Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas Tree 2008

I love live trees, I will never switch to artificial. This year, I just couldn't justify spending $50 on a tree, so I bought a very inexpensive tree. Not quite a Charlie Brown tree, but pretty close!



We went down to Winslow way at 11pm during the snow storm!



Cookies anyone?

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Seattle Lights in the fog - Nov 29, 2008

Seattle had some crazy, thick fog that wouldn't go away. I was heading to Seattle to meet a friend for dinner, so I decided to bring my camera along. It was a really cool night.

















Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Seahawks vs Eagles - November 2, 2008

I scored a free ticket to the game on Sunday. I would have been quite content to watch from inside my house, warm and dry, but, this may be my last chance to see the Holmgrem led Seahawks before he steps down.

My friend Noble gave me the ticket and stressed that I get to the stadium early. I agreed and made my way to the stadium. The weather was nice for the moment. Minutes before kickoff, the rain started. Most of the seats are covered, but not Nobles. He is in section 140, northwest corner end zone.

The game started, the rain subsided and we had a great first quarter. The end.

The 12th man

Big ol flag

McNabb lights the Hawks up.

I gave Katie my pom pom and she knew what to do with it.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Shi Shi Beach after all!

My reluctant adventurers!




MUD!


Pictures from trail



Down to the beach

Trail head marker

Saturday at the beach





Petroleum Creek




Sunday at the beach - low tide














After an less than perfect summer, we were blessed with a great ending week. The forecast was for clear skies. I called the kids and told them to pack!

We left early Saturday am for Port Angeles. We needed to stop in at the Wilderness Information Center, pay our overnight fee and borrow a "Bear Can". I had no idea what a Bear can is either, I don't think they existed last time I went backpacking. A Bear Can is a hard plastic canister to store your food in when in Bear country. They say hanging food from a tree limb, like we used to do, is ineffective because of smaller creatures, such as Raccoons, can still get to the food. They advise you to put all food and food waste, into the bear can and place a short distance from your camp site.

Next stop, Neah Bay. Neah bay is only 70 miles from Port Angeles, but the road winds along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and takes close to two hours to make the drive. We arrived at the Makah Museuem. I ran in and paid for our "Tribal Recreational pass". Now we had everything we needed and it was off to the trail head.

We arrived at the trail head. We parked, and got the food packed into the Bear Can. I then left to go park at the overnight parking area. The trail head does not allow overnight parking. I read on the internet that the lot is 1/4 a mile, the Ranger told me 1/8 in a mile. They were both wrong, it was .6 miles. I paid my $10 dollars to the nice native woman to park in her front yard and walked back to the trailhead.

Finally we began our hike... The first mile of the trail is very nice, well maintained with bridges and boardwalks to take you over the wetlands and creeks. The final 2.3 miles was not maintained. It was an old road, and it was very muddy.

We reached the end of the trail. We were not on the beach yet though. We looked to the right and there was the beach, 250 feet down. There was sort of a trail, steep narrow switch backs and a rope to hang on to. We made it down fairly easily, but there was another couple, senior citizens, who decided to turn around.

Once on the beach, we started heading south to find a good spot to make camp. The fog was coming in fast, the sun was gone. We went down the beach about a half mile and set up camp.

After we had our tents up, we walked down the beach. I wanted to see Petroleum Creek. We packed in our water, but if we hadn't, this would have been our water supply. True to its name, the water was very dark.

The fog was really getting thick. We headed back to get the fire going. We made a nice fire and cooked veggie dogs on a stick. S'mores for dessert of course.

The air quality was getting pretty bad, a lot of campfires, heavy fog, no wind. The smoke was just sitting there. Finally, just after sunset, the fog moved out and we had a beautiful, clear night. It was so calm, I lit the emergency candles.

We all went to bed early. The next am, it was sunny and nice. I wished we had another day, but it was time to pack up and go home. We made the hike out very quickly, not worrying about mud or stopping for water.

As far as hikes go, it's not that great, but for camping, this was a spectacular place. Unfortunately, hiking is the only way in. Next I would like to try to come in from Lake Ozette, 13 miles south of our trail head.