Seattle

Mixing business and pleasure. We went to Seattle for the national sleep conference known as APSS. We made it to Snoqualmie Pass on the first day and spent the night at Denny Creek Campground. For the next four nights we stayed at Dash Point State Park in Federal Way. It's about half way between Seattle and Tacoma. It's a nice little oasis in a sea of traffic. We went to Pike Place Market. We had a glass of wine in the Space Needle. We had lunch at the Crab Pot. Kimo got a tick on his face and was stung by a bee. His eye nearly swelled shut. When the conference ended we headed for the Olympic Peninsula. We spent a night at Hamma Hamma and hiked up to Lena Lake. We had dinner in Port Angeles and spent the night in the Hoh rain forest. Kimo ate a slug (his second) and gagged on the slime for nearly an hour. We played in the Pacific at Ruby Beach and headed back to Snoqualmie Pass. Before hitting the road we hiked up to Franklin Falls. We learned some lessons. We had some fun. We need a shower.

Seattle

Fairmont and Lake Louise

The Captain's Blog is being expanded to include trips in my new Honda Element, Ella Dorado. We went to Fairmont Hot Springs in the interior of British Columbia. We got the Romance Package for our fourth anniversary. Two days of soaking with dinner and champagne breakfast. We went for a short hike and watched the water cascade into the creek. We also walked up to the old bath house. Next, we drove across the continental divide to Banff, but not before we had to stop and take a picture of a big horn sheep. In Banff we went to the home of the Canadian National Park system, the Cave and Basin. It was a really stinky sulphorous cave. As we left the park we saw two elk in somebody's front yard. In Lake Louise, we stayed at the Lake Louise Inn. The room had a great view, and a really nice jacuzzi tub. We made some early season turns and I was happy to find out that a fair amount of the resort was already open. My legs weren't ready for three thousand vertical feet. It was pretty busy, but what do you expect when the World Cup Super G race is going on. The drive home was a little slow due to the falling snow, but Roxanne handled it like a champ.

Fairmont and Lake Louise

Congratulations, Obama!

God Bless America, and every place else.

Roadtrip 08: Going Back to Cali

Wow, we packed a lifetime into our vacation. I don't know where to begin. We started off by driving to the Columbia River Gorge. We were waterfall rich. Then, we went to the Redwoods in Northern California. It rained for two days and stifled my hiking/biking aspirations. But we had a great time at Patrick's Point with Tyson and his son Ian. We then drove down to Point Reyes, just North of San Francisco. The campground I had in mind was full, so Roxanne wanted to sleep in the trailer on the side of the road. Forty Five seconds later the sheriff informed me that it was illegal. He was fast. We drove out to the Point Reyes lighthouse and then kayaked in Tomales bay and drove to Santa Cruz. We enjoyed the hospitality of Steve, Anji, and Rawly for three days and then headed up to Tahoe, but not before, stopping in to see Grandma and Pop in Sacramento. Three days in Tahoe included a full day at the beach doing nothing but kayaking with the Cap'n. We drove for a full day to Wells, NV and camped at Angel Lake, in the Ruby Mountains. Shortly after breakfast and fairly close to town I drove over a cattle guard and snapped the tung on the trailer. We had the mirthship towed into town and hired ourselves a welder. His name was Chris Otto and he was a man of few words. The incident occurred at 9:30 in the morning and we were back on the road by 3:30 in the afternoon. Our last stop was Shelley, Idaho. The little RV park had showers and a disc golf course. It was just outside of Idaho Falls.

Polebridge and Bowman Lake

We tried to camp at Avalanche Campground along the Going to the Sun Road, but it proved to be tourist town and we weren't able to secure a spot. However, a good captain doesn't leave port without a backup plan, so we drove up the North Fork of the Flathead River, along the western boundary of Glacier Park. Fifteen miles of washboard, bumpy, at times one lane, deliverance style road, led us to the Polebridge Mercantile. We enjoyed their fresh baked goods and Huckleberry Margaritas. After driving up a more narrow, more bumpy, less than one lane road, the banjo playing started. Bowman Lake campground was home to a herd of six deer. They liked to nibble at the leftovers that campers threw into the firepits. We hiked 7.2 miles to Lower Quartz Lake on Sunday and halfway around Bowman on Monday. Our little trailer survived this trek, but our adventure was not without casualties. Due to the rough ride, it looked like a photon torpedo went off inside, and somehow our water container was punctured and leaked into the galley.

Polebridge

NAID and 2 Med

Touched down at the North American Indian Days in Browning, MT. This is one of the biggest pow wows in the country. We really enjoyed the Traditional style and the Chicken Dance style competitions. We also watched the tiny tots and the Golden Age dancers. We completed the experience with an Indian Taco and some of the greasiest curly fries I've ever eaten. We spent one night in Browning before heading into Glacier Park. We took a boat ride across Two Medicine Lake and hiked to Upper Two Medicine. Although it's mid-July the wildflowers are still in bloom and the hike was a rainbow of colors. Before the return boat ride we stopped at Twin Falls and I hiked around on the rocks and posed for some photos. The Mirthship Halcyon is making all of Montana our home.

NAID and 2 Med

Many Glacier

Co-pilot/Astrogator, Roxanne "Rabbit" Taylor, has been wanting to go horseback riding since we moved to Montana. Last week was her non-birthday so I took her riding in Glacier park. We drove around to the other side of the park to a place called Many Glacier. After a lengthy discussion if the correct pronunciation was a homonym with "mini glacier", we arrived at my new favorite part of the national park. The old hotel built on the lakeshore was one of the inspirations for "The Shining". Not because it's haunted, but because it had a year round caretaker in a very remote area. The horseback riding was a big hit. Rox said it was as cool as the dolphin swim, the dolphin swim, swim with the dolphins.

Many Glacier