vaccine records and made a journey to a far away, foreign country..... Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Language barriers were diffucult, but we made it past the Peace Arch border crossing without difficulties. This was Goose's first international voyage. She says everything smells pretty much the same.

BC is very dog friendly. Goose was welcome in stores and here in the Granville Island Brewery.

I am contimplating moving to Vancouver with tears in my eyes. Then again it is an election year......

The sisters were happy to be together again.

From Stanley Park (one of the largest urban parks in the world) you can see the mountains that will host the 2010 Winter Olympics snowboard & freestyle skiing mogul & aerial competition.

We finished the weekend watching the seaplanes take off and land at the Flying Beaver bar/restaurant/airport terminal. Canada..... They're so crazy.

March Madness with Maggie & Josh

March 28, 2008

Maggie and Josh came out for a long weekend during the Sweet Sixteen as the Jayhawks trounced Villanova. Their KU classmate, Val, came up from grad school in Eugene, OR to party too. Davidson gave us a scare two days later. Good thing we had beer to comfort us through adversity.

We headed north to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where we rented a log cabin. It was beautiful, which offset the weather of snow, hail, rain and a little bit of sun. Goose didn't care as long as she was in nature.
The deception pass bridge spans water between Whidbey Island and a peninsula off the mainland. The water here flows at speeds up to 11 knots during tidal change in the Puget Sound. That is fast.

The ferry terminal on San Juan Island at Friday Harbor. Life runs at a slow pace here. We heard of a PT that does home health visits and takes a ferry everyday. She sees one to two patients a day covering just one of the five islands.

UGA Spring Break

Spring Break March 2008

Megan's cousin Anna and her friend Ally came out from the University of Georgia for several days to tour the Pacific Northwest. We got kicked out of Fishtail Brewery for being minors. That was cool and brought back nostalgia of my own spring breaks (particularly Vermont with a fake ID). This spring break had everything but arrests and jail time. Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier, beach time, a cool dog, beer, touring Seattle & Tacoma, and road tripping. Here's Anna butt sliding down a slope. Goose was doing her beach scramble at Canon Beach, OR. That is Haystack Rock in the background. Remember the movie Goonies? This is the beach where the 4x4 race was in the opening scene. That night we watched Goonies and realized that we were a generation older than the crazy college girls. The Astoria bridge at sunset. It connects Oregon and Washington at the mouth of the Columbia River. Iwish I had something funny to write. Crap!

Ski Bum

March 1, 2008

Our friend Shelli "La profesora" came out to visit. We skied Crystal Mountain (that's Mount Rainier in the background). All that rain in Olympia means tons of snow is dropped here. The sun came out for a rare appearance to make it an awesome day. We also found Santa Claus' brother in the parking lot as we walked down to tailgate with Goose. He asked us for help to park his Porsche. A old Porsche is not a good ski bum vehicle, but when you are a Playboy, it helps pick up chics.