Two weeks ago, a few us left work Thursday evening to get a burger.

At In-N-Out Burger in Redding, CA.

That was one fine burger. The camping was fun, too.

More pictoral evidence is here.

Road trip stats:

• cars rented: 1
• miles: 1773
• tents: 3
• times someone left a tent to sleep in the car: 2
• trips to In-N-Out: 2
• burger purchased: 3X3, Animal Style
• highest recorded temp: 102 degrees F
• minutes spent at Powell's: 30
• F-bombs dropped by the mother (to her family) from the adjacent campsite at Oak Bottom: uncountable
• circumference of largest redwood: heckuva big
• number of girls Ben waved to: 3
• number of girls who waved back: 2

In lieu of too much useful content, let me provide you with too many more pictures from my recent travels.

Filling the gaps from before, we have:

• Hawaii Day 3
• Hawaii Day 4
• Hawaii Day 7 (some pics added)
• Hawaii Day 8
• Hawaii Day 9

(All albums are publicly accessible from here.)

There are no pics from Day 5 (except for the cruise ship from the previous post). I spent most of that day napping and losing my sunglasses.

I just returned from an extended weekend road trip. Trip highlights: camping, In-N-Out Burger (twice!), and 102-degree California weather. I’ll post some details and pictures from that another day.

But for now, I hope a few pictures from my Hawaii trip(!) 2 weeks ago will suffice.

Me? In Hawaii?

Uh-huh.

My roommate was invited to go on a cruise to demonstrate Logos Bible Software to a crowd of Coral Ridge Ministries supporters. He told me I could get in for cheap, so I did.

It was my first trip to Hawaii, and Hawaii did not disappoint. Once I figured out that renting a car was often cheaper than the cruise line’s Shore Excursions, I was off the ship at each port exploring each island as much as I could.

The cruise departed from Honolulu, and we visited the big island (Hilo, Kona), Maui (overnight), and Kaua’i (overnight). My favorite was Kaua’i: the Na Pali coastline, Waimea Canyon, water falls, beaches, driving a Crossfire...

You really do have to go someday. Hawaii is often like how you see it in pictures: The water is green; the sky is blue in between puffy white clouds; the surf is up. Yep, you need to go.

If it were just me in my party, I’m not sure I’d do the cruise again. But the cruise had its benefits: the food was great. And, um... they had a few entertaining entertainers. And um... OK, so that was two things. I found that I was better off on my own schedule than I was on theirs. Different stokes for different folks, I guess.

On to the pics: Pretend this is like that time you went over to Uncle Rupert’s for what you thought was just dinner, but it turned out to be a 3 hour long slideshow of Rupert next to the pretty flowers... Mavis next to the pretty flowers... Rupert and Mavis next to the pretty flowers... Just smile and nod, and it’ll all be over soon.

• Hawaii Day 1
• Hawaii Day 2
• Hawaii Day 6
• Hawaii Day 7

Gaps in days are directly related to me not processing those days’ pictures.

I finally finished another article for Silhouette, so that leaves me shame-free for spending some time sharing the “what I’ve done recently” stuff. Let’s start with two weekends ago: Camping.

I went camping with a brood of Fosters (pun for those in the know) over near the Chewuch River north of Winthrop, WA. (Arial picture). The place we camped was just a spot along the road with no improvements except for a flat ground and a fire pit. As a result, no pay-to-stay, either. Highway 20 was open with 8-ft tall snow walls along the road. Very cool.

This was my second trip with my fancy new camera, and I had a blast. And not just because of the camera--you can look at the pictures to see who made it so enjoyable (day 1, day 2, day 3 (thanks to Foster to making them available)).

Coffee off the camp stove is a most satisfying drink:

Our very own Moses:

We stopped by the Falls Creek falls on the way out of the Chewuch area:

Check me out being all troubadour-like in the fire light:

I liked the road-tripping and the camping so much last weekend that I’m doing it again. Being outside away from the noise and the scurry and all that “civilization” is one of the best things.

Off of Highway 20:

At the Columbia River gorge's Wild Horse Monument:

Columbia River Gorge #2:

If you’re around Winthrop this weekend, toss your bedroll in my tent and meet me by the river.

The folks are in town for a few days, so I’m taking a few days off of work.

It’s a vacation for them, but it’s also a vacation for me. I’ve only taken a day here and there during the summer, and the last time I took a whole week away from work, I spent it, um... working.

We went to a Western Washington Vikings football game on Saturday. Cheap tickets, decent seats, ok football. I’ll be back for sure (they have two more home games in Bellingham this year). It’s the first live football game I’ve attended since seeing the Lions get clobbered by the Seahawks back in 2004. The Vikings got clobbered by the South Dakota Coyotes, so at least that was familiar.

Despite the clouds on Monday, we took a chance at visiting Mount Baker. Artist Point was all clouded in, but we stopped a few other places to try to make up for it:

Groundcover colors are brilliant up there:

Looking over the valley from a picnic area:

Looking down the valley:

My mom remarked about how the water has a green hue:

Random woods picture:

Random Nooksack River picture:

Last Saturday I went on another day hike, this time to Skyline Divide (Forest Service, Hiker Bob, Green Trails #13).

My hiking buddy this day was Erland. We both had commitments later in the day, but because of my stellar picture skillz and incredibly pithy remarks regarding recent hikes, Erland was jonesin’ for a hike and he would not let me not do it. So be it. We left stinkin' early in the morning (6:15-ish) and arrived at the trailhead around 7:30 am. There was one other car in the parking lot, but it appeared to have been left there overnight.

Everything I read said that the trail was all up at the beginning, so we were mentally prepared. Up the trail we went. And up, and up. And then up a little more. When we got near the top, we continued up. And then more up. When you see the sign welcoming you to the Mt. Baker Wilderness you’re there (after just a bit more up). Around 8:45 (1 hr, 15 min later) we got our first glance of Mount Baker from the Skyline Divide ridge. It’s an unforgiving climb, but it has a huge payoff.

Click for 2.3 MB fullsize panorama

Once we got to the top, it stayed relatively level, and we had nearly constant 360-degree views. You can walk in the middle of high meadows or step up to the edge of steep drop-offs.

The trail markings on the Green Trails map ends 3.5 miles from the trailhead, but parts of the trail continued on towards Baker. We aren’t exactly sure where the official end is. The path splits at one point: a high road and a middle road. We climbed up the rocks to the high road, of course, and followed that for another few minutes. We ate lunch with Baker [start Regis Philbin voice] "right there" [end goofy voice]. Very cool.

When you go, remember this: We left the trailhead early (7:30 am), and we spent nearly 45 minutes at the top without seeing another soul. One the way down, though, we passed 65 people and 8 dogs. At 11:30 am, the parking lot was full, and there were still people arriving (and one group came with llamas). If you go, go early. The earlier the better.

So this hiking business is starting to become a regular Saturday thing for me. It’s fun and I love it, but I’m not sure how long it’ll last. Football season starts soon. :)

 

click for full size, 2.6 MB panorama

Last weekend I spent a day hiking on Mount Baker: Railroad Grade, Trail #603.2 (Forest Service, no Hiker Bob link (site was down)). The trail starts at 3300 ft (according to Green Trails #45), and Kiel and I estimated that we hiked in 4 miles and lunched at 6000 ft-ish.

Railroad Grade is cool for a few reasons:
-- It just is. You’re above the tree line, and the views are sweet. Go on a sunny day for best results.
-- There are two other trails that share the trailhead: Scott Paul; Park Butte. One is just 1.5 miles more, the other is 6 miles more. You can do Scott Paul as a loop.
-- Nostalgia. 11 years ago, we summer interns got a hot tip from Sam and took a Saturday off (we worked... a lot...) up on the Railroad Grade trail. The party included Russell, Brian, Eric, and me. Being a home-body from Michigan, this was new. Mountains in the horizon were not part of everyday life, nor was the ability to make yourself part of that horizon.

I’ve lived 9 summers in Washington since my first trip up Railroad Grade, and not one has gone by without my thinking about “that trail I took back then.” Finding this trail was something of a quest of mine. Thanks again to Sam and his mad memory skillz for helping me re-find it last week.
 
There was always one scene from the trail that really stuck out, and I was able to re-experience it:

The trail follows the top of a ridge for nearly a mile and leads to Easton Glacier. On one side of the trail, there’s a steep drop-off to the rocks and dirt of the Metcalf Moraine; on the other side, there is a fairly steep slope of green ground cover, sporadic trees, scurrying marmots, and spots of snow that hadn’t got the memo that it was 80+ degrees F. And all this competing with Mount Baker itself which is right there in front of you.

Another thing I remember was the cool chain and wood bridge over Rocky Creek a little over a mile from the trailhead. When I heard the trickle of the creek, I pulled my camera out to capture the bridge coolness only to find that, after rounding the corner, there was no bridge. It had been washed out in the spring floods. All that's left is one of the bridge's supports (see in the picture on the right).

For your FYI: because this trail is so cool, lots of day-trippers visit. There were at least 70+ people on the trail that day. This isn’t the trail for people looking for solitude--this is the trail for people looking for fantastic views-itude.

Holy smokes, folks. You gotta check it out. The trail lives up to the hype.

With Fosteronomo’s family out of town, he and I went on a weekend camping trip in the Cascades. I dubbed this trip, “Cat’s Away Camping Trip 2006.” Our eventual destination: Snowy Lakes.

Fosteronomo could be such a sorry lad... he’d be eating bean burritos and working late if I weren’t around to help fill this time of temporary bachelorhood. But I digress.

We knocked off work a little early on Friday and made it to the Rainy Pass trailhead (elevation: 4800 feet) off of Washington Highway 20 around 6:20 pm. We hiked in 4-ish miles to the second campsite, which is located below Cutthroat Pass where the trees start to thin out. We spent both Friday and Saturday night there.

Saturday morning started chilly, but it quickly turned in to an incredibly cloudless blue sky with temps near 80 F. We headed out to Cutthroat Pass (6800 ft) where we ate second breakfast, gained a little more elevation before a seriously steep descent to Granite Pass (6200 ft), and finished our inward trek at Snowy Lakes (6750 ft). It's like you can reach out and grab jet contrails from up there. Off in the not-too-distant distance we saw smoke from the Pasayten Wilderness fires.

Campsite to Snowy Lake distance: 6.5-7 miles. Total roundtrip distance for the weekend, says Hiker Bob: 23 miles.

According to plan, we packed up camp Sunday morning, but with adversity. Precipitation started Sunday around 5:30 am, and it included some sleet. Re-engaging those muscles and joints that we destroyed the day before wasn't a figurative walk in the park, either.

There was no burn ban, so we built a campfire each night. Pipes were smoked, coffee was sipped, bull-pucky was exchanged. The temperature both nights was in the 40s. The howling wind on the second night was really cool--we didn’t feel it, but we could hear it swirling above us in the trees and up the basin walls that surrounded us.

Pictures follow. Click 'em for full-size images.

Mighty men ready for action:

The view above Granite Pass looking out towards Snowy Lakes and Methow Pass:

 
Foster cooling his dogs:

The hills are alive with the sound of music:

Staged photo of mountain man Jimbo crossing Porcupine Creek:

Click here for Foster's Google Earth overlay and details. Click here for a lousy screenshot of something sorta similar.

Justin, Tim, Ben and I did our first ever international disc golf tour on Saturday. It made for a long day, but, as the kids used to say, it was way cool.

We left before 8 am. On a Saturday. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Our first stop was the Little Mountain 9-hole course at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, B.C. Justin won the course by 2 strokes; Ben held on to Tim’s belt as Tim fished his disc out of the duck pond. I was doing well until the 8th hole when I threw the disc into the only real hazard on that hole—a 10-foot wide wall of cedar bushes that I nailed smack in the middle. For the rest of the day I was extracting my disc from trees.

The next stop was Tim Horton’s. They didn’t take Visa. Weird.

The next disc golf stop was Passive Park in Langley, B.C. It’s an 18-hole course with lots of brush, thick trees, and blind lines of sight. Justin and I tried this course a few weeks ago, and I lost my (then only) disc on the 14th hole. We all put $5 on the line for this tour, and it was obviously all Justin’s by the end of this round.

Next stop: U.S.-Canada Border. The digital read-out on the approach to the Pacific Highway truck crossing estimated the wait time at 50 minutes. Peach Arch’s estimate was 120 minutes, so we took our chances. Our actual time was closer to 75 minutes. Sure, it was a nice and sunny day and everything, but seriously, don’t any Canadians ever want to stay in Canada? (Jacquie says, “we are a people with cabin fever at all times.” I guess that explains that... now what about those funny accents?)

The last stop on our tour was our ‘home’ 9-hole course at Cornwall Park in Bellingham. Tim confidently says, “This is my home” just before launching his first disc 10 feet into a tree. “Welcome home,” I say. Both Ben and Justin parred this course; I stopped keeping track of my overall score, except that I knew that I had last place wrapped up midway through Passive Park.

Final Finish: Justin (+6), Tim (+10), Ben (+16), James (+22).

Yep, I got my disc handed to me. Despite that, I’m hooked. See you on the course.

I live in Washington, but I’m from Michigan. I do often enjoy games for the sake of the game, but I will always root for, and have strong support for, the Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, and Wolverines. (In my mind, pro basketball stinks.)

As a Tigers fan, this year is much more fun, seeing has how they can win and everything.

I went to see the game Friday with one friend’s church group (Tigers win!) and then again Saturday with another friend’s church group (Tigers win again!). I even bought a cap for the second game. Being tired, slightly under the weather, and running out of church groups, I passed on the third game (when the Mariners finally win). Now, at the All-Star break, the Tigers have the best record in baseball.

This year’s success is exciting, sure, but it’s hard to forget the recent past: 12 consecutive years with a losing record; poor players; bad management. Everyone thought that when Mike Illich (the Little Ceaser’s Pizza guy who also owns the Red Wings) bought the team from Tom Monahan (the Dominoes Pizza guy) Tiger Stadium would be saved and the Tigers would return to their 1945/1968/1984/1987 glory. Eventually, the Tigers moved to Comerica Park and routinely lost games. And Tiger Stadium is now slated for demolition.

I have some very strong memories about the Tigers from when I was young. My first memories were from 1983 when the Tigers made a run at the end of the season, but finished in second place in the Eastern Division. That late-season streak foreshadowed the events of the following year.

It was 1984, and I was in Mrs. Greene’s fourth grade class. Those were the days of Chet Lemon, Sweet Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Lance Parish, Kirk Gibson, Darrell Evans, Larry Herndon, Tom Brookens, Dave Bergman, Jack Morris, Dan Petry, Milt Wilcox, Willie (Guillermo) Hernandez, Roger Craig, Sparky Anderson. The list goes on, but these are the names I remember. :) George Kell and Al Kaline did the TV play-by-play and color commentary, respectively; Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey were the radio guys. Ernie Harwell says, "There's a looong fly ball, deep... and that ball is.... looooooong gone!"

The Tigers started 35-5 (and then departed Seattle 35-8). Jack Morris threw a no-hitter on national television against the White Sox the first Saturday of the season. In about the 6th or 7th inning, he walked the bases loaded, got a 1-2-3 double play, and then a strikeout (or something) to close that inning. I was pumped.

The Tigers owned the Eastern Division that year--they pretty much had it wrapped up by the All-Star break and clinched in early September (I think). They beat the Royals in the ALCS to win the American League Pennant, and then went on to win the World Series by defeating the Padres in 5 games, losing only the second game.  Alan Trammell was awarded the World Series MVP.

That was also the first year I went to see a Tigers game in person. Much of my mom’s extended family banded together to go see a game August 20, 1984. I saved that ticket stub for-stinkin’-ever. Jack Morris was the starting pitcher, and the Tigers totally smoked the Oakland A’s 14-1 (the A’s only run coming on a wild pitch). We sat in the upper deck at Tigers Stadium along the third base line looking at left field. At one point, there were 3 waves circulating the upper deck at once.

More random memories about the event: We caravanned from Ionia to Detroit and stopped to eat in Brighton. As I recall, that was also when McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets was a new product. I think I got a 6-piece.

 [update 12:10 pm: fixed spelling. Sorry, Larry!]

So it wasn't all sitting in the car cramping our legs. We took pictures. Herewith, a few more of those pictures.

The first night in the car when we're all still fresh and slightly giddy:

Clockwise from top left: Naomi, Shelley, Justin, James. James should learn to smile more.

In fact, he was accused of being too happy by a gentleman in San Francisco who just wanted our attention long enough to sell us opportunity to give $$$ to a just cause. This man's attention getter: "Excuse me, sir. I'm going to have to fine you... for smiling too much." If you find yourself down by the WWII submarine at Fisherman's Wharf, beware the guy with the "I heart San Francisco" stickers.

Windmills near Stockton, CA:

Some people got tired walking up all those San Francisco Hills (photo by Naomi):

The traffic cop at the base of Lombard Street wasn't enjoying his job this day. Even the flowers couldn't cheer him (photo by Justin):

The Engrish on this awning cracks me up (photo by Justin):

From left to right: Girl, Good Friend, Girl, Girl

One more of the bridge (photo by Justin):

This is the Siltcoos Beach on the Oregon coast, Monday, July 3rd, at about 7 am. Check out how I look all introspective (photo by Justin):

• 2040 total miles
• 36 hours driving
• 6 tanks of gas
• 3 states
• 2 golf discs lost in the water
• 1 cool hostess

We left Friday night just after 6 pm. Even though it was sunny and nice, and we get that combination in the Pacific Northwest about 5 days a year, we were determined to coup ourselves up in a car for the whole night. But what a payoff. Here's a not-so-brief summary:

Final Destination: Dublin, CA. We didn't have the luxury to take our time, so we stayed on the major freeways for the entire trip down. Total travel time, including gas stops: 16 hours. We arrived at Jana's place Saturday morning just before 10 am. We made good time, no?

Justin and I made a special trip to play disc golf in Berkeley. The score was tied going in to the final hole. When I laid up my second shot next to the basket, Justin made a play for the win. And instead of putting me in my rightful second place, his missed the pin and nailed the water. Double bummer.

We followed the Saturday evening church service with a most tasty trip to In-N-Out Burger. Praise the Lord and pass the ketchup! Get a #2 with a chocolate shake. Onions? Yes, please.

We let ourselves sleep in Sunday morning. (We really needed that.) It was then off to SFO to see the Wharf area, Lombard Street, China Town and parts of Little Italy (now at the top of my gastronomic experimentation TODO list: cannoli). Dinner at The House of Nanking included the best calamari ever along with a gloat-filled phone call to Bob.

We drove to the city so that we could start our trek home via the Golden Gate. The air was clear; the sun was waning; the photo ops were plentiful. Did I mention that the air was clear? :)

We arrived back home (in one piece! still as friends!) 19 hours later via the Oregon coast (Note to sociophobes: the beach is empty at 6 am). I think I got a total of 90 minutes of sleep that night and then another 120 minutes or so between Vancouver, WA and Bellingham.

The trip was a lot of driving. We averaged more than $3 per gallon for gas. Despite the tales here, we subsisted mostly on breakfast bars and peanut butter. The car wasn't spacious; we all suffered from sleep deprivation.

Would I do it again?

Just tell me when and where and hand me the keys. I'm ready.

It’s official... we’re actually doing it.

Justin, Naomi, Shelley, and I are heading to, at the very least, Dublin, CA to see Naomi’s friend Jana. We’ve got lots of cool things planned, including (chinese) food, (disc) golf, (old) friends, and general road trip shenanigans. Dig it.

We leave Friday after work. Boy, am I giddy.

[Update 05 July 2006: fixed destination city]