Camping at Mt. Rainier

Collin and I went on a fantastic camping trip Aug. 7-9 at White River Campground, located in Mt. Rainier Nat'l. Park (on the NE side).  Below are the photos and description of our 3-day vacation in the wild!

Our Campsite: C19 A portion of the Wonderland Trail (which we hope to conquer) ran right behind our site.

Mt. Rainier in the background, crossing over a little wooden bridge. The picture does not do the ferocity of the waves any justice!

Hiking along part of the Wonderland Trail... looking up to see evidence of civilization. Just can't get away from it.

I just loved the contrast of colors of the bark and the inner part of the tree. I'm sure my dad would love to get his hands on this one!

Bear poop? There are no dogs allowed on this trail. This is about the time we started talking loudly, shouting random songs, whistling, and clapping our hands as we walked. All at the same time.

There I go on the Wonderland Trail.

Crossing back over the bridge to the campground.

Thank you, bridge and self-timer feature, for taking this picture!

We made friends with Chippy.

Unlike past chipmunks we've dealt with while camping, this little guy was very friendly and didn't beg obnoxiously. He packed his cheeks full, scurried off to another area, dug a hole, put the nuts in the ground, covered the hole, and even rolled a pine cone over his spot to mark it! haha... it was so cute!

Probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip. This was taken while hiking at Sunrise. We took a 5 mile round trip hike up to a small fire lookout built in the 30s (in later photos).

Frozen Lake... this picture doesn't show how blue the water really was. Can you spot the tiny line of a dirt trail going up the hill? Yeah, we hiked up that... plus a lot more.

Frozen Lake again.. trying to capture the blue hue of the water.

After a few miles of hiking already, finally it is time to branch off and start the Mt. Fremont Fire Lookout Trail!

Try to follow the trail all the way up to the left side of the hill. This was fun!

After that previous steady climb,we had to walk along this hillside. You do NOT want to trip here. Can you see the fire lookout way off in the distance? It is toward the right side of the picture...

In case you couldn't see it in the last picture, I zoomed in to the fire lookout.

I was really hoping I wouldn't trip or lose consciousness and fall down this hillside.

I love wildflowers more than any other kind.

Finally near the fire lookout. Look at the view! Feeling very accomplished.

Zooming in to the mountain in the distance!

Collin with Mt. Rainier in the background

Fire lookout up close.

Panoramic view off one side of the peak.

We met a nice man who offered to take our picture.

Nice little cairn someone built.

Amazing perspective up there!!

Panoramic view off the other side of the peak.

Aren't these cute?!

I loved walking on these rocks...although they were not the most stable, it sounded like we were walking on glass or hard clay pieces.

Driving back down from Sunrise to our campground.

Time for s'mores later... We don't use regular Hershey's chocolate. We use Kit Kats....

....Reese's peanut butter cups....

... and cookies & creme! Yum!

Last photo at our campsite before we head over to Tipsoo Lake.

Tipsoo Lake was just a tad frozen over still.... Google Tipsoo Lake images, it is AMAZING when it's not frozen like this. It was still fun to trample through the snow.

Collin at Tipsoo Lake!

Homemade Pretzels!

Who doesn't love big soft pretzels?? I have been wanting to make my own for quite some time now, so I gave it a shot tonight.  I figured it would be a good dinner :) and a great little snack to bring camping with us for the next few days.

I got the recipe from this link: Pretzel Recipe  but I halved everything (my pretzels are also half as big), topped with sea salt before baking rather than kosher salt, and found that my batter needed more water than recommended.

They came out 1,000 times better than I expected!! I guess I expected them to taste like biscuits in a shape of a pretzel, which still would have been OK with me because I love any sort of bread product, but these really do taste like pretzels you could buy at a ball game.  Plus, they have no butter, milk, or eggs, and hardly any sugar and salt.  

This is one recipe I will definitely be writing down for future use.  It was so easy and they came out perfectly!  Here is a photo of my pretzels:

YUM!

To the Zoo with Mads

Today I went to the Point Defiance Zoo with my sister, Sellie, and niece, Maddie.  I was really excited to go see the new clouded leopard cubs and got a few decent pictures of them (see below).  The animals at the zoo cooperated and allowed me to get good pictures; all in all, it was a good day spent with family and animals.  Here is just a handful of the pictures I took:

new leopard cubs

First time I've EVER gotten a good look at the tigers at Point Defiance

These monkeys are probably my favorite characters at the zoo; they are SO dramatic and entertaining.

Look at those arms!  I just wanna tickle that armpit! ;)

The part that makes going to the zoo kind of depressing...

Ride a camel for $5?

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Arctic fox.. about the size of a house cat

This is the first time Maddie ever put on a backpack! She hated it at first but as soon as she saw another girl wearing one, she felt like a cool kid. :)

Polar Bears are one of my zoo favorites!

She's growing up so quickly...

Mom & Maddie

I can push my own stroller too!

Gotta love the owls.

Happy day at the zoo!

10 mile trek on Chehalis Western Trail

Today Collin and I decided to go check out the Chehalis Western Trail, as we've been meaning to for quite some time now, and it was one of our summer goals to finally go visit it.  The Chehalis Western Trail is an old rail system that connects Lacey, Rainier, and even goes to Tenino and Yelm.  In sum, the trail covers 49 miles. 

We had plans of walking a couple miles maybe.  We were there to just explore, but after a few feet onto the trail, I half-jokingly said, "let's do 10 miles!"  Whenever I see those mile markers I must turn the walk into a competition.  We laughed it off, but by the time we got 2 miles in, we felt pretty good and decided to go longer.  We knew that whatever point we stopped at is actually only half the total distance we would have to walk, since our car was back in a trail head parking lot. 

As we walked more, we were more intrigued by this trail.  We went from the middle of the city to a very rural location.  Every now and then, the heavily wooded trail would open up to a small intersection and you could see neighboring homes, barns, and pastures.  There were many cyclists on this trail.  We only saw other walkers about a mile into the trail, but never saw any others as we continued.  When we were 4 miles in, I knew that would be a total of 8 miles.  Well, that's almost 10, so why not just continue another mile??  It was at about mile 5 that my legs started getting tired.  They were already sore from a long walk yesterday when we first started, but now they just felt tired--all soreness was gone. 

I reflected about why I like this kind of physical challenge: once you get a certain distance out on the trail, you MUST return, there's no other option if your car was parked at the trail head.  It is much easier to just step off a treadmill when you think you feel tired, not really pushing you to your limit.  At mile 7 I finally started to HURT.  My hips, knees, feet... all of them hurt.  But, I knew I had to be mentally strong and push through it.  It helped having my best friend by my side so we could get caught up in conversation.  At one point, in an attempt to stop thinking about how many miles we had left, I came up with an idea: "let's take turns counting off 100 steps until we reach 1,000!"  I doubt any of you know this, but I have an obsessive compulsive habit of counting my steps inside my head from time to time.  I used to constantly count my steps, in different patterns (1,2,3,4...   2,4,6,8... 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a)  the last pattern comes from being a band geek I suppose.  Anyway, by the time I was done explaining how we would count, he had already counted up to 34, so we continued with our little game of distraction.  Unfortunately, we reached 1,000 steps and our walk still wasn't over.  Fortunately, we had managed to forget about the pain for a few minutes. 

We did get to see some cute baby chipmunks and bunnies along the way, which made the walk even more worth it.  When we finally got to the car we were SOOOOOOOOO happy but exhausted.  I had never been more happy to see my car!  We decided to treat ourselves for dinner.  We only go out to dinner about once a month; we hate spending excess money on food... well, really, excess money on anything.  So, it was a big decision to finally go to Olive Garden for dinner.  I was so very excited to order my favorite meal on the menu- garlic herb chicken con broccoli... Much to my dismay, this is no longer on their menu!! I had to settle for Chicken Parmesan... I don't think we will be going back to the OG anytime soon.

We have had to remind ourselves already 5 times that we SHOULDN'T go on another walk tonight.  We keep forgetting that our legs are tired and one of us will say, "hey, we should go on a walk tonight!"  I guess it's a good thing that our lives are so active, and that we are entertained by something that is physical, free, and strengthens our relationship by allowing us time to talk.

Here's to a healthy lifestyle and treks on a whim!

Flat Tire, Kayaking, Lost Wedding Band, and Hiking Boots!

Yesterday, Collin and I had our first kayaking adventure.  Neither of us had been in a kayak before, but since we've been living here, we've wanted to try out the kayaks at Tugboat Annie's, a restaurant on Budd's Bay that also rents out kayaks.  


On our way out of the driveway, we noticed Biscuit (my car) was having a hard time turning.  Collin figured it was a flat tire, and sure enough, we got out and saw that the front driver's side tire was completely flat.  This would stress a lot of people out, but I was actually kind of excited.  I enjoy changing my own tires.  Collin & I worked together to put on the spare and we were off to Les Schwab, which is conveniently 1 block away from our apartment.  It was a quick, easy and free fix- just needed a new valve stem.  It took under 5 minutes to get in and get out, which is a first for me and Les Schwab!  Good job guys.


We got to Tugboat Annie's just a few minutes later, got our key to access the kayak shed, put on some life jackets and got buckets to put in the kayak (in case we had to bail water out of the kayaks), picked out a couple of oars and two single kayaks.  I was extremely nervous about getting into the kayak but I made it.  Within the first few feet from the dock, I wasn't quite sure about this whole kayak thing.  It was way more tippy than I was expecting!  At first I didn't know how I'd manage out in the open waters, but I was able to get used to it pretty quickly.  


We had an amazing time kayaking; we kept seeing what we think was the same family of seals following us.  They were so curious but extremely difficult to get pictures of (See the best shot I got below).  We had our own little race (I won!) and we explored the water downtown by the 4th ave. bridge.  


Getting out of the kayaks upon returning is a different story.  I knew I would need Collin's help getting out so he went first.  He was almost free of the kayak and up on the dock, until the foot that was still in the kayak kicked the kayak out, causing him to half-fall in the water.  He twisted his ankle but he's OK.  The bad thing is, he lost his wedding band in the water.  Oops!  There were people standing around and they probably wondered why were so cool and collected about losing a wedding ring.  Collin calmly said, "My wedding band is gone."  I replied, "Crap.  Seriously?  Ugh."  No tears, no gasps, just a kind of "go figure," feeling.  Other people standing on the dock kind of tried to help look for the ring, but we had to give up pretty quickly due to the murkiness and depth of the water.  There was no way we were getting that back.  I had even convinced myself the water wasn't THAT deep by the time we got back up to land, so we went back, thinking we'd swim in the water and find it... once we got back to the water, we were reassured, there's no way the ring is ever coming back.  

We got in the car and I said, "Welp, wanna go get a new ring?"  We first returned to the apartment so Collin could shower and change after his little dip in the water, then we were off to the mall to get a new ring.  Fortunately, Collin's ring was lost and not mine.  We did not spend a fraction of the cost of my ring on his, so it really wasn't a big deal to replace it.  Of course, there was some sentimental value to it, but we would have been a lot more bummed had I lost my ring.  We ended up finding his titanium band at almost all of the jewelers in the mall and we wondered why we spent more money on it in a small jewelry shop versus just getting a less expensive version of the same ring in the mall.  The whole problem with the original ring is that because it was titanium, it could not be resized.  Although we had a desire to purchase the same ring again, we thought it wiser to buy a ring that can be resized if needed.  We looked at some white gold bands but they were a few hundred bucks, which we didn't really feel like dropping.  We asked if they had any silver bands because we knew that would be more affordable and could be resized, and they had to pull out their catalog to show us the silver bands.  For some reason, NO jeweler displays silver bands, they only order them on request.  Anyway, we started looking at the silver bands and we were expecting $100-200 prices, which would be OK.  It turns out silver is dirt cheap right now, and we ended up ordering one we really like for only $40!  I still can't believe the price.  We hope this one lasts much longer! :)  But, if it doesn't, when it comes down to it... the ring is just a piece of metal and hardly represents the love we have for each other.


After we purchased a new ring, we headed over to REI.  We have some pretty tough trails in our sights this summer (The Wonderland Trail- 93 mile trip around the base of Mt. Rainier, and Mailbox Peak- a 2.5 mile trip that gains 4,000 feet in elevation, located in North Bend), and we both need to invest in some heavy duty hiking boots.  When I go on hikes, I either wear my casual Keen shoes or a pair of Nikes that my parents bought me for volleyball in 8th grade... they are still holding up! Neither of these shoes are going to cut it on a 93 mile trek, however.  After trying on handful of different hiking boots, accepting that the cutest ones aren't the most comfortable and best for my feet, I settled on this pair: Vasque Breeze GTX Hiking Boots  I didn't actually buy them from REI because I knew I'd be able to find them online cheaper... I came home and ordered them for $112 (no shipping costs or tax) versus $150 plus tax.  The money I saved by buying them online allows me to buy $40 Superfeet Insoles from REI.  I never believed in insoles until I tried them out in boots yesterday.  Amazing!

The evening ended with a turkey burger dinner and a 3 mile walk around Olympia (our old money walking path that we did every day before I went to school in Seattle).  All in all, it was a great day and there's no one I would have rather spent it with than my best friend!

 

Just getting a feel for things..

I love this one because I look so relaxed and it looks like Collin's paddling away from a shark!

It's OK Collin.. there's no shark around you.  Just seals!

One of my favorite views... I love when the sail boats come out to play!

This seagull liked playing with the seals.  The seals would pop up out of the water and the seagull would fly over toward them and try to land on them.  The seals would duck under, swim to another spot and pop out of the water, attracting the seagull yet again.  It was quite entertaining to watch.

Can you spot the Capitol?

We have grown quite fond of blue herons and are now seeing them everywhere in Oly!

4th Ave. Bridge

Maybe my favorite picture... just wish I would have captured the entire reflection of the boat in the water.

The seals were so curious about us!

Collin off in the distance

aww...

It's rather scary trying to take a side-by-side photo in tippy kayaks!

One of the last pictures in which Collin was wearing a wedding band. lol

Off I go!

The water was so pretty!

Victory pose

Basmati & Coconut Curry Chicken

Collin and I like to try out new things from Trader Joe's every now and then.  We eat their mandarin orange chicken 1-2 times per week and have recently grown fond of their chicken taquitos.  Yesterday we decided to try Trader Joe's (Trader Thai's) Coconut Curry Chicken Stix.  We also picked up some sweet chili sauce (no high fructose corn syrup) to go with the chicken stix.  To go with the chicken stix and sweet chili sauce, we cooked up some of our favorite kind of rice- Basmati.  Basmati is a long grain, non-sticky rice from India and Pakistan. 

Did you know: 'basmati' means "my smile" in Arabic?

Our meal was pretty tasty; although you cannot taste it through my blog, you can at least see how delicious it looked:

I highly recommend this dinner choice!