Jul 20, 2013

We drove back to Mt. Rainier and up to Sunrise Visitor Center where we would begin our hike to the Mt. Fremont Lookout. The trail starts up a paved, steep section that is part of several other trails. There were quite a few people here. We passed many of them and it became less crowded as we got onto the next part of the trail.

We passed Frozen Lake, which has an amazing huge blue hunk of ice floating in it. It looks like a little glacier and it's awesome. After passing a field of beautiful wild flowers, the trail continues from here up a gravel path with big rocks and a steep drop.

The views of Mount Rainer from this part of the trail are amazing. It seems so close and so big. As the path narrows and we have to cross over a long section of bigger rocks, people are stopped and looking at mountain goats far down below. I never actually saw them, but Joanna insists they were there.

When we got near the end of the trail I could see clouds resting below the peaks in the distance. I've always wanted to hike above the clouds and see just the tips of mountains peaking out above them. This is the closest I've gotten so far, but I'll take it. For now.

The fire tower lookout at the end allows you a slightly better views of the full area. There are mountains stretching off in every direction and a chilly breeze blowing in. I liked the reflection in the fire tower windows.

We stayed up there for a while, taking in the amazing views of this massive mountain. Somehow this vantage point just made it seem unreal that we were standing next to something so big. I loved it. We took a different path for the hike down, requiring us to do some more snow sliding and possibly trail blazing. We had to take a dirt road back to the parking lot, but we made it.

After leaving the park we headed back toward Portland, stopping there again to go to Laughing Planet Cafe and Little Big Burger for food. We found a Trader Joe's to resupply on some foodstuffs then continued on to Eugene, where Saturday night was in full swing. We went to the Rogue Public House for a flight. They serve beers by Rogue and Eugene City Brewing, which is a small operation parented by Rogue. Their Libertine Imperial IPA is really good as is the Electric Peach by Rogue that I tried. There was a regular customer that was talking my ear off about local breweries and how things used to be as I sampled.

We walked down the road to Falling Sky Brewing, which looked good online and my bartender at Rogue said it was a good place to check out. I really like this place a lot, and they had an awesome selection. First of all, everyone was really nice there in helping me pick out my flight. Second, I love their presentation and their packaging. Their flight is served in this cloud and they give out free stickers. Can't go wrong with that.

I liked the Upside Brown Ale and the Kama Sumatra Coffee Porter, but the Standout was definitely the Don't Panic American Pale Ale. It was fantastically balanced and tasty. I wasn't ready to stop drinking just yet after the flight so I got another beer. I was just in a good mood and having a good time so I got another drink. Joanna and I were having a serious conversation about politics or the world or something else, which hasn't happened in a while so it was nice to discuss things over a beer even if I was the only one holding one. She still smelled them. We basically stayed there until they closed and then got back on the highway until we got to a rest stop on the I-5 with a nice grove of trees where we could set up our tent for the night out of sight.

Jul 16, 2013

After saying a somber goodbye to Amol and Matt (and Seattle) we left the apartment and went to Araya's Place for their Thai buffet. It was a lot of really good food, including this fantastic peanut sauce that I want to put on everything I ever eat from now on. We took the 5 South toward Portland, stopping at SeaTac DGC before we got too far away from the city. The course was set in a nicely wooded area, making good use of the space. My favorite part was seeing the planes fly overhead every few minutes.

The course was pretty cool, if slightly confusing at times. It wasn't always apparent where the next hole was. There was a course regular waiting for people to show up that helped us along the way. It's definitely not a "mark to return" course, but it was fun at the time. I don't know what's going on in this picture except that I had to use the bathroom so I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

The long road to Portland was filled with slight traffic jams and minor annoyance, but we made it there and found McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom where Jimmy Eat World was playing and I got my show information then went to the bar beneath. I got a sampler of the beers they brewed there and sat back to enjoy being back in the city. The Hammerhead, Sunflower IPA, and Ruby were all great. We hung out there for a while until I could properly put away my flight and still had time to go elsewhere!

The Rogue Taphouse was just a couple blocks away so it was the obvious next stop. We pulled up our chairs at the bar and I picked out a few beers from the huge tap list that I hadn't tried before. It's a hard decision. I ended up doing two flights. I really liked the Dad's Little Helper and Juniper Pale Ale. I tried the infamous Beard Beer, made with a yeast strain cultivated from a brewer's beard hair. It was good. The standout was clearly the Younger's Special Bitter. I love a good ESB, but this one takes the cake. I would like a case of this please.

After all the wonderful beer tasting it was time to go back to the Ballroom, where I weaved up toward the front. Jimmy Eat World came out and played an amazing damn set. They always do, but this crowd, this room, and being on a trip just amplified everything. I love seeing this band live so much more every time. They played 4 (four!) Clarity tracks and covered "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together" in such a way that Taylor Swift should consider retiring. I was bouncing and singing to every song. Hopefully I helped some other people get into the show as well. It's amazing how they can play all of their hits and it still seems like a fan-favorite setlist. I want to see them again immediately.

Joanna was outside to pick me up when the show was over. I rolled up, sweaty and smiling like a lunatic I'm sure, and actually took off my shirt to cool off and dry before I put on another. She had gotten donuts so I had a lovely treat to partake in while we hung out by the car. We headed over the bridge to our Couchsurfing hosts and found the house after a couple of tries. The guy hosting was very nice and offered us the couches. The house was quite a mess and it seemed that a lot of people lived there, but I didn't really care. Joanna was a bit squeamish about the conditions, but once we had our sleeping bags on the couch, it was a really nice night (with the door open) to sleep.