Wallace Falls Hike

Being a teacher certainly pays off during the summer...like when Monday rolls around each week, I get to say to Steph: "What do you want to do today?". Well last Monday we decided to hike Wallace Falls-- a great hike near Stevens Pass on Hwy 2.

Wallace falls is about a 5 mile round trip hike that has 3 waterfalls. The trail markers say "moderate" and I would agree. It has a lot of uphill climbs, but enough flat straight aways to give you a little bit of a rest.

Here we are at the Lower Falls:

After the Lower Falls it gets a little harder as you make your way up to the Middle Falls. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see there. And there really isn't even a place to sit--there is just a place to pose:


Here is a viewpoint of the Upper Falls (I think):



The view from the top was pretty cool ("I can see my house from here -- If I lived in Gold Bar or Sultan"):

There was also much danger to be found:

Even more dangerous:


Overall it was an awesome, tough hike that made us thirsty for more. It had some nice challenge to it, but you could do it in 3 hours. Check it out if you are looking for a challenge.

USA

I want to post some of our pics from the 4th of July - only a month late. Alicia posted pictures of all the family and fun - so there's just a few of those here.

I love this one of Aidan. Everything's more fun with him around.

We've been coming to Kayak Point for Independence Day for over 15 years. For the last 5 or so, my dad has made sure we get the same covered shelter. We're picky - and suckers for tradition.

Some kayaking happened, but not by most of us. Kayaking used to be the main event of the day, but that's changed and for the first year, my dad left the majority of kayaks at home and just brought 2 of them. I think this red one was the only one used. I guess we're not such the suckers for tradition.

Greyson starting something with the seaweed. He should watch out...

Wait for it...

Nice one, Grandpa Bruce.

Our friends, the McDonnels, joined us at Kayak Point, which was really fun for us. They brought baby Collin who didn't quite enjoy his first dip in the Puget Sound.
That evening, to honor our great country we went to a tribal casino. Then, to put a cap on our celebrations, we went to a parking lot carnival to ride the ferris wheel.

Rob was pretty bummed he didn't go on this charming ride

Camping

One of my favorite sayings is "Life Scout for life". It reflects my ability to have somewhat floated through scouting without obtaining much knowledge. This summer, I have been trying to improve on my camping skills. So far, I have been on 3 trips and Steph and I just went on another one this past weekend. We also invited our two nephews (Simon and Torsten) as well as our friends the McDonnels and Braithwaites.

It was Torsten and Simon's first camping trip. So it was fun to show them some of our favorite parts of the Great Outdoors--

The excellent foil dinners (Note Torsten's red eyelid from an earlier incident with the zipline):

Cameron's 6-pack S'mores:


Giant Mexican Marshmallows for roasting:

Sitting around the fire:

Here is the youngest member of our crew, Collin McDonel, chilling by the fire:

Cameron surprised us all by being a master fire-builder/marshmallow roaster:


Right next to our campsite, there were some spots for hammocks. While a person might usually use such things to relax. Simon and Torsten found a good new use out of them.



After a good night's rest, the McDonnels and Nylands headed up the Mountain Loop Hwy to go on a hike to the ice caves. Steph, Monica, and I had done the hike when I first moved here (a post of that hike, can be found here), but I was eager to do it again, especially with the boys.

Mapping out the trail:


The log that we had to climb over on our last trip had been replaced by a new bridge. Much better:


When we finally got up to the ice caves, it appeared that much had changed. The opening to the caves were much smaller, but they were still very nice and and cool.


Simon and Torsten enjoyed carving the ice from the walls.

This is the last cave, which we actually walked in last time. I am glad we didn't try it this time because some of the wall came crashing down while we were watching.




After the hike, the boys were pretty tired/thirsty:


We stopped in Granite Falls on the way home to go to Cranky J's. It was considerable more crowded this time around, but I still enjoyed my homemade cherry vanilla coke and Green River.


Overall, it was a fun weekend and we loved the time that we got to spend with our nephews and friends. Thanks guys!

last Portland post

The actual reason we went to Portland was to see Coldplay. The concert was so so good. We sat on the lawn so we had to get to the venue super early to get even remotely close. We waited for a couple hours, and took kissing pictures.


I haven't really listened to Coldplay a lot recently, but I had once vowed that I would see them if they came anywhere close. I don't know why I don't listen to them more - and we have, since the concert - Rob has been playing them a bunch lately. Or maybe it's just because they are still on his iPod from the roadtrip (you know, cramming before the concert). Either way, their concert was as enjoyable as I had heard they would be. We decided that the people who paid $75 for actual seats probably felt like it was totally worth it. Chris Martin (lead singer and Apple's dad) is quite the entertainer, dancing all over the stage, talking to the audience (but not too much). There was confetti, a couple song covers, cool camera and lighting effects. The band even surprised us by popping up in the lawn!!

Jen and Jenaca came too and they probably didn't even see us kiss. While we had to wait for the concert to start we played a little "catch phrase." We are so so good.

Have you ever seen someone eat a green pepper like it was an apple? I promised Jenaca that when I posted a picture of this couple (you can't really see her bf) I would also reference this (I can't find the original - is there an original?).

One more...

We didn't JUST eat in Portland

On Sunday we took a drive down the Old Cascade Highway, just about a half hour outside of the city. We first went to Multnomah Falls, which is a pretty popular sightseeing spot, apparently. We drove back via the cool old highway. We didn't stop again until we got to the scenic crown point, but there were other waterfalls along the way. It was a really great drive. We missed church because it took longer than we expected, but the travel brochure we picked up at one of the falls had a spiritual message from the highway's engineer, and that's got to count for something.

Multnomah Falls (note the cool bridge)

Rob is taking a picture of the inscription on the cool bridge.
Me with a grumpy face - I just don't think I need to smile for every single picture, that's all.

Crown Point. These viewer things are 50 cents these days. This economy!

What Jenaca viewed:

Hawthorne District

We spent the majority of our Portland Saturday in the Hawthorne District, which is lined by consignment shops and vintage stores. I have some favorite consignment shops in Seattle, and in on Hawthorne they have the same ones, but they are all on the same street! Jenaca and I were in heaven, and Rob went to the record store.

Hawthorne also has waffles! We wanted to go to the Waffle Window while we were in Portland, but we had forgotten to look up the location when we were in the hotel that morning and texting google wasn't effective. When these things happen we throw our heads to the sky and yell, "I need an iPhone!" Luckily, we had remembered to say our prayers and morning and were due for a blessing from heaven. As Jenaca and I left Rob to his records to head to Crossroads (where I would later buy the cutest teal trench coat), we turned the corner to find a happy surprise. The Waffle Window! We skipped back to get Rob and then the three of us shared a chocolate dipped waffle ice cream sandwich (even better than a Smart Cookie) and the daily special which was something about lavender and nectarines and lemon panna cotta. So pretty!

sliders and donuts

We had dinner in Portland at Mother's Bistro. Jenaca and I had been there a couple of years ago and I'd been craving it ever since. We didn't take any pictures. It was a little too fancy of a place for pulling out the camera. It's too bad, too, because Rob's slider trio looked as good as it tasted - crab cake, pulled pork, and sirloin burger sliders - oh, yum. I had order regret - I felt too pressured, which always results in choosing the most random thing (in this case, the caesar salad. Boring.). How does that happen? I had bites of Jenaca's macaroni and cheese du jour, so I was okay. Yep, mac&cheese du jour - which is kind of what makes this place so great.

On the drive back to the hotel we were groaning about how full we had made our poor bellies that day, when we saw this sign, stopped, and demonstrated stuffing our faces once again:
We ordered up 3 of their signature donuts. Rob chose the oreo + pb one. When you go to Voodoo, you'll be tempted to order the voodoo doll too, understandable. However, you should instead get Rob's choice. Yum!
We waited until the next day to eat our donuts, which was the first healthy choice of the weekend.