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

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

It’s opener, out there, in the wide, open air.
~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

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It was certainly sad to drop Norma (Ashley’s mom) off at the airport Wednesday morning. Everyone had a blast while she was here… so much fun we had to take a day to recover. 😀

Thursday, however, marked our 1st adventureversary. One year traveling in the RV! To celebrate, we loaded the mountain bikes into the truck and headed into the nearby mountains for, what else? An adventure! We drove to the wash-out in the road and parked the truck before hopping on the bicycles for the ride up the remainder of the road to the trail head in the Dosewallips area of Olympic National Park.

Though a leisurely day hike had been recommended, we decided to honor the day with the hardest hike we could find, the trail up to Lake Constance. Here are a few quotes from the guide book:

• The steepest trail in Olympic National Park leads to an emerald lake under the monsterous cliffs of Mount Constance, setting a scene almost worth the killer climb.
• The trail goes steeply through the forest for 1.1 miles before becoming slightly less steep. Hikers who call this short section flat are suffering from delusions brought on by the trail.
• Just past a huge rock the trail steepens and follows a traverse across the cliff that mountaineers might call interesting. This is a technical term that means if you slip you could break something vital to your health and well-being.

We didn’t read any of these descriptions until we returned from the hike, but completely agreed with all of them. There was a lot of scrambling, bouldering, and slipping, but it was amazingly fun and nice to have the challenge of a more technical hike.

After gaining 900 feet while biking to the trail head, the trail itself climbs 3,700 feet in 2 miles. It was steep, but the trail runs parallel to a creek so we enjoyed the seranade of flowing water and views of waterfalls as we hiked. Behind us we caught glimpses of snow-covered peaks when the clouds revealed them. We saw no one after hopping on the bicycles and left the first footprints in the snow drifts around the blue, blue, blue lake. It was breathtakingly beautiful and our only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer.

It seemed quite an apt celebration of what has been an amazing year. Waking in our cozy RV home, bike riding, hiking, and enjoying a meal on the trail next to a splashing waterfall.

• 1 new trail hiked
• 30-ish elk crossing the road in front of us
• 375 days since moving into the RV, and counting….

It’s been an amazing year. We’ve seen some beautiful and amazing sights, learned more about the country we live in, family, friends, each other, and ourselves. Our relationships have grown and we are a stronger couple than ever before. We can’t imagine a life other than the one we’ve been living and are so thankful for the experiences we’ve shared.

Our adventures aren’t always grand excursions. This week also found us experiencing a little of the local culture on Friday with the Bremerton Art Walk. We toured around downtown and visited many of the local business and art galleries where we were able to check out some local art and music while enjoying some snacks. We even got to print our own June calenders using a letterpress at the Bremerton Letterpress Co. Yesterday was also a fun filled day with Ashley’s sister, where we enjoyed a day swimming and rope swinging at a nicely hidden forest lake.

Lessons Learned:
• As always, the harder the hike the more we appreciate the views at the end.
• We couldn’t have done this year’s adventure without the support of family and friends.
• An adventure’s an adventure, no matter how small.

2015 was the year of the pedal and 2016 is set to be the year of the boot. We loved the hike up to Lake Constance, have an upcoming 3-day backpacking trip this weekend, another hike planned in a few weeks to Royal Lake, the excursion into Glacier National Park in August, and a whole list of other trails to explore while in the area. We do love the diversity and range of options available within a short distance of our home base here in the Kitsap Penninsula.

Until next week,

Matthew & Ashley

P.S. – Ashley’s been updating and adding to our website. Feel free to go poke around! We also added an Adventure-Some FaceBook page where you can see all of our pictures (even if you don’t have an account).

(Pictures are all available in album on FaceBook.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

May you live every day of your life.
~ Jonathan Swift

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What a blast this week has been! On Tuesday, Ashley, Jackie and I piled into the Jeep and headed toward the airport (with a stop at The Rock in Tacoma for our favorite pizza appetizer ever – Brown Sugar Mozz Bread) to pick up Norma! It’s been wonderful to spend time with her. Ashley and Norma spent a busy Wednesday planting Jackie’s garden for the season. There should be tons of bounty this summer, from lettuce to beans to tomatoes and more – Jackie will be raking in the produce for sure! Thursday, Jackie, Norma and Ashley went touring the local area and stopped at the Hood Canal during low tide, where tons of Bald Eagles flocked to feast, it was amazing to see so many eagles in one place!

• Innumerable Bald eagles spotted
• 2 nights family RVing over the holiday weekend
• 3 starfish (and countless anenomes) discovered while tide-pooling

Over the holiday weekend we all loaded into the RV and Jeep (5 people and 2 dogs in all) and headed north to explore Olympic National Park. We checked out Lake Cresecent, wild camped out in the woods, went tide-pooling in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, drove up to Cape Flattery – the northwestern most corner of the US, hiked down to Shi Shi Beach, and went up to Hurricane Ridge before stopping at Fat Smitty’s for burgers before heading home yesterday evening.

As always, a paragraph or two just doesn’t do the experience justice. You’ll have to ask Norma for her version of the story – I can’t wait to hear what a grand adventure we went on in few months. The story grows with each telling, and it’s already been amazing. 😀

Lessons Learned:
• We love sharing adventures with family.
• We enjoy seeing the same place through someone else’s eyes.
• Olympic National Park is probably our favorite park thus far.

Today we took the ferry into Seattle to visit Pike’s Place Market and more before (tearfully) sending Norma back toward Kentucky tomorrow.

Till next time,

Matthew & Ashley

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

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
~ Eddie Cantor

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Last week passed pretty quickly – exploring the area, dropping off resumes, a bicycle ride with Mikel (Jackie’s boyfriend) on Saturday, yoga classes, and some chores about the house. Ashley didn’t get her job at Argosy Cruises but is glad as this frees her up to other opportunities. She’s got a couple more promising positions that she’s excited about.

• 1 new job started
• 2 hiking excursions planned in the near future (Dirty Face and Royal Lake)
• 1 permit acquired for a Glacier backpacking trip in August

It’s not all domestic errands here on the peninsula, however. Sunday we loaded up the truck and headed north, back to Olympic National Park. There we hiked up Mount Storm King and enjoyed an amazing panoramic view of Lake Crescent during lunch. (Although hiked might not be the most accurate word, as we had to pull ourselves up the last bit of loose gravel via a rope. We made like mountain goats, might be a more accurate statement.)

Back down in the valley, we continued on to check out Marymere falls before returning to the truck and driving up to the Sol Duc area to explore the Sol Duc falls. Both were beautiful and had trails lined with fabulous greenery.

After hiking we drove around the north shore of Lake Crescent to see what there was to see. The road dead-ends at a trailhead, so we turned around and stopped at a day-use area to cook supper. What better place to cook and eat than at a picnic table out on the middle of a dock? Supper was tasty and even better as it was seasoned by the views – across the water we could see Storm King and the point we mountain goated to.

Then it was time to head up into the mountains to find a camp site for the night. I’m pretty sure that’s the wildest adventure the borrowed truck has seen – off on a gravel road (path?) up the side of a mountain. 4-wheel drive was never needed but there wasn’t any kind of a shoulder at times. And there was even some mud slung up on the fenders once or twice! We owe a big thanks to Randy for letting us use his truck while we’re here and he’s off traveling for work.

Yesterday morning we had to head back into Bremerton (just over 2 hours away) because Matthew was starting work atwww.bremertonletterpress.com He’s going to be expanding the website, doing some behind the scenes work with the product images, and generally helping with various computer stuffs as he can. He’s excited to be working with a local artistic business!

Lessons Learned:
• It’s awfully nice to explore and camp out of a regular passenger vehicle. We can go so many places we just can’t with the RV.
• There are so many amazing things to do here!
• You just can’t beat a view from a rocky mountain point.

Norma’s plane touches down this evening (Ashley’s mom) – Jackie, Ashley and I are all super excited and have lots of fun planned for the week. It’s going to pass all too quickly but we’re certainly counting down the time until we meet her at the airport. It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen our respective parents!

Exploring away,

Matthew & Ashley

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

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.
~ Jane Austen

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As you know from last week’s email, we’ve moved in behind Jackie’s house (Ashley’s oldest sister) and this week we’ve been getting settled in for a short duration. This means that we’ve been exploring the area, taking care of some chores and submitting job applications.

Just this morning we both had job interviews – Matthew at a local letterpress printing company here in Bremerton and Ashley at a Seattle-based sight-seeing cruise company. If these don’t work out we’ve got other applications out there and more places in mind to approach. While we can always use more gas money, interviews are a lot less stressful when you don’t “need” a job just at the moment.

• 3 dozen new coffee shops to explore
• 2 exciting adventures planned thus far
• 1 anticipated visit from Ashley’s Mom

We haven’t been doing any hiking this week, we’re giving Ashley’s ankle a chance to heal. Exploring locally and cooking lots of delicious food hasn’t left us feeling deprived, however. Ashley has also been taking advantage of a special offer at a local yoga studio – unlimited classes for a month, and she’s getting her money’s worth with daily classes. 😀

Saturday morning found us exploring the Seattle area, where we walked around Lake Washington, had a fun lunch at a Turkish cafe in Freemont and then visited the troll that lives under the bridge (see picture above – for scale, he’s holding a real VW bug).

Lessons Learned:
• It’s fun to explore a place more in-depth and feel like part of a community again.
• Having a garage to work in is a nice change.
• The ferry is a great way to get around.

In the next few weeks we’ve planned a backpacking trip that has been on Jackie’s to do list since she moved to the area and are eagerly looking forward to a visit from Norma (Ashley’s mom). We also just got a wilderness permit confirmation for a much anticipated backpacking excursion in Glacier National Park, Montana in August. So much to do, and so much we don’t even know about yet!

Getting cozy,

Matthew & Ashley

We run some more errands – I pick up supplies for todo items that I’ve been putting off until stationary, oil changes and such. No luck finding weatherstripping for the RV. On into Silverdale where we check out the REI store. Back at home for a late lunch.

Ashley has an interview scheduled for Monday with a boat tour company. It’s in Seattle, so we’ll ride the ferry over with Jackie and check out the area during the day.

Ashley bikes over for yoga and I put spaghetti squash and steak in the oven. Timed about perfectly, everything’s ready right when everyone arrives at the house (Ashley, Jackie, and Mikel). Jackie caramelizes some onions and sautes mushrooms and kale to mix in with the squash. Supper is delicious – everyone loves the steaks.

Ashley signs up for a month of unlimited yoga classes, so she heads in to town for her first session. I drop her off and run to some different businesses I’m interested in. Talk to the owner of the Bremerton Letterpress Company who sounds interested in me working part-time, sort of a paid internship. That would be great! The bicycle shop is closed. The bakery isn’t hiring and the sporting good store doesn’t have anything I’d be interested in (it’s primarily a ski shop.)

Back at the house after lunch we work on our resumes (both TAILS and puppy linux work find on Ashley’s old laptop, wifi and everything, so we have a computer each) and send in some applications.

After work Jackie goes to Sheila’s house to work out. Ashley puts together spin-dip stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon and a delicious salad for supper. We eat out on the picnic table and then watch some TV before heading off to bed.

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

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey!
~ Barbara Hoffman

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The trip along the northern Oregon coast was fabulous. We spent the night at an overlook where we watched The Spouting Horn (an ocean blow hole – there’s an underwater cave that the waves fill and then pressure explodes through a hole in the roof like a geyser.) The next morning we continued on until Tillamook, where we stopped to tour the Tillamook Cheese factory. Interesting to read about the history of the area, the industry, and the company – and we certainly couldn’t turn down cheese samples or some fresh made ice cream from their creamery! That evening we headed further north and crossed over the bay into Washington for a night at the rest area. Whew, another new state – that’s the west coast!

The 101 led us up to Olympic National Park for a couple of nights spent in the bordering Olympic National Forest. On our first full day exploring the Quinault region of the park, Ashley slipped/stepped wrong while crossing a log and ended up spraining her ankle! Back to the RV for rest and ice. Fortunately, we were planning on staying in the region for the next couple of months so there’s no rush to see the park. We followed the 101 on around the peninsula (effectively circling the park) and enjoyed beautiful scenic views and leisurley driving.

Along the way, we stopped in Port Angeles for a meet-up with some of our favorite adventure travelers, the Switchback Kids! We’ve crossed paths with them at a few other parks, but this was likely the last time our travel routes would intersect. We had a fabulous time catching up with them, sharing stories and generally spending time with an amazing couple. www.switchbackkids.com

• 11 months on the road
• 17 states visited
• 22 National Parks explored

Yesterday morning we continued on toward Bremerton, WA. Though it was a bit of a tight fit and required a 15 point turn we managed to maneuver the RV down behind Chateau Jacqueline. So now we’re settled in behind Ashley’s sister’s (new) house for a while!

Lessons Learned:
• Ashley is stubborn and doesn’t like to sit still 🙂
• Driving scenic roads and stopping for the views is an amazing way to travel.
• We love Washington and Oregon

Since we’re settled for a bit, our goal is to not only visit with Jackie and explore the area in depth but also to take the opportunity to pick up some odd jobs and learn some new skills along the way. Plus, Ashley’s planning on making some more soap! Our time here is going to fly and our to do list will be longer than ever, no matter how much we manage to do.

Settled for now,

Matthew & Ashley