June - Pacific Northwest travels

As I mentioned previously, our two-week trip to Oregon, Washington and Vancouver gave us a chance to explore new places, revisit old favorites and spend lots of time with good friends.  Now, more details, with photos!
We left on the early side of Wednesday, June 13 and shot straight north, making excellent time along Interstate 5 and arriving in southern Oregon before dark.  That was easy to do since the days were so long!  We enjoyed watching the sun go down around Klamath Falls while sipping a beer:

The following day, we meandered to the coast, taking a detour to Crater Lake.  I had driven by the lake a few years ago but had not appreciated the splendor that the views offered.  It was a bit too snow-packed (mid-June!) to hit any of the trails, but we enjoyed playing a bit in the snow and couldn't believe how beautiful it was.  

See all the white stuff?  Snow!

After enjoying Crater Lake, we headed north and west - to the coast!  It took us most of the day as we winded along the Umpqua River.  We stopped at one point to check out the sand dunes that were just over a hill.  It was so strange - evergreen forest on all sides but then the dunes snuck up.  We parked and hiked up a sand hill and took in the dunes.  Crazy!  And, one interesting detail about the Oregon sand dunes - they apparently inspired Frank Herbert who wrote Dune. 

Finally, we arrived at our destination: Yachats, Oregon!  Or just south of there, where we stayed at a cabin right on a cliff that looked out west and northwest and gave us views of the coast.  It was amazing, until we wanted to go to sleep and it was light until far past my usual bedtime!  Before tucking in for the night, we explored the coast a bit, heading north to Newport, Oregon which has an awesome bridge!  I don't know if other people find bridges fascinating, but we saw lots of cool bridges on this trip.  

In Newport, we stopped by Rogue Brewery for a drink (or four - I had a taster).  The bar area was great because it looked out on Yaquina Bay and had a bit of a working-class feel with the fishing boats coming in and out of the bay.  I wish that I had enjoyed the beers a bit more - they were awfully strong and I didn't just *love* them like I do some beers.

Our lodging for the two days we spent in Yachats couldn't have been better.  Well, I suppose it depends on what people want in lodging, but we stayed at Ocean Haven, a quirky place that was right on the coast.  We stayed in the "Shag's Nest Cabin" which was a tiny place perched at the top of a hill overlooking the coast.  We fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the waves and windows that looked west - from one window, all we could see was the blue-green of the ocean - it made me feel as though we were on board a ship!  We could easily walk down to the beach:

Our day along the coast also took us inland a bit as we rode our bikes along Yaquina Bay, a great little ride, and followed that up with one of the best meals at a seafood place that I've had.  The restaurant, Local Ocean, was busy but relaxed.  We scored a spot at the bar, so we could watch people prepping the food, all of which looked amazing.  When the server carried a bowl of a seafood stew by us, we immediately agreed that we had to order it.  It did not disappoint - was full of clams, mussels, oysters, crab, scallops and fish.  That and the beer we quaffed made for a perfect lunch!

Saturday, we headed back east and up I-5 to Seattle where we stayed about 4 days with good friends.  They live in the very cool Phinney Ridge/Greenwood neighborhood, and we enjoyed having such a great home base.  We did play tourists in Seattle, but not quite to THIS extreme:

No, no duck tours, fortunately!  But Petra, my old roommate, did score us free passes to the Experience the Music Project.  I lived in Seattle for a brief 2 years and never went to this museum, and Petra's been there 15 or 20 years, and she visited the EMP for the first time too!  The visit - eh, it was okay, but I'm not sure that I would have paid for the experience.  

In addition to drinking lots of great coffee, exploring neighborhoods such as Ballard and Fremont, perusing food at Pike Place Market, drinking lots of local IPAs and eating amazing seafood, we were also active!  We went on two great runs - one to and around Greenlake, the other was a run with a friend which took us to Lake Washington.  Our last full day in Seattle was a gorgeous day (finally!), and we took advantage of the weather, hiking up Rattlesnake Ridge, a nice hike in the Central Cascade region.  

Afterwards, we drove through the town of Northbend, the setting of the 90's David Lynch series, Twin Peaks.  We are currently watching the series, having missed it when we were in college, so it was fun to see some of the places from the show.  We did not stop for pie at the local cafe, but we did recognize it!

Before leaving Seattle on Thursday, we drove west to Golden Gardens, a city park that is on the western side of the city, looking out to the Olympics.  That was a great place to say our good-bye to the Emerald City before heading north to Bellingham.

Colorado adventures - Summer 2011

So, we've now been back two weeks, and I finally feel organized enough to review and reflect upon our annual pilgrimage to Colorado. We often find ourselves following the same routine when we visit Boulder, and although we hit up some of our favorite spots (Snarfs for sandwiches and Spruce Confections for coffee), we also tried to spend less time and money eating out on this visit, so we did not go to all of our favorite places. It also seemed to me that we didn't hike as much as we often do when we are in Colorado, but we did manage one epic climb at the end of our stay!

The focus of the trip was to visit family and friends, and we did spend lots AND LOTS of time with family and friends and varied up our visit a bit by spending two nights in Allens Park, CO, a tiny stop on the way up to the tourist hell that is Estes Park (we drove through Estes Park and then left immediately!). We took Gus and Milo and stayed in a fairly rustic cabin!

I also spent some time hanging around on the climbing wall! Michael's nephews were like spider monkeys as they scampered up multiple routes. I was a little less youthful, but I had a great time climbing! It was the first time in a few years that I'd climbed, so I didn't mind too much that my muscles tired easily. One thing that I love about climbing - you don't have to be an expert to enjoy the activity.

Another trip highlight - the "booze bus tour" that a group of us took. Here is our group, hanging out in the back of the bus!

This was after our Avery Brewery 'tour' - not that it was much of a tour of the brewery, but we did drink some mighty fine beers. I hadn't finished one of my tastings, so they let me take it on the bus where I finished it en route to our next brewery. I was obviously having fun and had started to feel the effects of the beer!

Michael and I are enjoying some liquid refreshment at the last brewery, Upslope.

And then there was the Boulder Stroke and Stride. Not one of my better moments, at least in terms of the swim, but the scenery was pretty beautiful. Here we are before the race - it's pretty casual.

I had a fairly strong start - I'm wearing the gray swim cap. I tried to ignore all of the people who were sporting Ironman gear (like the guy with the purple 70.3 cap right beside me), but that should have been a clue that it was going to be a competitive field.

Exiting the water after a slooooooow swim!

The transition! I would probably have a better time if I invested in a 'race belt', but I like being old school with the pins that hold up the bib.

The sky was pretty phenomenal - maybe that helped motivate me through the run?

Ah, almost at the finish line - with a nice downhill slope to push us along. That DEFINITELY helped!

Anyway, after lots of good times in Boulder, we went up to Breckenridge which is a mere 5,000 feet or so higher than Boulder! I thought that I had acclimated to the altitude, but the change in altitude pretty much destroyed that silly belief. The weather was fantastic in the mountains - chilly at night, and up to 70 or 75 max during the day. Perfect! We spent a few days in Breckenridge with my side of the family - aunt and uncle, cousins, and my parents.

On the penultimate day of our trip, we 'bagged' a 14-er thanks to my parents' request and/or insistence. A few years ago, they climbed up Mt. Democrat which stands at 14,148. Mt. Lincoln, another 14-er (or a mountain that is 14,000 feet or higher) is along the same trail, and they tried to summit BOTH in one day, which would have been an admirable feat. Unfortunately, the high winds served as a major deterrent, so they turned back. This year, however, they were determined to summit Mt. Lincoln, and Michael and I accompanied them, sometimes cheerfully, sometimes a bit more begrudgingly!

It was a beautiful day for a long hike, and we enjoyed some spectacular scenery along the way. Here we are approaching the trailhead:

This was early enough in the hike that I'm actually smiling, although I do think that the smile is a bit forced. The altitude was pretty tough - starting at around 12,00 and hiking a mere 2,000 feet UP.

At this point, we were on the ridge, approaching Mt. Lincoln, and it was COLD and WINDY! The views definitely helped, but I also focused on moving along so that I didn't get too cold!

But, we all eventually made it to the summit at 14,286! This is my third 14-er, and not that I'm a total peakbagger, but there is something rather thrilling about summiting a mountain. I believe that we felt more relief than any kind of triumph once re reached the summit. The descent was almost more difficult than the ascent (we were tired, it was rockier than I remembered and that was hard on the feet and joints!), but a hot bowl of soup and a cold beer followed by a nap helped me recover rather quickly!

Finally, on Friday, our very last day in Colorado, Michael and I managed to motivate ourselves to get on our bikes. This was the first trip that we had taken our bikes, and we both really enjoyed all of the miles that we covered in the saddle. We rode from Frisco to Vail Pass, a 22-mile round trip experience with a 1,600 foot climb. THAT was tough, but it was a great bike path and we felt pretty happy once we arrived at the pass:

The best thing about this bike ride? Once we started back from the pass, it was all downhill, obviously, so we cruised down and fully enjoyed the ride!

It seems that we just returned from Colorado yesterday, and in other ways, I feel that we've been settled into our typical routine at home for a while now. Either way, these photos do remind me of the good times and the mini-adventures that we had on this particular Colorado trip!

A safe trip home!

So, I can't believe that it's August 8! I know that this statement is a total cliché, but it does seem to me that the summer months have 'flown by'. I can't decide if that is positive or negative. I suppose it indicates that I haven't been bored too often, but I doubt that I win points for "mindfulness"!

Before the full Colorado update, I will say that we survived the 14 or so hour drive from Breckenridge, CO to the greater Los Angeles, CA area on Saturday. We know the drive well and can predict some of the dips and turns in the road. Overall, it's a beautiful drive, except when we hit Vegas. At that point, we are so close but still a few hours out, so the final push feels particularly painful.

Last year, we hit Sunday night Vegas-to-LA traffic which was HELL. The only thing that lifted my spirits was when we passed BMWs that had overheated and the bachelorette and her friends were sitting on the side of the road, looking grumpy and disheveled, not a tiara in sight. I know, I know, I'm a terrible person, but I really hate the whole "I-must-celebrate-MYSELF-for-twelve-months-straight-because-I'm-getting-married" thing.

Source

No doubt these mean-spirited thoughts do come back to bite me in the ass. Karma is a bitch, especially when you are on the road.

Karma, on this occasion, came in the form of a Yakima bike rack that fell apart on us while we were cruising down I-15. We heard some strange and inauspicious sound, and it seemed as though my door or window had popped open. I asked Michael to exit ASAP, which he did - fortunately we were close to an exit and could pull into a service station. There, we inspected the bike rack and realized that the driver's side of the rack had become completely loose. This wouldn't have been such an issue, except that we had our bikes strapped to the rack and the car was packed as it was. Fortunately, we squeezed the bikes into the backseat, once we removed the front and back tires. Our dogs weren't very happy to share their space with some bikes, but they only had to travel an hour with such limited space.

On our part, we were relieved that we hadn't lost the entire roof rack. Whenever I imagine that possibility, I have a mental image of our rack and bikes all over I-15. There would have probably been a huge accident to boot. I seriously cringe when I think about it!

Knowing how terrible the situation could have been, we were quite grateful to arrive home all in one piece.

We also learned an important lesson - bike racks are not infallible, and we need to check ours out at least once a year. The good news is that I went back to the rack store today (Rack Solid in Santa Monica - I totally recommend this place!), and they did not chide me nor tell me that I was going to need a new rack. They did have to replace a part and reinstall the system, but now it is as good as new. So, we are back in business, ready to road trip, bikes and all!