Karen and Tom Wanderings

The summer hiking campaign successfully prepared us for a road trip to the Southwest.  We focused on southern Utah and northeast Arizona.  But first, of course was the long, mostly-interstate drive.  We spent the first night in Twin Falls, Idaho (a first for us).  We didn't explore the town itself, but it sits on one side of a amazing gorge containing the Snake River.  It's crazy that this gorge seems to appear out of nowhere ... driving along a seemingly endless desert plain, then suddenly this giant chasm appears!  We had a nice evening walk along the rim, and an early morning visit to Shoshone Falls (which I believe is the "twin falls" of the town's name).  Not much water running over the falls this time of year, but still quite beautiful.  The visit here was a welcome break from the driving, and from the usual roadside motel eat-and-sleep routine on many high-mileage travel days. Our first stop in Utah was Kodachrome State Park, where we camp...

After way too long away from the trail due to knee and foot issues, this summer involved a series of Seattle-based hikes to figure out what was still possible, and hopefully get in shape for a road trip and a backpack or two.  Each hike was carefully (conservatively) selected to push things a bit further, but not so much that it flared things up again.  Also in the selection criteria was coolness, smoke free, and decent weather.  Karen joined for some, and Tom went solo on others.   First up was out of the Sunrise area of Mt Rainier ... Mt Fremont Lookout.  A spectacular day, and it did wonders for the soul ... getting above treeline and communing with our old friend (Mt R).  We were on the early end, so crowds weren't significant.  The timed-entry permit system for that area of the Park probably played a role, too. Fremont Peak and Lookout The mighty Mt Rainer Next was Annette Lake, near Snoqualmie Pass.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but ...

We took a trip to Oakland California for a high school graduation and couldn't resist the opportunity to extend the trip by a few days and visit Monterey.  We hung out in Oakland, saw a old slide guitar blues concert (Roy Rogers, where we were definitely on the younger side), walked in the Berkeley Hills, visited parts of SF, including the Presidio (fittingly on Memorial Day), then to the graduation ceremony in a beautiful old theater.  In Monterey (actually, we stayed in Pacific Grove), we did the requisite visit to the famous aquarium, took multiple shoreline walks, and spent a day a bit farther south at Point Lobos State Park.  Stunning, as usual!   Presidio cemetery on Memorial Day Paramount Theater, Oakland The Happy Grad (and support team) Pacific Grove Sunset Pacific Grove Shoreline Foggy morning at Point Lobos Sunny View at Point Lobos Islands at Point Lobos (covered with sea lions) Bursting colors (Point Lobos) Cormorant Rookery (Point Lobos)   ...

After an overly long drought of fun trips (due mostly to Tom's struggles with plantar fasciitis), we finally headed out of town to the Oregon Coast for 5ish days.  We got a house in Waldport sitting on a bluff overlooking the Alsea River flowing into the Pacific (with commanding views), and were joined by our kids and Karen's sister and niece.  The weather was outstanding (mostly sunny, with no rain!), so we had no problem getting in our outdoor activities.  Long beach walks, great tidepools (Cape Perpetua), hiking (Haceta Head), hot-tubbing, and wildlife viewing (seals, eagles, etc).  And, of course, great food.  Quite relaxing, and a much needed excursion! Beach Detail Beach Detail Sea Stars and Sea Anemone Coastal View Sunset More Photos

Another spring, another visit to the Olympic Peninsula.  Karen's cousin and her husband were in town for a wedding, so we took the opportunity to give them a brief tour of the peninsula.  It mirrored last year's trip, except with less aggressive activities due to the higher average age of our team.  We tried to get up to Hurricane Ridge, but most of the road was closed due to snow that was dumped by a storm the previous day.  Undeterred, we rerouted to the mouth of the Elwha River, which is being transformed due to the removal of the dams upstream. Of course there was the gorgeous drive along Lake Crescent, and then to our beach-front cabin in La Push.  From there we visited First Beach (out our front door), Rialto Beach (just across the Quillayute River from La Push), the Hoh Rain Forest (about an hours drive inland), and Second Beach (a tad further south from First Beach). All were excellent, and we had perfect weather ... ok, except for the last day when we w...