(See even more photos in our FaceBook album.)

Current Location: Longmire, Washington

No words can describe the grandeur and majesty of the mountains, and even photographs seem hopelessly to dwarf and belittle the most impressive peaks.
~ George Bird Grinnell

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This week’s adventure edition finds us back in Washington after an amazing week spent in Montana, exploring Glacier National Park. What an amazing place! As stunning as the scenery in our photos might be (as seen on FaceBook), they “dwarf and belittle the most impressive peaks” and views.

Jackie joined us for this adventure and we had a wonderful time together, exploring new territory with family! Jackie had not yet made it to the North Cascades National Park so we took the scenic route across the mountains to make a pit stop here. Ashley and I enjoyed getting to stop and enjoy the views in the Cascades once again, so no complaints from us!

• 3 grizzlies safely spotted (and one of them a cub)
• 1 big horn sheep seen
• 1 bull moose nearly run into on the trail
• dozens of mountain goats (including some kids!)

The campgrounds at Glacier were more crowded than we expected (apparently it’s a record year for the park service…we have mixed feelings about this), so it was challenging and cut-throat trying to find a camp site. This actually worked out in our favor though, as we had to head north to Bowman Lake to find a spot the first night. We snagged the last one available and were treated to an amazing sunset and sunrise highlighting the mountains. We’d wanted to visit the area but hadn’t planned on it for this trip, so we really enjoyed the detour!

The next day we moved further into the park and got some hiking in, while taking the shuttle along the going-to-the-sun road to Logan Pass. Every turn seemed to bring even more amazing views, whether of blue streams, waterfalls, meadows or mountains. Each trail seemed to outshine the last, throughout the whole week. No matter how much we gush about the park, it won’t do it justice. Just plan on going to visit for yourself!

If you’re looking for more reading – check out the most recent post on Adventure-Some – adventure-some.com/examples/the-beauty-of-two-wheels/

Lessons Learned (or relearned):

• Making up songs to let the wildlife know we’re in the area while hiking helps pass the miles
• Moose, even little ones, are big!
• We could’ve been junior rangers in all of the parks… what an opportunity missed!

It’s hard to express via written words, but Matthew was more than excited to spot a grizzly bear. Every time we spotted someone stopped on the road, taking pictures, he’d half-jokingly ask “is that a bear?” Early one morning we crossed over the mountain pass and saw a single car stopped. He asked, “is that a bear?” and, lo and behold… “IT IS! IT’S A BEAR!” Then, about an hour later on another road we spotted a momma and her cub across a field and stopped to watch them wander back into the woods.

While on the trail to our overnight backpacking spot at Cobalt Lake, Jackie was leading the way. We were singing made-up songs so that the bears would know we were in the area and avoid us (due to our humanness, not the quality of our singing.) Apparently we were warning the wrong animals. We crossed a bridge and started to take a side trail to a waterfall when Jackie jumped back and yelled “@*&#, a moose!” Bullwinkle was standing in the middle of the trail, no more than 12′ away, pondering what we might be doing out in the woods. Quickly backing up across the bridge, that’s what we were doing! We had recently passed a backcountry ranger (Ranger Ed) on the trail and suddenly wanted his presence “Where’s our Ranger?” Jackie said. “What’s he going to do?” Ashley asked. “I don’t know, be in front!” Jackie replied :). He caught up with us and we all waited together, until the moose finally decided to meander away. The waterfall was stunning, by the way.

We enjoyed a delightful night up at Cobalt Lake, soaked in the views atop the nearby Two Medicine pass, and Matthew even got Ranger Ed’s signature. That autograph completed his Junior Ranger Activity Book for Glacier and upon returning to “civilization” he immediately headed to the Ranger Station to take his pledge and earn his badge. 😀

As always, it’s bittersweet to leave for a new place. We’ve absolutely treasured our time with Jackie, whom we don’t see nearly often enough. We’ve made great new friends in Mikel, Marit and Reier, Karen, Tonya, Sheila and so many others. But we’re also looking forward to new adventures, exploring new areas, and to seeing parents and siblings for the first time in over a year! There’s more adventures on the way, and we’re so excited to see what we can fit in from here to Kentucky!

Adventuring away,

Matthew & Ashley

P.S. – Want to see pictures from our adventures? Check out the Adventure-Some facebook page for our most recent photos.
www.facebook.com/adventuresome2015/

(See even more photos in our FaceBook album.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

No, no! The adventures first. Explanations take such a dreadful time.
~ Lewis Carroll

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This week’s dose of adventure found us in eastern Washington, floating down Icicle Creek into the Wenatchee River. Plans changed last minute, as they always do, so that we could avoid the 8,000+ college students who decided to swarm the original river we planned to float, the Yakima. Despite that, eight of us, plus a dog, had a great day tubing Icicle and Wenatchee, staying cool in the water and warm in the sun (at the same time!). The views were incredible as we leisurely floated down the river, the towering Cascades surrounding us. The river is located near Leavenworth, a super cute Bavarian style town, and we were able to do a quick drive through to see it as well. Definitely would be a fun little town to come back to and explore a bit more.

Sunday we sat down with our atlas and highlighted the short trips we’ve taken while here in Washington (this is something we do in every state). Seeing all of the places we’ve been was surprising – we’ve seen a good bit of the area!

Since we’ll be heading out Saturday for Glacier National Park in Montana, we’ve switched into prep mode. The to do lists can’t be ignored any longer. Shopping for food for the trail and the road. Maintenance on all of our wheeled transportations. All of the fun things that go with… well, life in the modern world and any kind of traveling.

Lessons Learned (or relearned):

• To-do lists will never be finished.
• Nor will to-hike lists!
• We have to come back to Washington and hike every trail they have (that’s right, every of the trails 🙂

Leaving Bremerton is bitter-sweet. We’ve loved our time here, visiting family, making new friends, and feeling like part of a community again. But we are also itching to return to our nomadic, adventuring ways and get to seeing the rest of our amazing country. We have a quest to fulfill after all! Bremerton has been the first place since hitting the road that truly felt like home. We can’t even begin to thank everyone for being so warm and welcoming, from Jackie letting us live in her backyard for almost two months, to Randy letting us use his truck while we were here, to Marit for giving us jobs, introducing us to the community, and becoming our friend. Bremerton will hold a place in our hearts forever. And for those who are wondering, Washington has made it to the top of our list should we ever decide to choose a “forever home”.

We’ve been busy making plans for the next few months… As always, these are apt to change, but as of right now here’s the penciled schedule:

Along with Jackie, we’re going to explore Glacier National Park in Montana for the first week of August. Then we’re going to head out of Washington and east (picking up a few new states along the way!) until we’re back in Kentucky at the beginning of September. During a short visit we’re going to change up everything and move into our car for a new kind of adventuring…

In the car we’re heading back up to Michigan to backpack in Isle Royale National Park, which we skipped at the start of our adventure when we were in Michigan because we were stubborn and thought it was too expensive to get there. “We’ll just come back and make it our finale park” we thought. Stupid. We should have visited while we were so close. This is the closest we’ll be again because of Lisa and Tim’s wedding in Kalamazoo on the 17th that Ashley will be a bridesmaid in. So, we’re taking advantage of proximity and hitting it while we have the chance. Once they’re hitched we’re going to do a tour of the north east (that should be prime leaf color season) and will be back in Kentucky, reunited with our beloved RV by November. We’ll then be heading about three hours east where Ashley has a job lined up from November till December. We’ll get to spend Christmas with family this year, and then it should be cold enough that we’ll be heading south again, trying to avoid the worst of winter and exploring further!

Why are we trading for the car you may ask? Well, Lady Galapagos has a big caboose, and though we love her, her bulk can be incredibly frustrating in tight, populated areas…like all of the northeast. So for ease of travelling, we’ve decided to pick up the car for this short portion of the trip until we head south in the winter, toward more open spaces. Just FYI, everything you hate about road travel and crowds is magnified x 10 when you’re on a cramped road in an RV.

Whew! After being relatively stationary since mid-May, this sounds like a lot. But we’re looking forward to a slew of new experiences and locations to explore!

Adventuring away,

Matthew & Ashley

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And we know the place for the first time.
~ T. S. Eliot

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This week’s edition of Adventure-Some takes us to the North Cascades National Park! 🙂 We headed out Thursday afternoon for a new adventure, aiming to beat some weekend traffic, but apparently Thursday afternoon IS weekend traffic as everyone attempts to escape from Seattle! We took a ferry across the sound and headed north-east, aiming for the far side of the park. Between traffic at the beginning of the trip and too many stops along the way to admire the view, we didn’t quite make it as planned, stopping in a forest campground just outside of the park.

This is by no means a complaint. When you’re running behind on a self-imposed schedule because there are so many amazing views that you can’t help but stop and take them in… that’s a good problem to have! We were truly taken with the splendor of the park. It was like we’d driven into the setting for a fantasy novel or fantastical movie set.

The Cascades (mountain range) is named because of the cascading water everywhere – and it’s apt! There are waterfalls and streaming water around every turn, even on the drier eastern side of the mountain range. You can tell the difference in moisture between the east and west by the flora – different types of trees and undergrowth with less plants on the east.

• 25 national parks visited
• 2 flat tires
• 3 trails hiked

Our plans changed a few times on this trip (as they are wont to do). Jackie and Mikel were planning on joining up with us for an overnighter on Saturday, but with her heading out of town for work this week she had too many things to do around the house. That gave us some additional flexibility and we added some trails to our to-hike list for the weekend.

Friday morning we were up and on the road early, aiming for the highest spot you can drive to in the state of Washington, located in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. We made it up to a campground just before the pass, where we had breakfast, but since it was cold at the higher elevation and we couldn’t see very far due to being inside the clouds, we decided not to continue on up the road to hike the trail. It is apparently a spectacular and expansive view of the Northern Cascades on a clear day, but, alas, Washington mountain weather strikes again! On the way back down, we were given the pleasure (ha!) of testing the in-truck emergency equipment. That’s right, we got a flat tire. Luckily, everything we needed was there and functional; we got the spare on and headed on in to the nearest town to get the flat tire fixed. One new-to-us tire later and we were headed back into the mountains…

The Lake Ann-Maple Pass Loop sounded delightful. “If your tasks list includes: find yourself in the midst of countless Cascade peaks, tiptoe through wildflowers exploding with color, peer down into sparkling lakes and tumbling waterfalls stunning beyond all reason, then check out the Lake Ann-Maple Pass Loop. … Definitely one of this book’s top five trails.” Who could pass that up? Not us! It was a bit early in the season for the flowers, though the ones we saw were amazing, and the top of the pass was still snow-covered so we had to watch our footing, but the hike was wonderful and the lakes were beautiful! Along the way we joined up with a young couple exploring the area on vacation. We hiked the second half of the loop with them and greatly enjoyed chatting as we went. This was our first experience hiking with strangers on the trail and it was a great way to start!

Finishing up the loop, we aimed to find a disbursed camp spot in the national forest along the way to our next trail. We found a fabulous little campsite just off the road, a mossy alcove tucked in beside a tiered waterfall. It was too good to pass up so we spent the night listening to the tinkling of the falling water. In the morning, we woke early and headed up for the next trail. Our stack of guidebooks all pointed to Cascade Pass as being one of the most beautiful in the area (it starts in the national forest and heads into the park). “The parking-lot view of Johannesburg Mountain is enough to spike the mountain mojo of most folks, and the views are only better at the pass.”

Just before arriving at the trailhead the Tire Pressure Monitoring System beeped at us – announcing another flat tire. Bah! We changed out the spare once more at the trailhead parking lot and then went ahead and headed out on our hike. Unfortunately, it was another rainy day and the clouds precluded any views, but the lack of visibility helped us enjoy the trail itself. We spotted lots of flowers and a couple of marmots on the way up. We definitely could tell there was likely some amazing views just beyond our vision, as much of the trail was along the rocky side-slope of a mountain.

At the pass, we stopped for a rest. While sitting, a pika ventured out of the rocks nearby and we watched it watch us. The wind had blown some of the clouds around, giving us a glimpse of the valley below on the other side of the pass – it was definitely worth the hike! Along the way back down, we shared the trail with a couple of mule-deer does. One in particular walked right up to us, meeting face to face on the trail, and then stood unblinkingly, trying to decide where to go and what to do as there was nowhere for either of us to go. She finally backtracked a bit and clambered up the mountain to avoid us. Back at the parking area, the sun finally started to peek through and we were treated to a more expansive view of the valley and the Mountain. It truly was stunning!

With adulting responsibilities to tackle, we aimed for the nearest tire shop, hoping to make it before closing time. No luck, but we found an auto parts store and picked up a plug kit. Matthew fixed the tire and swapped it out. With promises of more inclement weather and two flats thus far we decided that was enough excitement for us and reluctantly headed on back to Bremerton, though we did stop to enjoy another view of the spectacularly blue Diablo Lake.

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• We love seeing people of all ages on the trail – it gives us hope for future generations and for ourselves later in life.
• Carry our plug kit and air compressor!
• Apparently it is common knowledge in Washington that if Sasquatch exists, he lives in the Northern Cascades 🙂

We stopped at the park’s visitor center Saturday afternoon and watched the really interesting park video – it focused on grizzly bears, their dwindling numbers and their place in U.S. ecosystems. Grizzlies used to be native to the Cascades but have all mostly been pushed out. Less than 20, perhaps only 2, currently live there. There is debate about trying to re-introduce them, and the Northern Cascades National Park has begun a grizzly rejuvenation project within the park. It may take 100 years before they have repopulated the region, but it is in the works. On the one hand, we love the idea of them living in their native habitat and are all for the idea. On the other hand, Grizzlies scare the snot out of us and we don’t want them to be in the area we’re backpacking…. Interesting conundrum there, we’re ultimately not sure where we stand.

The Cascades are beautiful and they’ve definitely captured our attention. We only completed three of the five planned hikes, and there are plenty more that we want to explore but didn’t have time for during our visit. The trip didn’t go as planned, but we still can’t wait to get back for further adventures!

Adventuring away,

Matthew & Ashley

 

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Do it now.
~ Paulo Coelho

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This week’s edition of Adventure-Some takes us to Mount Rainier National Park! 🙂 We headed out early Thursday morning for a new adventure, a visit to a volcano! And a very large volcano at that. Mount Rainier National Park is only a two and a half hour drive from Bremerton, and before long we had claimed a campsite in Cougar Rock campground and were off to the visitor center at Paradise to see what they had to say. Upon exiting the theater after watching the park video we were dismayed to see the rain pouring down. But with a handful of trails starting right at the visitor center we weren’t going to let the rain hold us back too much.

So we donned our rain gear and headed out anyway. With clouds everywhere we skipped the scenic vistas and headed out to see the nearby Myrtle Falls. There was only one other group on the trail, so while we couldn’t see the massive mountain that we were standing on, we had the trail to ourselves and enjoyed a wonderful view of the waterfall.

The sky then decided to open up into a downpour, so we headed back to the campground for supper and to prepare for an early start in the morning. We’ve definitely been enjoying the freedom of tent camping these last few months. While we love the RV, in the Parks it is often a lot easier and less cumbersome to find camping for a car and tent versus a motorhome.

Friday started with drizzle and an early hike. Just across the road from camp was the trail head for Carter and Madcap Falls, so we headed that way. Two falls in quick succession was a fabulous way to start off the day! Further up the road we headed to the Cushman trail, crossing over Christine Falls, past Cement Falls and then to the amazingly impressive Comet Falls. The rain and clouds may put a damper on seeing grand, scenic vistas, but it only enhances the beauty of waterfalls. And there were plenty of those to explore, though Comet was the best in our opinion. If it hadn’t been cold, we would have enjoyed a nice refreshing drench right under the towering 380 foot, tiered falls.

Though it had been raining off and on throughout the morning, by lunch it was mostly dry and we were able to pack up our rain gear. The skies were still cloudy, however, and we had yet to spot the massive mountain that we heard was nearby. So we headed on to the Reflection Lakes trail, a loop that circles around two small lakes. From atop a cliff we were able to look down at the valley, over lakes and rock formations. As we turned to leave the cliff and rejoin the trail, moving clouds offered us a brief glimpse of the volcano’s peak, catching us off-guard. We got so excited! But just like that, the clouds moved swiftly as smoke and covered Mt Rainier as if it wasn’t even there. It amazed us how such a topographically prominent landmark could hide so easily. Could you imagine being one of the early peoples to the area? To come upon the area on a cloudy day, go to sleep after an exhausting day of travel in the mountains, and wake up to find such a massive, unbelievable peak, BAM! right in front of your face. I can only imagine them thinking “how did I not see this yesterday?” Ahh-mazing is all I have to say.

One more nearby trail took us up past Bench Lake and on to Snow Lake. It was a beautiful emerald/teal mountain lake, tucked into a secluded basin. We spent quite a while just soaking in the views…and used the out-in-the open composting toilet! There is something very unique about sitting upon a porcelain throne (well, plastic in this case), atop a mountain in the middle of nowhere with the wind in your hair. You don’t get that experience everyday 🙂

Headed back down the trail, the sky cleared and we finally saw Mt. Rainier in all its stupendous glory! Its indescribable beauty and mystique truly dominates the landscape and invigorates the human soul. If anything kindles the spirit of adventure and exploration, this mountain is it. We stopped and admired the view with every turn-off along the trail, Ashley practically running to the next prime viewing area in hopes of catching another glimpse before the clouds overtook it again. It was still blue skies and sunshine when we arrived back at the truck, so we headed back to Paradise for a quick walk along the Nisqually Vista Trail for closer views of the mountain and its glaciers.

• 1 lava tube briefely explored
• 2 volcanoes visited (though not seen)
• 24 National Parks!

Saturday we packed up camp and headed on down the road and coordinated meeting with Jackie and Mikel, who were on their way to join us for the last night. We stopped and hiked through the Grove of the Patriarchs, an old growth forest on an island. The river has surrounded the land, acting as a moat and protecting the old trees from fire damage that had taken the rest of the forest. It’s always humbling to walk among trees 1,000 or so years old, and it’s amazing how big they can be! We just can’t imagine those little Christmas trees that we sold being the same as these giant Douglas Firs. 😀

Jackie and Mikel met up with us at White River campground where we set up camp before heading to the Sunrise Visitor Center. Eager to put our boots to work, we headed up the trail to Mt Freemont Lookout. It was still overcast so we didn’t expect expansive views, but what we could see was amazing! Mountains, the snowy glaciers on Mt. Rainier’s feet, beautiful green valleys…and the trail was a lot of fun, traversing a rocky mountain side and ending at the crest of a mountain at an old fire watch tower!

Back at the campground we experienced our first ranger talk (shameful, I know) where we learned about how the natives and settlers traveled up the rivers to the mountain and how they changed each other – the rivers, the mountain, and the travelers.

Leaving Mt Rainier (sadly) on Sunday, we made a side trip to Mt St. Helens before returning home. Unfortunately the weather never cleared and we didn’t get a view of her, except for her feet, even though we drove along three sides. These Washington volcanoes are very shy! We did, however, get to stop and check out a lava tube, which we’ve been hearing about since northern California! Though we didn’t have much time available, we headed into the cave for a few minutes to explore what we could. It’s a completely different kind of cave than we’ve been in before and would definitely be worth a return trip to hike the entire length…

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• Rain gear means fewer people on the trail.
• Waterfalls are great destinations even when the weather isn’t clear.
• Don’t forget to pack the hot chocolate in inclement weather.

Mount Rainier is definitely a magical landscape full of amazing scenery, and we only scratched the surface. When the views are inspiring even in bad weather, you know you’re in a pretty spectacular place.

Adventuring away,

Matthew & Ashley

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

No man needs a vacation so much as the person who just had one.
~ Elbert Hubbard

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After a busy week in the printshop, we looked forward to a long holiday weekend. As always, the itinerary was packed full and we didn’t quite get to do everything we’d planned for.

Friday night Ashley had to work, helping in the shop for the monthly Art Walk. Jackie and I went as “dates” since ours were both unavailable at the time. We stopped by to see Ashley, then went on and checked out one of the art galleries – who had an all-electric car from 1911 on display out front, how cool is that! It was featured in one of the paintings inside, as well.

Mikel made it into town and met up with us just as Ashley was getting off work so we went out for supper before heading back home.

Saturday morning we packed up and hit the road, aiming for the Dewatto River Campground where everyone had reservations for the weekend. We set up camp, chatted and ate, and then went to the nearby lake for a bit of swimming and rope swinging before the sun started to set and it got too cold.

Sunday we enjoyed lounging around the campground for a bit, including some reading in the hammock. But then it was time to change gears. We packed up our stuff and headed back into town to water the garden and repack for our next adventure. On up to Fort Flagler, which used to be an Army fort but is now a state park. Marit’s family rented one of the barracks for a week, as they do every year. We got to explore a new place and meet lots of amazing people!

Monday morning we woke up and the power was out due to heavy winds the night before (it was pretty cool listening to the wind howl through the old building as we fell asleep). While frustrating for the family reunion plans, this had no effect on the fun we had hanging out and getting to know everyone. We went for a bicycle ride, walked along the beach a couple of times, learned how to play bocci-ball and generally hung out and chatted with everyone. We feel very blessed to have found and be surrounded by such amazing friends and family. It will definitely be hard for us to leave Bremerton at the end of the month, but at least we know we have a great community here should we ever return 🙂

Ashley had to work Tuesday morning, so we’d already planned on returning Monday night. We headed back early enough to miss most of the holiday traffic. After getting settled back in at home, we sat on the roof of the RV and enjoyed the fireworks that were being set off all around us. Good shows, good view, and great location!

This week’s flown by! Ashley worked all day Tuesday (and everyone was recovering from the long weekend) and yesterday we were both in the shop for most of the day.

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• Vacationing is harder than travel.
• Everyone has an interesting story if you take the time to listen.
• Forming new relationships with people and reinforcing the old ones is one of our favorite parts of the nomadic life.

Today we’re packing up and heading south to Mount Rainier. Time for us to visit a new National Park! There are quite a few long distance trails that have caught our attention, but it’s still a bit early in the season to explore them so we’re putting them on the list of things to do next time we’re in the area. We’re going to explore for a couple of days and share the adventure with Jackie and Mikel when they join us on Saturday.

Exploring away,

Matthew & Ashley

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

We love because it’s the only true adventure.
~ Nikki Giovanni

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Early Saturday morning we headed into the Olympic Mountains up along the Dungeness river to hike to Royal Lake. What an amazing area! After selecting a campsite and dropping our gear off we headed on up further into the Upper Royal Basin. It was still mostly covered in snow, but it was absolutely stunning! This is definitely a trip we would recommend if you are ever in the area. It was a gentle 7 mile climb rewarded with incredible views and lots of opportunities for wildlife watching, including mountain goats, marmots, deer, and even fish in the water. If you want to go, be aware that it is in the Olympic National Park and a permit is required for overnight trips. The lake and surrounding area have been heavily used in the past and are undergoing restoration, so the Park is serious about making sure everyone backpacking has a permit – we got checked by a few rangers on the way up (which is a first).

Jackie and her boyfriend, Mikel, joined us for the fun. (That might make it the Adventure-Some version of a double date. 😀 ) It was Mikel’s first backpacking experience and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

Sunday morning a curious mountain goat circled around the lake and our campsite so we had plenty of chances to check him out – especially when he came within about 30′ of us!

• 1 mountain goat, seen up close
• 2 days up in the mountains
• 8 years of our greatest adventure, marriage!

Alas, Sunday we headed back down the mountain and aimed toward the house where we caught up on gardening and yard work while supper was sizzling on the grill. What a fabulous and productive weekend!

Monday was a full day of work, with a brief interlude to meet with a fellow from the local newspaper. We’re going to partner with them to write a few articles for the fall outdoor guide publication that the paper puts out to encourage people to get outside more! Ashley and I have been brainstorming already and are so excited about the project. (It doesn’t go to print until September but we’ll be sure to let you know when we have more information.)

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• Marriage is our favorite adventure!
• Mountain basins are among our favorite places.
• Letterpress printing is pretty awesome, it combines creativity and old industrial machinery

Yesterday found us celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary! We rode our bicycles to a nearby breakfast cafe and ate in a converted VW Bus, attended a Letterpress Printing workshop where we carved our own designs and then printed them onto a calendar using an old printing press, played a game over a drink at a local brewery and then shared a delicious home-made supper of ribeye steak, corn on the cob and stuffed mushrooms off the grill. What an amazing day! We even managed to get some work done in there somewhere…

Better and better,

Matthew & Ashley

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

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This past week has been full of working adventures. Ashley’s been busy learning about the company, Marit (the owner), and trying to get everything organized for both of them. She’s already made noticeable improvements.

With so much time focused on work, we’ve been exploring locally. Thursday we had supper with Marit’s family and then walked over to a nearby pub for trivia night (which we failed at pretty spectacularly). It was a blast!

Sunday we drove up to Bainbridge Island to check out a nearby community. It was a beautiful place to walk around and explore the shops. We particularly enjoyed “Classic Cycle” – they have a bicycle museum spread among the shop. How fascinating to see bicycles that made history (land speed records, etc) and examples of old bicycles (1880s bike, anyone?) along with jerseys, biographies, and pictures of the people who rode them. classiccycleus.com/

A stationary shop in Bainbridge also had the card shown above. How perfectly accurate this quote is! We’re going to hang it in the RV.

Yesterday evening we finally made it to the weekly farmers’ market. Everything looked so good! We’ll definitely be picking up some things next week, beyond a flower bouquet for work. They even had a booth selling pasties – making us think of both Jim Guiney and our time in Michigan!

Ashley’s been really enjoying her yoga classes. She has a monthly pass and is definitely getting her money’s worth from that! There are a few things, beside the people, that we miss about living a stationary life. For Ashley, regular yoga classes are near the top of her list.

The garden is growing like crazy. With three of us and regular rain showers it’s easy to not visit for a couple of days, only to be shocked at how much everything has grown since the last time! We’ve enjoyed a couple of salads already, pulled up a radish last night, are still harvesting raspberries, and have plenty more on the way. Jalapenos and bell peppers are there, if a bit small still. Even the zombie lettuce is doing well! Before the garden was in place we bought a “live lettuce” and after picking and eating the leaves we decided to try re-planting it – and it’s growing yet again!

Tomorrow morning we’re heading out for our weekend adventure, a backpacking trip up to Royal Basin in Olympic National Park. Our bags are currently scattered out around us as we repack for the trip. With plenty of practice, it’s just a matter of making sure we put back items that we had to wash and dry after our last trip. Plus refilling the food stash. (That’s an important detail!)

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• It’s amazing how quickly time flies!
• Work takes up a lot of time and energy.
• Sometimes a boring, old normal week at home is just what you need to get
  back in to adventuring mode.

The three of us sat down on Tuesday and looked at our schedule for the month of July. Between work and planned trips I think that there are two days all month that aren’t already accounted for! More Olympics, Mt Rainier, & Cascades here we come!

Local and loving it,

Matthew & Ashley

(Pictures are all available in an album in FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.
~ Isak Dinesen

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We’ve had a fun-filled and productive week between working and prepping for our backpacking trip over the weekend. Matthew has been diligently harvesting (and eating) raspberries from the garden and I received some terrific news this week! It turns out Matthew and I are working together! I was offered a job working for Marit, the owner of Bremerton Letterpress Co., as her personal assistant. I had my first day on Thursday and have been happily settling in this week. This is my first ever community-based, non-corporate job with some built-in flexibility and I’m loving it! Plus, it’s a lot of fun to be working together for a local company that we are both so excited to help promote and support. 😀

This week’s dose of adventure began Friday morning, when Matthew, Jackie and I headed in to the Buckhorn Wilderness, just outside of Olympic National Park, for a three day loop hike. The trail started off with a steep trek up and along a ridge line before submitting Mt. Townsend at 6200 ft. (or so I hear, we didn’t actually make it that far). This arduous ridge climb alone was enough to get our lungs burning, so adding in the fact that we were hauling 40 pound packs made for some slow going and much cursing by some (I’m sure those of you who know us can guess who that was :). The rain decided to make an appearance after about 10 minutes on the trail, after which it turned to hail, and by the time we made it to the top of the ridge, we were cocooned in a downfall of huge, fluffy snowflakes. The slush on the ground didn’t make for treacherous footing but the dropping temperatures did give us pause. It wasn’t warm to start with and quickly numbing fingers any time we weren’t moving made us re-think our plan, especially since we still had 1,200 more feet to climb and the mountains ahead looked pretty darn white. After much debate, we all agreed it was best to turn around and head back down. None of us really fancied a night of below freezing temperatures and snow camping. Alas, mother nature strikes again!

Back down at the parking area, we ran into another fellow who had just come down from our intended destination. Based on his comment that it was snowing even harder there and that it was already sticking, we were glad to have turned around. We ended up wandering down a nearby tail where we found a lovely campsite next to the creek for the night. With our original plan foiled and muscles sore from the climb, Saturday morning found us enjoying a short day-hike before heading in to Port Townsend.

• 1 night spent in our tents
• A gazillion raspberries picked from the garden, thus far
• 1 new job started

Grabbing lunch out and then heading to the sauna wasn’t on the agenda for the weekend, but it was certainly a delightful surprise! I was introduced to, and fell in love with saunas while living in Finland, and we always look forward to the opportunity to enjoy one. It just so happens that Port Townsend had a spa/bath house called “Soak on the Sound” offering a community soaking pool and sauna. So we took advantage of a foiled plan and gave our muscles a little love with some steamy heat.

Lessons Learned (or relearned):
• Always remember – it may look and feel like summer here, but in the mountains it’s still early spring .
• There’s always another option available!
• Saunas are awesome (we should enjoy a sauna after every backpacking trip!)

We may not have accomplished it the way we planned, but the weekend still ended with us dripping in sweat 🙂 Mission complete.

Day-to-day adventuring,

Matthew & Ashley