Great Start to Our Summer

Hooray—it's summer! That means time for camping, hiking... and enough free time to write a blog post!

It's been a while, so let me just say that there's a lot we're skipping: Emily got a new job! Woo! And we've had all kinds of sports fun: mini-golf, another Sounders game, even a super fun Mariners game with some of Franklin's friends from school.

But now... camping! Made sure the new tent was ready to go:


Stayed in Ohanapecosh, in Mt. Rainier National Park. Great area, beautiful river, and all kinds of trails:

On the Ohanapecosh Hot Springs Trail.

Set up camp in the Ohanapecosh campground:


I loved how excited Franklin was about going, and about being there. "Dad, I love camping!" :)

Also made a point of telling his teachers and friends at school.

You know what, speaking of his school, let me also just mention that his school is the subject of a documentary that's raising money for editing, etc. (trailer here: https://youtu.be/6K3H2VqQKcc). Somehow that story made it to an ABC News blog post, and then from there it was off. The Today Show even came to the school to film a segment! Very cool.

Anyway...

Did the 3-mile loop hike up to Silver Falls:

I just want to add that according to my pedometer I walked like eight miles on Saturday, and Franklin must have walked close to five. Quite a kid.

He was pretty ready to get back to camp, though, and can you blame him?

(Veggie dogs, because my ethics class has pretty much ruined meat for me...)



Next day we enjoyed a beautiful hike on the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail:


Fun bridge too:

Closeup here: https://flic.kr/p/uKrLbU.

Speaking of, there are even more pictures from the weekend trip in this album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskeH6A5i. And all kinds of pictures of things I've skipped online. Other stuff on the Flickr feed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yancy9a/.
And of course there's also Emily's Instagram feed: https://instagram.com/emily.dominick, and Yancy's Instagram feed: https://instagram.com/yancy9/

Meanwhile, Franklin's almost too busy to photograph:


Though he liked the way the steps made a little stage, so he had us sit down and tell stories for Emily:

(Yes, if you're wondering, Franklin wore the same outfit both days...)



Little rest before we check out the views of the mountaintop and wildflowers at Paradise:


Okay, on to the flowers and peaks:


We didn't see any elk on this trip, but Franklin picked out this stuffed animal at the gift shop:

"Dad, I love my elk!"

One last hike, the Nisqually Vista Loop . Like I said, we didn't see any elk, but we did share the trail with this cutie for a minute or two:

The excellently named hoary marmot.



All right reader, hope your summer's off to a great start too!

the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing

So glad I have this crew to help make the most of the warm weather and the new neighborhood!

Wildlife at Constellation Park marine reserve.

Back a few days to the 10th, when we toasted Emily down at the beach. No photos, alas, but when we got back home Franklin had some fun trying on his mom's new shoes:

Or "kayaks" as he calls them, inspired I assume by the color and material :)

Great sunsets and moons this week. Not quite the supermoon in this photo, and it's in the wrong direction for a sunset, but our new neighbor looked pretty good the other night:

Bigger version here.

So, mountains and water, yes. Sounds even better in the title for this post, though, no? It's a little bit of Molly's monologue at the end of Ulysses. We had the rare pleasure of reading and discussing some of the novel with some friends down on the beach last night.

Here's the rest of the stretch I quoted up top:

... God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets nature it is...

Just amazing.

And in case you're wondering about gathering on a beautiful summer evening to read Ulysses while the sun sets over the water, I'll just note that The Economist said it's "maybe the best book you take to the beach this summer"... So there you go.

All right, before I move on it's probably unfair given my recent comments about myself to leave out what Molly says immediately after what I just quoted:

as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow

Fair enough.

Now as for what comes after that, well, the last stretch of Ulysses is among the most beautiful things I've ever read, and I don't think it's quite fair to paste it into a blog post about Franklin getting a haircut and going to a street fair. But if you scroll to the bottom of this page and read picking up near the rhododendrons on Howth you won't be sorry.

But yeah, so Franklin got a haircut!

Took him a little while to warm up to it...



But he sure looks good now:


Then we stopped by Lincoln Park to cool our feet with Wendy:

More wading on Sunday, when I took that picture of the crab up above.

Video too!

All thanks to an awesome -3 foot low tide. And thanks to this cool program sponsored by the Seattle Aquarium we had great help finding sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers, and more!



After a little rest, we ended the day at the West Seattle Summer Fest:



Up next is California. Actually, what am I doing sitting here at the computer? I need to pack!

Summer Days

Happy to be making the most of the long days with Franklin and Emily.

Wednesday
Grilling kebabs, with help from Franklin:




Gratuitous Mt.-Rainier-in-the-background photo:

I guess at some point I might get used to seeing that from our place? Not any time soon, though, I'd wager! Go ahead and click here if you want a bigger version.

Thursday
Visiting with Matt:

aka Kiwi.


Thanks for the awesome model of the Air New Zealand plane—Franklin loves it! And really wants to fly on one, so maybe we'll see you again soon? ;)

Friday
Train ride to Portland:


Just long enough for some fun and some rest:


Then off to a fun barbecue with Samson (on the stump), his parents, and some of his parents' excellent friends:


Thanks all! Thanks especially for the popsicles!




Stayed up late for fireworks:

The staying up and waiting seemed more rewarding and interesting to Franklin than the actual fireworks, but I'll take it.

Saturday
Hiking in Forest Park with Willa and her parents:

Great to see everyone!

And we saw an owl!
Owl not pictured, but I swear this bench is just down the hill from the Audubon Society of Portland:


Sunday
Just a little more fun in Portland before heading home:


Seems appropriate to end the Portland photos with a shot of a cool bike rack:

Strong start to summer! What's next?
Actually, Franklin wants to have a party and go on an airplane, so I guess I'd better go start planning and packing!

How the West Was Won

Well, we're all moved in here at the new place. Or at least, all of our stuff is here. Funny how just moving to a different neighborhood in the same city can feel so different!

Glad we had the chance to play and see friends before we left. I know I posted photos from that last time, now thanks to Pete there's video too!

A Farewell to Capitol Hill from Pedro V2 on Vimeo.

Meanwhile we've enjoyed our first apartment with views since we've been in Seattle:

And yes, just to be clear, West Seattle is a neighborhood in Seattle :)

Anyway, one nice bonus of the new neighborhood that I didn't know about ahead of time is the Seattle Fish Company. Perfect timing, to move here right when the famous Copper River salmon are in season!


Great first meal cooked in the new place!


And by a great bit of luck, our friend Elliott (and his dad, mom, and new baby sister) are spending the summer in the neighborhood:


Looking forward to a super fun summer!


Here we go!

Snow Play Area

Great weekend at Mt. Rainier! Amazing to live so close to such amazing sights!


Got off to a strong start on Friday where we served Franklin some hot cocoa in these great cups in our cabin at Stone Creek Lodge:


Will he like it?

Yes indeed!

Still haven't talked Franklin into sleeping late on weekends, but at least we had this view to greet us in the early morning:


Not sure if it was the cold or the excitement of travel, but he sure worked up an appetite:

Finished the whole kids' pancake breakfast at the National Park Inn... and then demanded some of "dad's pancakes please!" :)

(Ha! I just realized that website has the menus: feel free to print out the kids' breakfast menu and reenact the morning—just be sure you have plenty pancakes on hand!)

After we (finally!) finished eating, we drove on up the mountain. Pretty snowy and icy this time of year, though, and given the winter weather rules at the park, we first picked up a set of tire chains (!). Not sure if I'm more proud of us for getting them on the car so easily, or more amazed that it took us seven years in Washington state before we actually had to do that!

Pretty chilly up at Paradise (the car's thermometer said 19ºF!), so we didn't do much other than take the picture up top, watch a couple of runs on the sledding hill, grab a quick snack, and run around the gift shop.

Okay, just to be clear, it was really Franklin's idea to _run_ in the gift shop. But I have to hand it to him: even at that speed, we made some good finds, including an adorable stuffed marmot. Emily's been looking for something like that for years; so glad we finally spotted one!

Anyway, a great day for more cocoa by the fire!

What I like best about this photo is the look on Emily's face as she watches to see if Franklin is actually going to dip the basketball toy Madhu gave him (thanks again!) into his cocoa...

I definitely can't match the exterior cabin photos I posted the other day, but here's my attempt:


The woman who runs Stone Creek Lodge was great, and even lent us a sled to pull Franklin on. Took him a minute to get used to it, but eventually he was giggling and saying "again! again!" Awesome. No photos, alas, but we did get a couple of videos of him with snowballs:


This one is too dark to see much, but I love how it sounds:


And then of course more warming up by the fire:

Roar!

One more breakfast at the National Park Inn, and then we went outside for some fun:


It's just under a mile, and pretty tame, but the Trail of the Shadows seemed like the perfect short snowy hike:




All right, well, looks like it's Monday again...

Thanks for an awesome weekend, Emily and Franklin!