Category: great outdoors

After many month, years in fact, of looking at it and taking photos of it the time had come to go to Mt Rainier. The weather had been fabulous for the last few days and so, with Sunday looking equally good, the decision was taken to head to the mountain. We thought it would take a couple of hours to get there so we set off quite early in the morning. We were going the scenic route to the mountain as it had been recommended to us. As we reached a small town called Black Diamond where the view was meant to be very impressive, the temperature sank into the low 60’s, the rain starting falling and the cloud covered everything and anything that could be considered a mountain.

I was relaxed about the situation though – it was bound to clear up – plus the boys were quiet in the back watching DVDs so they weren’t busy asking if we were there yet and where the mountain was! As we started heading east round the side of the mountain we saw our first patch of blue sky, then more and more until the clouds burnt away and we were in brilliant sunshine and blue skies – phew!

After a couple of hours and with our first glimpses of mountain in the bag we made our first stop by the side of White River. There was no clever meaning behind the name of river – the water was just white. It takes this color because it is full of flour particles from the glaciers high above. The whiter the river the healthier the glacier apparently. I’m not 100% sure why but it’s a fact!

Next it was time to cross the border into the national park itself and start the climb up to Sunrise. As beautiful as it was winding our way up the mountain side Tracy was not happy. I’m sure there were some stunning views but if my head started moving away from staring straight ahead I was told in no uncertain terms to look at the road! When I asked if it view was good tracy didn’t know because she wasn’t looking!! To be fair it was a pretty steep drop down the side and it need give us all the willies apart from the boys who were busy ignoring the stunning vistas and watching Spongebob Squarepants!

Eventually we made it to the relative safety of a car park. We were at just over 6,000 feet, not even half way up the mountain. We took a short walk around and checked out the alpine lakes in the valleys below, the top of Mt Rainier high above and far to the south the almost as impressive Mt Adams.

We didn’t stop for long here because the road went even higher but luckily on the final stretch the drops down the side were’t too bad so we could stop a few times for pictures – it was a bit like driving road Yosemite again, stopping for pictures round every corner just to get a slightly different angle of the mountain! The roadside verges were also full of beautiful flowers – I’ve no idea what they were but they provided a lovely splash of color. Unfortunately, there was a lack of bears and an abundance of mozzies! Biting little buggers! The moment we stepped out the car they were noshing on us!

After having a bit to eat at the end of the road – the highest point you can drive to – we set off back down the scary mountain road and round the bottom of the mountain towards Stevens Canyon and then onto Paradise. As we entered Stevens Canyon we stopped for a short hike down to the river and through the wood to thousand year old trees. The hike included a walk across a bouncy bridge which was probably one of the highlights for the boys!

 

Along Stevens Canyon, aside from more horrible narrow roads, wildflowers and no bears there were a couple of cracking views of the mountain including the view from Reflection Lake. If you get the timing right you get a perfect reflection of the mountain in the lake unfortunately we didn’t the timing quite right but it still looked pretty good nonetheless!

After leaving Reflection Lake we headed for our final stop of the day – Paradise. It was fairly chaotic here but we eventually found a parking spot and we decided to take the boys for a short hike to stretch their legs. Harry was wearing his new watch and set his stopwatch going and throughout the walk gave us updates on how long we’d been walking and how we needed to hurry up. Although not a bear we did see some wildlife on this walk with a few deer walking about having a much on the flowers. One thing we didn’t see all day was any eagles – I would have expected plenty of them up there – but there were none, probably because they knew I couldn’t cope with eagles and mountains all in one day.

With the walk complete, ice-creams eaten and wees taken it was time to get back in the car for the final part of the day, the drive home. Despite the best efforts of the satnav to take us the long route home we eventually got home at just after 8pm. It had been a long old day but the weather had turned out well and another place can be crossed off the list. The only down side to the day were the bites from those mozzies!

Here are all the pictures!

It was that time of the year again – the most important birthday in the house! Unfortunately Toby didn’t realize the importance of his mothers birthday and he had soccer try-outs scheduled for the Friday night before and midday on Tracy’s birthday.

The birthday morning started with breakfast in bed which was a bit stressful because I had to make it and Tracy had requested poach eggs and I’d never cooked them before! With a bit of flooping about some muffins were toasted, eggs poached and hollandaise made and surprisingly enough it didn’t taste disgusting!

After breakfast was tidied away, we got Toby ready for stage two of the try-outs and I packed the bag for our overnight stay at Suncadia – a resort up in the mountains. I probably shouldn’t pack again because we had a very full bag for one night away – including about 3 pairs of trousers each for Toby and Harry, 3 pairs of jeans which Tracy had just left on the bed to be put away rather than be packed plus a variety of other things that weren’t really required!

Anyway, the car was loaded and off we went up to the Highlands for soccer. Luckily the rain held off and Toby had fun charging about and bossing his potential team mates around! With a few minutes left of try-outs Tracy walked up to Zeeks and got a take-out pizza for the drive up to Suncadia. We collected Tracy, started scoffing pepperoni and drove up the mountains to the East.

We arrived at Suncadia at about 3pm and checked in. We had a nice suite in a lodge which was slightly separate to the main area and after unpacking all the clothes that we didn’t really need we went back to the bar with a view and relaxed with a nice bottle of wine and admired the very nice view.

After demolishing the wine we went back to our room via the driving range where the boys filled their pockets with golf balls.

Back in the suite it was time for the boys to enjoy the deep, round bath – which provided allsorts of enjoyment apart from the moment where Toby slipped and Harry ended up with his butt in his face!

Once we were all clean we went back to the main area and had a lovely meal. I can’r remember exactly what we ate (mainly due to lots more beer and birthday wine) but I know there was a nice steak in there somewhere and maybe some salmon. As an added bonus the waiter apologized that the food had taken a long time to be served (it wasn’t that bad) and they knocked all the drink off the final bill – that saved us some money!

Then it was back to the room, where Harry and Toby had a couple of the birthday cupcakes that had been delivered and then we all crashed into bed, exhausted from our very busy day and the excitement of a 42nd birthday!

The next morning we woke, slightly hazy, and decided to clear the head with a walk down the steep hill to the river in the valley floor. Apparently I had bet Harry $5 that he wouldn’t be able to throw a stone across the width of the river and so that is where we were heading with Harry smelling the dollars! He did very well with his efforts – much better than the birthday girl – but he couldn’t quite get a stone across to the other side.

He did nearly brain a few birds as they flew over the river but they just managed to avoid the flying stones. Having walked down the steep hill, we were all hungry and set off back up the hill. It was all very hot and sweaty walking back up but we made it in the end. We stopped at the cafe and got breakfast plus Toby got a cuddly toy – as he just doesn’t have enough of them already! Then it was into our swimmers and off to the spa/pool/slide area. The pool area was lovely with a nice warm indoor pool with slides plus an even warmer outdoor pool – which it needed to be because although the sun was out it was freezing! We spent lots of time in each with Toby doing very well with his swimming and trying to create his own whale impression. Unfortunately Toby’s impression involved him spitting lots of water up in the air and was not quite as impressive as Harry’s efforts in Mexico.

After a couple of hours in the pool it was clearly lunch time – we hadn’t eaten for at least 3 hours! Lunch was followed by pinching more golf balls and then with the afternoon relaxed away it was 6pm and time to check out. An hour later we were back home and the birthday weekend was over. It was fun though and I have a feeling we will be back to Suncadia again some time!

It’s that time of the year again when the tulip fields of Skagit Valley are out and the Tulip festival is off and running. It was a bit tricky planning a trip up to see them in amongst all the holidays work trips as well as trying to coincide it with some sunshine.

Having studied the weather apps carefully it appeared that there would be in the region of 18 minutes of sunshine per hour between 4pm and 6pm on Saturday afternoon and so that was the plan! The car was loaded with wellingtons, coats and cameras and off we went. As we drove up the freeway, the skies were black and the rain was hammering down and I think Tracy was wondering why she wasn’t at home watching TV with a nice glass of wine in her hand! Fortunately though, the weather app was reasonably accurate – there was some sunshine along with some big muddles, lots of gloopy mud and millions of tulips.

There’s not much to say really, other than they looked lovely and I will be back again next year!

The rest of the pictures can be seen here.

 

Earlier this month Harry and Toby had a make up ski lesson. When they were ski-ing with the school one lesson had been cancelled due to bad weather up at the Pass and this was the make up lesson. Harry disappeared off with his instructor and we didn’t see him again for two hours as he sped down all the different slopes. Toby was in and around the Holiday slope though so we got a few pictures of him.

These are the different slopes – Harry goes off to the left on the bigger slopes but I’m sure Toby will be there next season and maybe even Tracy!

Tracy went for her second ski lesson today and at the end of it, she officially became a “skier”. Not sure if that is actually “official” but that’s what I’ve been told. The first lesson went well but we had no evidence of it other than Tracy telling me she was a natural! The second lesson also went well, after recovering from the tricky situation of someone walking off with her ski’s, but this time we have evidence.

So without further ado here is Tracy, the natural skier, bombing down the Holiday slopes:

httpv://youtu.be/I1grgYYVMC0

Notice how she weaves between all the people flopped on the ground mocking them as she goes! Not everyone is a natural!

Now it is only me who can’t ski! So sad!

Just a few days after playing cricket on the beaches of Australia I was freezing cold by Niagara Falls. Although strictly it was a work trip I had thought it  would make sense to organize a team building activity while in Toronto and as I wanted to see the Falls that seemed to be the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!

Despite the fact that it was freezing I think it was a good time of year to visit. The ice and snow gave some already impressive waterfalls an even more spectacular feel. You can visit the Falls from the US and Canada and after visiting once my professional opinion is that you would only want to see them from the Canadian side – the view from the US side must be pretty rubbish and I would imagine you could barely see the Canadian part. The only downside to the Canadian side is that you have to look at some pretty cheap and nasty looking hotels but I think that is a small price to pay!

Anyway, these are the falls, first two pictures are the Canadian, horse shoe shaped falls – taken from up the tower:

These are the American, frozen falls:

And this is Niagara town, which is a bit like I imagine Blackpool was in the 1970’s:

More pictures can be found here.

It looks like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths but we all know looks can be deceiving! What a pair of cheeky boys!

The ski lessons are back on a Wednesday afternoon and here are the first action movies. Admittedly neither are coming down the slope films but it’s a bit tricky identifying the boys amongst everyone else! Anyway, here are a couple of videos of Toby on and around the magic carpet and being scooped up by the ski lift:

httpv://youtu.be/SnXAu8QFWyo

httpv://youtu.be/lfrgVQw5wZs

A brief glimpse of Harry:

And a ready to rock Toby:

It certainly beats an afternoon at school!

 

The last time we went to Bainbridge was for a Gunners soccer tournament back in August 2011. The return to Bainbridge was because it was Saturday morning, the sun was out and I decided we ought to go somewhere on a ferry – after all Tracy does like a Washington State ferry!

After having a quick breakfast, getting dressed and throwing stuff in to the trunk we set off to Seattle and the ferry terminal. The excitement of going on a ferry, and having to sit waiting for a ferry, meant that we had a second breakfast – McDonalds hash browns for all – yum!

The ferry duly arrived and we drove on to what turned out to be a quiet trip. Clearly not many other people had got up and decided to go on a ferry somewhere. The view as we left Seattle was a lovely as the last time we saw it, leaving on an Alaskan cruise:

The initial intention when setting off on the ferry had been to drive up through Bainbridge and head to Port Townsend (built to be the New York of the west coast) on the Olympic peninsula. It was a bit of a drive to get there though so we decided to change plans and just have a day mooching around Bainbridge.

After some quick research we found a new beach park to visit which was just near the ferry terminal. Apparently Hawley Cove park is a great place to find sand dollars – which we hadn’t seen since our Oregon trip – so off we went.

The beach park was a short walk through the woods down to the water and it was a beautiful beach park. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the ferries were coming in and out!

After a nice stroll on the beach, climbing over driftwood, chasing sea gulls, watching ferries and not finding sand dollars we walked back up through the woods to the car.

Then it was a short drive to the town of Winslow, where we stayed last time, and time for a spot of shopping. We made a couple of purchases and then realized it was ages since we’d had two breakfasts so it must be lunch time.

We drove down to the harbor front and went to a restaurant we visited last time. We filled ourselves with pasta, burgers and salmon before eating some yummy puds. Tracy had a giant chocolate cookie warmed up and covered with ice-cream and sauce and I had lovely bread pudding.

Feeling quite ill, we went for a short walk along past the boats before heading back to the ferry terminal for the trip back to Seattle. There were no whales leaping from the water but we did see a bald eagle and the mountains looked fab – Rainier and Baker.

And to end the trip off that night Harry kept up the tradition of visiting Bainbridge by being sick! Not sure what it is about that island but something definitely doesn’t agree with him!

All the pictures are here.

And so the sunshine has gone and we’re getting set for winter. The rain has been falling, the winds blowing and the leaves falling. This weekend the hard stuff has started – snow! Typically the first fall of snow for the year coincided with us having to take a trip over the pass to the other side of the mountains for Harry’s latest soccer match.

With plenty of snow falling we set off at just before 9am for the 2 hour journey to the soccer match. This in a UK context was like us getting up, driving across to Grandads, playing a soccer match and then driving home again! You just wouldn’t do it in the UK but they think nothing of it here!

Anyway, we set off at 9 and within a half hour we were up at the snow line. There was slush on the road and snow by the road. The ski slopes were covered and there was a good few inches on the trees so we decided that we would stop on the way back and throw a snowball or two.

After the game and a brief stop at Roslyn we got back to Hyak Sno Park and came off the freeway for a play. Trouble was the sun had been out and as this was the first snow of the year it had melted away pretty quickly. Still we did manage to take a couple of pictures and throw a couple of snow balls.

Roll on more snow and lots of fun ski-ing and tubing!