A Paradise So Nice, I Had To See It Twice

No disrespect to Leonard Nimoy, but this is clearly the cutest Spock ever:


Just loved the Hello Earth live performance of This Side of Paradise, from the first season of the original Star Trek series.

They recently released a great poster and video teaser:

Just two more shows! Saturday August 6th at 7:00, and Sunday the 7th at 2:00. I've seen it two times already, but who knows—you may even find me there again next weekend :)

Summer at 5,400 Feet

We went expecting wildflowers and hikes in the sun; we found the coldest July and latest melt-out in the history of Mt. Rainier National Park.

But, if I do say so myself, we managed to do all right anyway! Good weather for waterfalls, that's for sure.

Christine Falls:




And perfect weather for enjoying the historic charm of the Paradise Inn:


Fortunately, things a little lower on the mountain were dry and (mostly) warm. Did a bit of hiking around the Nisqually River:


Maybe you recall the recent (pure coincidence!) New York Times story about the river? Sure, some of their photos are better, but did they cross this exciting bridge?


Emily got some great photos that day, like this one:

(Click any photo to open in Flickr, where you can do things like see larger versions or download.)



We made it to Carter Falls! Huzzah!

Couldn't really find an angle to get the falls in the shot, but the sign proves something, right?

Next day, surprise of surprises, we actually saw the top of the mountain!


Was out for, oh, maybe 20 minutes. But hey, better than nothing :)


Had the best hiking luck in the Ohanapecosh area.

Saw some great old trees in the Grove of the Patriarchs:


Hiked up to Silver Falls from above. Very cool.


Not very easy to photograph, but a highly recommended hike.


Pretty impressed with some of the photos my mom took with her new camera. Paradise Inn exterior:


Back inside the Inn:


May not look like summer, even on the supposedly dry, Sunrise side of the mountain, but it seemed like a great time to me.

Summer Brilliance

Is it Monday already? And mid-July? Yikes... Good start to the month, though.


Spent the 4th on The Joker, a boat that our friends booked for a combination birthday and Independence Day party.

Love that silly flag on the front of the boat :)

Emily with Nick, the birthday boy:


Amazing to see the fireworks from the lake.

Nick & Ben

Next morning we left for Spokane. Emily had some work to do there, and we'd heard great things about Highway 2. Great drive, and part of the Cascade Loop, a scenic byway through western Washington.

Much better than the Interstate, but still a tiring drive by the end. Fortunately, Spokane has a number of nice outdoor pools, including the Comstock Aquatic Center, our first stop once we were in town:


For the rest of the week, I read about Aristotle while Emily finished some projects in the Spokane branch of the archive—she even put together an exhibit of historic medical artifacts:


But don't worry, there was also time for relaxation, including a nice dinner in Coeur d'Alene, followed by a sunset hike around Tubb's Hill.

Took Highway 2 again back home, and found a nice picnic spot on the Wenatchee River:

Yummy lunch from the The Gingerbread Factory. Tasty "Cool Hand Cuke" sandwich; and of course the cookie was good too!

Speaking of sweets, did you know that Liberty Orchards, makers of Aplets & Cotlets, is in Cashmere, on Highway 2? The factory was closed when we stopped by, but thankfully the store was open... and they have free samples!

Yum!

Before getting back to the city, we enjoyed the short trail at Deception Falls, not far from Stevens Pass:

Down the Coast III: Up the Coast

The last leg of our trip took us north from Elk (or is it Greenwood?) and up through more awesome redwoods.

Our first stop was Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Great trees there, and a great interpretive trail.

Deeply moving.

And these tree! This one is doing just fine a hundred or so feet up, despite this damage down below:


Here's what was once the world's tallest tree:

The Dyerville Giant, "at one time the tallest tree in the world, which fell in 1991 and now provides nutrients to the next generation of trees in the forest," according to the Park's website.

Did I already mention that this place is deeply moving?

For the sake of scale, I'm standing near the crown, Emily's shooting from the roots:

Can't spot me? Try this blow-up.

Current champion Coast Redwood:


From there we went through Eureka again, and enjoyed a nice meal at the Brick & Fire Bistro.

You know what, speaking of food, I forgot to mention something about Elk: while we were there we had the best meal of the whole trip, at the Greenwood Pier Cafe. Delicious.

I seriously am going to have to get back down to Elk again soon!

Anyway, next day we did a lovely hike in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (also pictured at the top of this post).


Here's a little video of the route, recommended by a ranger. Prairie Creek Trail, Zigzag #1, and West Ridge Trail:


Now this is a few trees that have fused together, so it's maybe not crazy as it looks.

Still pretty crazy though!

Fused together? Yes, one of the many wild things about redwoods you can read about in this excellent New Yorker piece from '05. Not a subscriber? I hate to encourage this sort of thing, but I noticed a site that posted the story & is trying to claim "fair use"...

Anyway, great read. Hundreds of trunks on the top of one tree? Animals that live their whole lives hundreds of feet above the ground? Trees growing in soil that's formed in the crowns of other trees? Yes. Good stuff.

Okay, where were we?
Oh, speaking of, here's a map of the spots in this post:

View Down the Coast III in a larger map

As you can see, our next stop was Eugene, where we stayed at the lovely C'est la Vie Inn:


From there we were on the way home, though we couldn't resist stopping in Portland.

Great Japanese garden. But how did they get the address japanesegarden.com? I mean, that is impressive!


Really liked the rock garden:




Last stop: Ali Baba's food cart. Yum!


And then we were home. Which isn't such a bad thing either.